- Jordin – Finally sings something with a little passion, I was getting tired of the candy-coated Disney schtick.
- Blake – Best performance of the night, great take on that song.
- Melinda – Great vocal of course, not that crazy about the song.
- Haley – I don’t remember a single vocal of hers before tonight, but I was certainly paying close attention during that number! This is probably not my brain speaking.
- Lakisha – Not my favorite song, she looked really good for the second week in a row. She would sound really good if she could sing her wheelhouse every week.
- Gina – Love the new hair, the song wasn’t bad I guess, but the original (my favorite Stones song) is far better.
- Chris S – I’ve cooled on this guy a little, he seemed to have a nice wry sense of humor in the earlier weeks, but I haven’t seen much of that lately. His song choices since “Trouble” have been pretty weak. He’s also not that great of a singer.
- Chris R – Meh.
- Stephanie – Decent singer, disappeared this week.
- Sanjaya – Well I was laughing through his whole song. The corny jacket and then that little crying girl the producer kept focusing on. Seems like he’s a different kind of creepy every week.
- Phil – Please make it stop.
Melinda and Gina are my favourites, normally, but I think Jordin outsang everyone tonight.
Sanjaya and Chris R are tied for last place.
I hated Melinda’s performance tonight. I usually think that her song choices are bland but her technique is so good that it makes it good. But that was just beyond boring. I was pleading for it to be over. Yeah, her voice hit all the right notes, and yeah she has a powerful voice, yeah yeah. But it was BORING.
Jordin wins it for me tonight.
I keep hearing (on the news and such) this correlation between Sanjaya’s performance and The Crying Girl (how annoying was that?), so I want to point out that she was crying long before Sanjaya took the stage and continued crying through the entire show. I, like Hal up there, wonder if she is a make a wish kid. I can’t imagine why else anybody would have focused on her so much.
I thought the judges took it way too easy on Chris R.
Best episode this season.
Top 3: Jordan, Melinda and Blake
Bottom 3: Phil, Haley and Gina, (who didn’t “pronunciate” again)
Biggest surprise: Sanjaya did okay – kinda, sorta
I think Phil’s going home, to the place where he belongs.
I don’t know if dialidol has any credibility left after last week’s results, but they give the following results at this point:
1 Melinda Doolittle -
2-4 Phil Stacey -
2-6 Blake Lewis -
2-7 Lakisha Jones -
3-7 Jordin Sparks -
3-7 Sanjaya Malakar -
4-11 (B3) Chris Richardson -
7-11 (B3) Haley Scarnato -
7-11 (B3) Chris Sligh -
7-11 (B3) Gina Glocksen -
7-11 (B3) Stephanie Edwards
Quoted for truth. I started yelling “No!” as soon as he mentioned it in the tape and just kept moaning in disbelief throughout his performance. Y’know, when I heard this was “British Invasion” week, I was happy I’d get to see some songs performed that I actually know and love, but I failed to foresee the downside of seeing 'em done badly. I thought it interesting that Peter Noone steered the kid away from one of his own songs. Methinks he simply didn’t want to see “I’m Into Something Good” butchered in front of him.
My miscellany:[ul][]In the weird coincidence department, we have not one, but two songs by Rod Argent of Zombies fame tonight (“Time of the Season” and “She’s Not There”). Not that I mind, they’re good songs, but I would have thought they’d have a much wider selection available to them. Oh, and Chris Sligh annoyed me by getting the damn chorus wrong (“How would I know?” not “Why should I worry?”).[]I like Gina; she won me over with “Call Me When You’re Sober” heading into the final 12. Amy Lee (of Evanescence) has an incredible voice, but Gina did that song justice. Hell, I even voted to keep her around back then, seeing as how she was the resident “rocker chick.” But this week, she just seemed to miss the lower register on “Paint It Black” repeatedly. Each verse starts with a sort of controlled monotone that rises with the increasing emotion of the lyrics, and she didn’t get it, not once. That said, she did hit the chorus pretty well a couple of times, so it wasn’t a total disaster - but I have to agree with Simon; she’ll have to sing a lot better than that to stay around.[]Haley. Haley. Haley. She really did look like she was having fun, and she looked comfortable, too. But Simon’s right again, the talk will be about the outfit and the performance, not her singing. That might be enough to keep her around, if only as eye candy.[]Jordin’s performance tonight gave me goosebumps. I don’t know the song, but I don’t know how it could be done any better.[/ul]
What was the deal with the crying girl? That was creepy. She got more screen time than Randy.
Sanjaya. Man, I don’t know what to say. The guy’s trying, but I am not buying it. He is improving but he doesn’t belong on stage with the rest of 'em.
Nosferatu (Phil) is solid, but he’s so unlikeable. I mean, he didn’t do anything to earn that dislike, but he just bugs. Ditto for Sligh. I never got the love, and his schtick and talent are waning. Begone!
Nobody really, in my opinion, delivered a knockout performance. Stephanie sang way behind the beat. The regulars, LaKisha and Melinda, delivered somewhat but both songs were boring as crap.
Melinda looked exactly like Bolo Yeung in Chinese Hercules when she sang the last note of the song. That is not a compliment. And I don’t know how much of the “I’m just a background singer, I’m so nice” schtick I can take. I don’t think it’s her fault, but enough already. She’s a nice person, but I don’t see how she’s any nicer than Phil, for instance.
It’s time for some better theme weeks, AI producers!
Haley - good song choice, decently done, doesn’t need to strut her stuff so prominently.
Chris R. - wonderful song, rendered mediocre by a soulless rendition. Voice is whiny and nasal - as in disturbingly whiny and very nasal. My wife and I hear the judges praise his voice and mention “a tiny bit nasal” and we wonder what the hell they’re smoking. Excellent guitar accompaniment.
Stephanie - good song choice, rendered mediocre by lack of oomph. Now, that song could work done softly if the music behind it matched, but the band played the opening fanfare with rousing vigor, in comparison to which the timid opening vocal was quite disappointing.
Blake - good song choice, reasonably well done, but too damn high a key for him.
LaKisha - wrong song. I didn’t even know it was a song. The other one she was considering would have been better. What would have been GREAT was her singing “Goldfinger” - she could have flown with that one. Nevertheless, quite good delivery.
Phil - cool song. My wife liked his rendition, I thought it sucked eggs.
Gina - I liked it. Good song for her, showed off her rock voice well.
Chris S. - great song, good voice, decently done, but still “so what?” He lacks some intangible essential.
Jordin - wow! Kind of an artsy song compared to the others, but she did it justice and then some.
Sanjaya - pitiful. I’m beginning to suspect that he knows he sucks and only gets to stay because of VFTW. Figures what the hell, he may as well camp it up, have fun, and make fools of the idiots who vote for him.
Melinda - WTF? A song from a ^%% MUSICAL? The British Invasion was Top 40 pop/rock stuff, not drek like this. This gal is either very bored with normal songs, having sung them all multiple times in her job, or she’s got no flipping taste at all. Still, the best singing of the night.
Peter Noone - likable, affable, seemed mostly useless.
Lulu - what happened to the smooth, powerful voice of her youth? Anyway, she has good musical sense, made helpful and insightful suggestions, and can sing (screech?) on key. I didn’t care much for her songs back then, but I was impressed with what she did on this show.
Crying Girl - a little over the top, but it’s heartwarming to think she got an extra-special night.
Other little girl shown very briefly when Crying Girl went onstage, looking very left out that she didn’t get a chance for even a fraction of the special stuff - kinda sad to think that she might have gotten a lesson in “life’s not fair” tonight.
Melinda - I love Melinda, but not as much this week. I think partly it’s a personal prejudice: everytime I hear that song I remember that Nancy gets bludgeoned to death. Still great, but the only thing I don’t love about her music is when she gets just a touch into the melisma (though the fact the judges haven’t said anything about it means it’s probably me).
Phil Stacey - Yawn. He seems so joyless even when he’s bopping around stage like a burning monkey- he’s a rocking military guy. He also needs to dress hipper, like he did during his audition for Dancing With the Stars (audition pic here).
Blake Lewis - Why do I and half the people I know so wanna have sex with this guy? He’s far from the best looking or best body ever on there? He’s just intriguing, sexy, and interesting, and even though I wasn’t crazy about his rework of the song he did make it his own more than anybody else tonight did. (Related story: a friend drew about 1800 trips to her blog by applying the keywords “Is Blake Lewis Gay?” to an article that had nothing to do with Blake, AI or gay.)
Lakisha Jones - Wrong song, too much Shirley Bassey imitation (intentional or not), wrong outfit (even with the diamonds- this was the week she should have done white evening gown). Good voice but “eh” performance.
Jordin Sparks - I agreed with Simon- vocally great and very very very down. However, I mean it is a compliment. Perfect crying in your beer music, and there’s a place for that.
Sanjaya Malakar - who lit a fire under his little Tiger Beat ass and did they ever find out who killed that girl’s kitten? I hope he goes home this week for his sake- just so he can go home on an up note. I think that in college he’ll be great in Jesus Christ Superstar or as Marius in Les Mis but he’s just not AI. Speaking of Tiger Beat, I think Simon’s “the little girl says it all” was a bit of a jab- that Sanjaya’s kept on life support by tweener votes.
Chris Richardson - Best of his by far but I still just don’t think he’s anything really special. (Strangely, he’s way better looking than Blake, but Blake’s sexier.)
Haley Scarnato - That must be jelly cause Jam don’t shake like that… but she can shake it on to the AI in Concert Tour. I’m just not a huge fan, and there’s a reason she threw wiggling ass in hooker pants into the mix (it’ll get more votes than her okay but far from great vocals).
Chris Sligh - At his best great but this wasn’t his great. I’d never choose a song that’s so perfectly done already, especially one owed a lot of its success to the instrumentals and studio.
Gina Glocksen - As my passionate “Put Sanjaya on a bus, please!” feeling turns to less passionate “Put Sanjaya on a bush, but be nice about it-- give him some Olive Garden coupons or something” sentiment, my dislike of her rises. What I said about Chris S. “don’t choose a song that’s been done perfectly” goes 20x for her, especially after her assault and battery on Lovechild. I know nothing of her past- she could be a ghetto kid or the daughter of a billionaire pharmaceutical CEO for all I know- but her singing, her look, everything makes me think “kid from a suburban home with ‘Blue Country Duck’ wallpaper who goes Goth and thinks she’s edgy”. Boring, milky, just blah. Upgrade Sanjaya to a plane- hell, throw in a trip to Disneyworld even, and give his bus ticket to Gina.
Stephanie Edwards- Not enough to give me an opinion hardly. Not bad, not great, just kind of there.
My choice to go home: Gina. Then Sanjaya.
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Jordin - Awesome. She had that restrained passion thing going that a great singer can summon up. Melinda’s got the same thing.
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Melinda - Great, great singer. But her comments with Lulu worried me. Faced with a whole decade of great music, she dug way down into the pile to find yet another boring showtune. I have a feeling that Melinda’s range begins and ends with R&B and Broadway show tunes. Not that she couldn’t sing lots of other stuff, she just doesn’t want to. If that’s her thing, that’s fine. But that diminishes my interest in her, because that’s not the kind of music I enjoy listening to. I hope at some point she picks a real rocking song and kills it, or even better yet tries for some blues.
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Blake - Very cool. Not quite his range - you could tell he really had to reach for that high note, and it was distracting. But major props for the song arrangement - he’s clearly got more than just singing talent. He’s the one guy on this show who I think could make an interesting record.
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LaKisha - Big Lakisha fan, but this song kind of sucked. And the performance was uneven.
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Chris S - Not his best performance by a mile, and he’s only as high as he is because the rest of them won the race to the bottom. The first four on my list were a whole level above the rest of the pack.
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Stephanie - Sorry, I already forgot everything she did.
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Haley - Not bad. She’s the beneficiary of low expectations, but even by that standard she was okay. She’s certainly not embarassing herself. I felt she’s finally holding her own in this bunch. She’s not anywhere near the top of the field, but she’s not the worst either. I think she’ll survive another week.
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Gina - Come on, Gina. We need you stay in the competition to make it more interesting. But you kinda sucked tonight.
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Chris R - I know exactly what’s wrong with him. He communicates zero emotion in his singing. It’s all technique and no soul. And the technique isn’t that great. Dude, sing like you care about the song, not about yourself.
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Phil - I’d like to put you above Chris, 'cause Chris is a big weenie. But you lost one point for the shiny head.
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Sanjaya - Holy crap, that was a train wreck. It sounded like something you’d hear if you went over to a friend’s for dinner and heard his kids downstairs doing really bad karaoke. At least William Hung had that so-bad-it’s-good surrealism thing going for him. Sanjaya is just totally boring. I actually felt the will to live draining from my body as he performed.
Well. Just tivoed. And as the show progressed, I happily sipped the koolaid that Randy and Paula were serving up–“Some good performances tonight.” But then, with the recap, after Melinda reminded us that she’s on an entirely different TV show, all the other performances just fell flat after her. Lakisha was OK, Sanjaya made an effort, Chris R needs to quit the nasally squeaking, Chris S and Gina sucked hard, but not as hard as Haley, I still hate Phil, I want to chop Blake’s feet off if it will make him stop just fidgeting because he apparently doesn’t know how to stand in one place without doing his stupid Urkel robot foot dance but his song was cute enough, Stephanie was not good, Jordin was good, but Melinda kicked they ass.
Ha! I actually started to take notes tonight, which I abandoned, but not before I jotted, “Who killed her puppy?”
Hot dog! This was one of the few theme songs where I knew every song except one (Tobacco Road) word for word and note for note!
Unfortuntately, that created a bias in some cases. Still, this was also one of the few times when I was mad jealous of the contestants for getting to meet the guest judges! In their shoes, I would have taken any opportunity to pick Lulu and Noone’s brains on what the scene was really like in their heyday. And I’m glad they’ve stopped showing footage of the contestants being told the week’s theme and guests and saying, “Who? What?”
Haley: I like the straight-up girl-group sound for a change, instead of big-voiced diva. And she might as well show some skin; what has she got to lose? That said, um, Haley…don’t sit down in shorts. I have the same problem, but I’m working on it. Also, color me astounded that The Exciters were British. I honestly did not know; I assumed they were Motown. :smack:
Chris R.: …zzzzzzzzz… What? Oh yeah. Well, he came close to being good, but that’s a tricky song. Gerry Marsden had a resonant voice and a wide range. Chris does not, so it basically sounded like he was singing underwater.
Stephanie: Now, I loveloveLOVE Dusty Springfield’s version of this, but I still don’t think I’m biased in saying that the song was too big for Stephanie. What’s compelling about the original is that DS’s voice is as sweet as taffy, but at the same time, powerful enough to make water vibrate. It’s hard for me to judge Stephanie’s tone on its own merits, but I don’t think I’m being biased in saying that the background singers should not have been louder than she was.
Blake: This guy is awesome. Okay, I’ll take half a point off for the leg-twitch. (is there some kind of mutual dare among the guys, that two of them have done it so far? If so, I’m not looking forward to Chris S.'s turn at it.) But I don’t feel that he strained for the high note, at least not so much that it bothered me, and overall, I’d say he nailed it. I gave him a bunch of votes.
LaKisha: Loved her sound, loved her gown. I think I actually liked it a tad more than Bassey’s version.
Phil: He might be the one to go this week.
Jordin: I can see her winning. She could outlast any guy except Blake. As for the women, only Lakisha and Melinda are real threats. Jordin is good and consistent, and if one of those other two wears thin, she could pull ahead.
Sanjaya: I just don’t believe it. What a frakking train wreck.
Gina: I had no problem with her performance. Then again, I had no particular love for it either.
Chris S. Not the best song choice. Still, I love his voice. I’m biased in that, too: I admit it. All I hear is his voice, and it was terrific as always.
Melinda: Also terrific as always. Though I agree with those who thought it odd that she chose a show tune. Still, at least she didn’t grin all the way through it the way Nadia did.
I wonder how Lakisha would have fared if she took Lulu’s advice and went with the other song. I don’t remember what it was now but it’s interesting how she asks the guest celebrities advice and then does the opposite each time.
I found most of the performances to be underwhelming this week. I actually thought Haley did OK but it can’t save her. Missed Sanjaya (I threw Mr. K a bone…he’s very pissed that he’s lasted this long). Melinda was good (and god help me, but I knew every word to that song) but it was a snore-fest nonetheless.
Lulu was adorable. Peter Noone put on a few pounds but he still has that smile I fell in love with all those years ago.
This week: It gets a big blah from me.
I really enjoyed the theme this week. So I would assume they’re going to do something I hate next week. They’ve already used Rod Stewart…Bruce Springsteen, maybe?
Haley: Picked the right song, and using the boobs and legs! She may stay a little longer.
Chris R.: Nasal, whiny, I hate him. Of course the judges creamed all over him.
Stephanie: I thought she’d do better than that. Bleh.
Blake: I couldn’t dislike anyone who picked such a great song. He didn’t sing it all that well, but he was really interesting. I’m starting to root for him to win, even though I know there are better singers.
Lakisha: I too would have preferred Goldfinger. She did okay, although her voice went so low on some lines I couldn’t hear her.
Phil: I spent his performance time trimming my cats’ claws and gluing on these little plastic caps called SoftPaws. I got the multicolored pack this time and decorated those kitties right up! They are so cute and annoyed with me now.
Jordin: Wow! I sort of hope Melinda and Lakisha cancel each other out and let this girl shine. She deserves it.
Sanjaya: rockle, I’d have broken something if he’d done Lola…but now that you mention it, it would be kind of funny too. Little Crying Girl, take a pill.
Gina: Hate.
Sligh: What happened? You used to be funny and good.
Melinda: Boring.
Four pages and nobody mentioned Seacrest doing that jerking off/hand job motion when talking about Chris S. and the mic stand? You guys are losing your touch! I rewound to show my husband he laughed harder than I’ve ever seen him laugh in the 13 years we’ve been together.
Anyway, that little girl was bizarre and Jordin and Melinda were the best.
Little Crying Girl was sitting in front of Nigel Lithgowe, which amused me for reasons that I can’t quite put my finger on (but which partially have to do with the fact that they spent ages on this random LCG, but never once pointed out that Nigel was there).
I am beginning to have the really unnerving feeling that Melinda has experienced some… very bad things in her life. There’s just something about her overall demeanor that is pinging the clinical radar part of my brain. I’ve always sort of harbored that idea, but her picking a song about a woman who loves/stays with her man even though he beats the crap out of her pushed me over the edge. I liked her performance last night, but missed part of it due to repeatedly saying “EEEEEWWWWWW!!!” after she projectile-spit onto the microphone.
Blake sorta creeped me out last night, especially with the crazy-eyes on “Who’s your daddy?” And the chorus never quite sounded right.
For all the disparaging remarks the judges have handed out regarding shrill screaming pseudovocals, I can’t believe they let that monstrosity of Sanjaya’s “performance” slide by. Ugh.
Best line of the night: “I think the little girl’s face says it all…” 