Of course – like most of America - I watched American Idol last night, and once again Jordin Sparks blew me away.  I hope she wins the whole thing.  She knows how to pick a song, and she can sing!  She gets the audience wrapped up in whatever she is singing – and that’s important.

Before I get into the rest of last night’s performance and who I think should be booted off tonight, I have to ask:  What WAS with the girl who kept crying?  That was just plain weird.  At first I thought maybe she was star-struck about Sanjaya – but then she cried for other contestants, too.  The child needs to get out more.  Really strange.

Back to the contestants:   Amazingly enough, I LIKED Sanjaya last night.  When he first walked out with the half-gloves, I thought “Oh no, he’s going for the Michael Jackson look.”  However, he was fun, his vocals were okay, and he seemed likeable.  He worked the audience like a pro.  He has withstood a lot of criticism, but he kept on working at it.  I never thought I’d say this, but I actually hope he doesn’t get booted off tonight.

And Haley – I really liked her, too.  She chose a good song for her voice and she both sang and PERFORMED it.  I liked the outfit she wore.  Yes, a little revealing – but she handled it well.  I think Lulu nailed it when she said that Haley isn’t the big voice that some of the other contestants are, but she has a definite place in the competition.  She needs to accentuate her strong points and not try to imitate Lakisha or Melinda.  I think she did that last night by emphasizing her ability to entertain and interact with the audience while singing.

Lakisha was weak – what a terrible song choice!  Nothing else to say about that except that it would take a lot more than a million dollars worth of diamonds to make that song listen-able.

And Gina Glockson – very forgettable last night, but I think she’ll stay because she’s the “rocker girl” and she has a solid fan-base.  I don’t think there is any chance at all of her winning the competition, though.  Despite that, I like Gina.

While I like Melinda, and I think she has a great voice, I just don’t particularly care for her.  She doesn’t have that “star” quality.  Since I’m a fellow Tennessean, I feel a little guilty for not being a major Melinda fan.  C’est la vie.  We’re WEEKS into the competition.  It’s time for her to give up the incredulous looks (What? I can’t believe you’re clapping and cheering for little old insignificant ME?!) after each performance.  There was a funny segment on “The Soup” last Friday about Melinda’s facial expressions.  It was hilarious – and right on the mark.  Some advice:  “Melinda – you can be appreciative and gracious about the applause and cheers without acting like you’ve never heard it before!”

I thought Blake Lewis was awful.  So awful that I was shocked when all three judges gushed over how “wonderful” they thought he was.   He’s definitely got a following.  Why, I don’t know.  I don’t understand Blake’s appeal.  He looks like a fish gasping for air when he sings – and he doesn’t make his singing engaging and believeable.  His voice is weak.  But it looks like he’ll be around for a few more weeks at least.

And Chris Richardson was too nasal.  Before he sang, he talked about how he was going to show a different side of his singing, and it ended up sounding like every other song I’ve heard him sing.  I don’t understand how he’s made it this far.

Phil Stacey seems like a nice enough guy – but he doesn’t have the head and facial features to carry off the bald look successfully.  He looks goofy. Most importantly, though, his vocals just aren’t strong.  He and Blake are similar in that they just don’t engage the audience.  I couldn’t tell you what either of them sang without having to look it up.  While Blake at least has that sound-stuff he does (What IS that called?), Phil doesn’t have anything other than his bald head to set him apart from the crowd.

Stephanie did a good job with her singing last night, and she seems like a really nice person.  She’s got one major problem, though:  She simply doesn’t stand out from the crowd.

I think Chris Sligh will get by another few weeks – and maybe he’ll get better.  I’ve sure seem phenomenal improvement from both Sanjaya and Haley.  So it can be a growing process.

Who will be voted off?  In my opinion, there are three who could be voted off tonight: Stephanie Edwards, Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson. They were the weakest performers last night. My money is on Phil Stacey.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Stephanie Edwards.  And I’d cheer if it is Chris Richardson or Blake Lewis.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 11:23 am and is filed under Television/Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.