It's the Round 3 of, we get 3 songs, and even Hat3rad3 gets into the spirit...a little. But who's leaving - and does this week even matter as to the outcome?
I was originally going to put up an (Anal)ysis column this week, but if I did that, it would only contain 2 words -
Bye, Blake.
Yep. I'm that convinced he's gone. Not only has he been singing well below the levels of Jordin and Melinda, but all of the votes from Lakisha are going to go straight to Jordin and Melinda. And the upsets end in the Final Four - there has never been an upset in the Round of 3, and I don't think that it's going to start now. We need to hear some incredibly brutal songs from Jordin or Melinda for that to be a remote possibility. Will we?
We have 3 singers tonight singing three songs - A Judge Choice, a Producer choice, and a Singer choice. Jordin Sparks, who gets a welcome in Glendale Arizona, gets 'Wishing on a Star' from Simon Cowell.
The Good - In addition to the vocal power - which she has shown us week after week - we finally get a piece of the sultry Jordin, which has sort of been masked by her power.
The Bad - I wanted to see more power from her voice, but she may have been scared off by her pitchiness in the start of the tune. And the dress, which made her look like a matronly nun, is hideous.
The Verdict - Very strong start. Not the best, but a nice start, hoping that she can improve it to spectacular by the end of the night.
We go to Washington next, as Blake Lewis gets 'Roxanne', by way of Paula. Can we get any other white soft rocker reference in this show for Blake?
The Good - Tackled the first half of the song with emotion and power...
The Bad - ...and then let it wane for the second half of the song. The pitchiness, however, wasn't provided by Blake - it was provided by the back up singers, which were not only awful, they were Sanjaya-level awful. That could have contribute to Blake getting pitchy near the end.
The Verdict - It is the best that we have heard from him in 3 weeks, but that's because we have heard Blake sound terrible for the past 3 weeks. I keep hearing Sting sing that song, and comparing it to Blake's bland version, that's going to be problematic.
Finally, we head over to Nashville, where Randy Jackson delivers 'I Believe in You and Me' to Melinda Doolittle.
The Good - Melinda does around as well as she can with that song. Said song bails her out at the end with a nice run.
The Bad - Horrific choice of song. If you want to pick a great Whitney Houston song that isn't 'I'm Every Woman' or 'I Have Nothing', (which we hear endlessly), could we at least have heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' or 'All At Once', songs which are more famous and have a tougher vocal range?
The Verdict - Even Randy Jackson is selecting old R and B standards for Melinda, and that song didn't do her any favors to try to diversify her base. What's up with that?
The second round goes to The Producers, who select the songs for the Idolers. Jordin Sparks gets 'She Works Hard for the Money' by Donna Summer. Can we have any more Donna Summer influence this season without actually having her show up for a week?
The Good - She does the best she can with the song, and she hits the money notes at the end.
The Bad - Like Melinda's song, there really isn't a lot of meaty rifts to sink your teeth into, so Jordin would have to come up with some rifts of her own - which she didn't do. Who is coming up with these song choices? The monkey from My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss? And are they also the masterminds behind the still-hideous wardrobe with a variation?
The Verdict - It's a good, solid choice which I'm pretty disappointed in. Not disappointed in Jordin, but disappointed in the lack of good songs for her so far.
Maroon 5's song 'This Love' is what Blake Lewis gets to sink his teeth into. Hopefully, the song won't bite back.
The Good - That song went right into Blake's wheelhouse. This reminds me to earlier in the competition when he had some nice 311 renditions...
The Bad - ...until a few scratches and skips showed up in the performances...oh wait, that's just Blake's beat boxing coming in to ruin a solid vocal performance.
The Verdict - MUCH better than the first selection. It would have been considerably much better if he sang it straight, instead of trying to be cutesy with it. It would have been even better if he put this sort of vocal intensity into his work 3 weeks ago, when he was considered a threat to win the whole thing.
Melinda Doolittle gets a song from Tina Turner called...well who cares what it's called. It's an old R and B standard. You've probably never heard of it.
The Good - Melinda does the one thing that Jordin and Blake haven't done this evening - make the song her own and really nail the pitch out of it.
The Bad - She didn't nail the lyrics, as she was about to sing her way right into the band solo.
The Verdict - I thought it was a nice performance - but I think that again, she is going to have a problem with diversification, and she could have done a much better job with a much more common Tina Turner Song. I would have love to have seen her do 'River Deep, Mountain High'. THAT would have been fun...
The last song is selected by the idolists, as they get to reprise their favorite song. Jordin goes back to 'I, who have nothing'.
The Good - Jordin actually sings the song better this time, which I thought would be very hard to do.
The Bad - Ran out of gas near the end of the song. Let's go back to the dress, which now makes her look like a giant piece of cotton candy.
The Verdict - Best performance of the evening for her. It goes to show just how much she has improved during this performance. Her wardrobe manager needs to go hang out at Tim Gunn's House of Style.
Blake Lewis decides to break out a new song - Robin Thicke's 'When I Get You Alone'. I think it's a great choice - if only because he's had only one dynamite signature performance and I don't think he can afford to go back to the other songs.
The Good - Great choice of song. Took a risk and it definitely paid off here.
The Bad - Where was this for the past 3 weeks? The Beatboxing, while at the end, still detracted from the great vocal performance.
The Verdict - I'll reiterate what I said earlier. He needed to do this stuff a month ago and give us a pure vocal performance, instead of trying to do too much with the arrangements and beat-box his way in. I actually think the special gimmicky stuff, done way too soon, actually hurt him.
Melinda Doolittle decides to go back to earlier in the competition with 'I'm a Woman'.
The Good - The best part was not the fact that she nailed the song. The best part was when she sang with the back up singers - maybe in her own way showing us that she has finally graduated from Back Up to full time performer.
The Bad - I've said this all night long. Technically great, but it's all old school that the audience may not relate to.
The Verdict - She will get to the finals, easy. She was the best singer of the evening.
Overall Verdict - Well this is an easy one.
OUT: The Wardrobe Coordinator
I can't do that? Fine. Let's see.
Did Blake outperform Melinda? No.
Did Blake knock Jordin out of the park? No.
Did either Melinda or Jordin royally mess up? No.
Will Blake make it to the finals? No.
OUT: BLAKE LEWIS
We'll see in 12 hours if we get an all-female final.
G.
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I don't follow this show, but I saw Melinda Doolittle a bit last night and the week before, and i swear she gave me goosebumps all over by the third note. in an age of cheesy flashy soulless singers (cough, Beyonce), it takes a lot to move me. Baffling how Blake got this far at all; Jordin's gorgeous but Melinda's in another league altogether.
i wouldn't underestimate blake. based on your logic, elliot yamin and katherine mcphee should have been in the top two, defeating taylor easily. instead, he won. i wish this show was truly a singing contest, but when you get down to the end, it turns into a popularity contest. i would honestly not be surprised to see melinda or jordin go tonight.
Hi Jenni -
Actually, last year, on the site that I did this commentary on last year (gameshownewsnet.com), I called Elliot to get knocked out in the final three and I called Taylor to win the whole thing.
Last season, Taylor was far and away not only the best performer, but he was ALSO the best SINGER. Taylor should have won - and did win - Idol. Idol is a combination of musical talent (which Blake pales in comparison against Jordn and Melinda) and popularity, which Blake ALSO doesn't have - of those three, he is the only one to be in the bottom two. Jordin and Melinda have never been in the bottom two in any stage of the competition.
G.
if you're talking about pure technical ability, taylor was pretty bad. was he a great performer? sure. probably the best idol has ever seen. but elliot outsang him week after week after week( you are actually the first person i've heard say that taylor was a better singer than elliot).
i really have to agree with simon cowell on this one. i thought taylor was an awful singer.
as for my reasoning as to why blake might stay, it's simply this: as far as style of music and singing goes, jordin and melinda are very similar. they both come across as great r&b singers. i think it's possible that a lot of people will vote for blake, just so the final show won't be melinda and jordin belting out r&b standards all night. i could be wrong, tho. I just feel that a top two with the girls would be dull as dishwater. i don't feel blake is particularly talented, singing-wise, but he does have something different going for him.
Hi Jenni -
Singing isn't just about technicality. Singing is about musically being able to convey the song in terms of emotion and being able to deliver the message to the listeners. Although Katharine and Elliott both were excellent technical singers, they both failed miserably in singing with passion and emotion, and that's why Taylor is the better singer.
This is also where Blake fails. Blake is a good singer technically as well - probably better than Jordin in that aspect. But instead of trying to deliver emotion (which he has only done successfully with Marc Anthony's 'I Need to Know' and his last 2 songs last night), he relies on the gimmicky beatboxing, which is only tolerable in doses and is not a substitute for emotional singing.
As for the R and B aspect - if you said that in March, then I would agree with you, but Jordin has now tackled Bon Jovi and Rodgers and Hammerstein, nailed Martina McBride's Broken Wing, and on a night that she could have wussed out and picked Donna Summer, selected Gwen Stefani and sang a very good 'Hey Baby'. Make no mistake, Jordin Sparks is the most well-rounded singer in this competition, and if there's anyone who's stuck in R and B land, it's Melinda.
G.
ok, yes, i hadn't thought of the "emotional" standpoint, so I can see where you're coming from there.
as for jordin tackling other genres..yes, she has, when she's forced to because of the theme of that week's show(and i do think she butchered the bon jovi song). i guess i can't say too much about her song selecion last night, since she was only able to choose one of the songs she sang. but i didn't see much variety from her last night, and i think melinda outsang her.
but blake falls into the same problem by beatboxing in every song as well.
you're most likely correct that blake will leave. and no matter who goes, it should be a pretty unsurprising finale. melinda should have no problem defeating either jordin or blake.
I think the finale may be more interesting than you think, depending on who is left in the finals. I'll have more on that after the results show.
G.
Why is no-one mentioning that Melinda has no neck?
i think i'm going to prematurely call jordin the winner this year.
all in all, melinda didn't deserve to go. this may be better for her tho, because i think the winner and first runner-up have a lot more idol commitments than the third-place contestant.