American Idol - Season 6

[PirateLover]

this argument doesn't make sense

Welp, it is clear we will not see eye to eye on this matter, so I am moving on.

Tuesday (as everyone should know by now due to Fox and Idol's relentless self-promotion) isthe beginning of the 2 day Idol Gives Back special. The theme is "Inspirational Songs" and as far as I can tell there is no guest mentor. I'm hoping that it's not a fest in terms of song choice.

[Melanie]

Moderator Alert!!

Welp, it is clear we will not see eye to eye on this matter, so I am moving on.

As we all now should!

Sanjaya is gone. While his presence obviously caused a bit of controversy in our otherwise happy little 'American Idol' thread, he is now no longer a part of the show. Let's all move on and discuss the remaining shows and contestants without sarcasm or flaming.

Thanks everybody!

[dw2649]

Major Spoiler Below! Do not highlight if you do not want to read:

Tomorrow Night's performance show was taped tonight. Here are the songs that people sang (From televisionwithoutpity.com):

01 Chris Richardson "If I Could Change The World"
02 Melinda Doolittle "There Will Come A Day"
03 Blake Lewis "Imagine"
04 LaKisha Jones "I Believe"
05 Phil Stacey "The Change"
06 Jordin Sparks "You'll Never Walk Alone"
I think the theme was something that inspired the contestants, or something like that to tie into the Idol Gives Back show on Wednesday.

[Ian]

My reviews, in order from worst to first:

Chris - Holy Hannah, I swear the judges have headphones in while they're listening to Chris and are mistaking whatever they're listening to for his singing. I think he's screechy, nasally, pitchy, out of synch, and just plain horrendous. Honestly, I'm starting to think he's worse than Sanjaya was. He needs to GO!

LaKisha - Bleh. Another mailed in, dull as paint, shouty, overwrought mess from our one-trick-pony LaKisha. She's next on the list after Chris. I dislike her more and more each week and I didn't think that was possible.

Blake - I agreed 100% with Simon and Paula on this one. Wasn't his best, but it's tough to get too carried away with Imagine. It's one of those songs that is what it is ... an anthem. You can't mess with it, but you'll never be quite as good as Lennon so it's a tough spot. He'll be in the bottom three for sure, but he'll probably be safe at least one more week.

Phil - Again, I agree with the judges. I think Phil has stepped it up huge in the last two weeks. All of a sudden he's gone from a joke to a contender. Since I said it about LaKisha, though, I have to say it about Phil ... he's a bit of a one trick pony although he sure is good when he's in his comfort zone. One thing, though, I thought Simon was right. The entire performance I felt something was a little out of whack and then I realized it as soon as Simon said it ... he sang a country song with his soul voice. It would have been even better if he had brought that country voice from last week.

Melinda - Okay ... the last two weeks I've officialy switched over from a Melinda-doubter into a believer. She's cleaned up her look and of course her vocals are amazing. All that being said, she's still no ...

Jordin - Who, to me, might as well get handed the title now and call it off. On a scale of 1-10, she's a 37 as compared to everyone else. This is two unbelieveable, amazing, star-quality performances in a row. She's the one to beat.

[Melanie]

I thought Lakisha sounded really bad. I hope it's her night to go. I didn't think she had "it" before, but now I'm convinced.

I wasn't as blown away by Jordin's performance as the judges were. Certainly not the best performance on AI ever, IMO. It was good, but it didn't give me goosebumps.

I honestly thought the best performance was by Phil.

[Jeff]

A pretty good week.
I agree with Ian's rankings completely. That is the order I would put them in based on last night.

[conorsmom2000]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but this is the first year Mike and I have watched AI! And our friends all keep saying that's a shame, because to them, it's the worst season.....but, it's definitely interesting when you are a newbie to all this!

My reviews, in order from worst to first:

Thanks for the review! We did miss this weeks show, unfortunately, though we'll catch it tonight. It's at a point where it's tough for me to pick one, though the two I'm not crazy about are Chris and LaKisha. But, I do think Melinda and Jordin will be the top two contenders.

[Brer Mickey]

I am completely disappointed in the judges after last night. Jordin had the best vocals and performance? I don't think so. Jordin has a very beautiful voice, but she is young and inexperienced and she needs to develope and refine her technique before I could personally consider her the best singer.

She has very poor breathing techniques and you can hear her sucking in deep short breaths between phrases though her entire song, whatever she happens to be singing. And if anyone was shouting last night, it was Jordin. I love the song You'll Never Walk Alone, (that and If I Loved You are the only redeeming qualities of Carousel) but on the chorus at the end, she was shouting far more than Lakisha ever has.

I am not bashing Jordin. I think she has great potential and has had some very memorable perfomances (Reflections being the most memorable)and with some proper professional training, she could be a superstar!

However, American Idol is a singing competition not a who-has-potential contest, and I have to consider the entire scope of a competition, not just the previous night's performance, to say who is or who is not a true contender for the prize. Based on that, I would have to say so far that Melinda has delivered the most consistant, star-quality performances and in my eye, is by far the best singer on the show this year.

[citizensnoopy]

I agree with Brer Mickey. I like Jordin. I wasn't thrilled with her performance last night, though. I feel like Melinda is more polished as a singer.

I'm hoping that Chris or Lakisha goes tonight. I can't believe Lakisha sang another song by a previous AI winner!

[MNNHFLTX]

I thought Jordin's performance was wonderful last night. It's true she is not as polished as Melinda (who was also wonderful), but she has more star presence, IMO, and is more marketable. I would love it to come down to the two of them at the end of the competition.

I thought Phil did very well, but then "The Change" has always been one of my favorite songs. And Blake was fine too. I'm in agreement with at least some of you that I do not know what the judges see (or hear, as it may be) in Chris. He has good pitch, but with a tight, pinched and (yes) nasally sound to his voice. He would do okay in a boy band, but as a solo artist, I know his voice would bug me.

[PirateLover]

I think I must be living in Bizarro World this week. Maybe it's because I was at the Phillies game (which they won! 4 in row! lol) and watched it on DVR and fast forwarded all the Idol Gives Back hoo hah. Now I am definitely a fan of bringing awareness to charity but the way I feel is that if Fox News Corp wants to give $5 mill, just DO IT. Why is it dependent on our votes? I think it would've been more effective had it been a seperate telethon thing maybe after the season and they brought in tons of former contestants and mentors

But anyway, basically every recap I read said it was a snoozer, yadda yadda... but I actually LIKED all of the performances!
Lakisha was the worst for me again, but not as bad as last week. However she keeps committing the cardinal sin of choosing songs made famous by former idol winners. This is 2 weeks in a row and I'm not sure it did her any favors.

Chris was eons better than last week I thought. Of course he's no Eric Clapton and the judges slobbered over him a bit too much but I found some enjoyment in it.

Phil was on key and everything and he sounded good but I just can't do it. I can't be a Phil fan, sorry guys! Just something about him bores the heck out of me. I admit to fast forwarding about halfway through his performance.

Blake, I thought, was great. I wasn't bored at all. The beauty of that song is in the lyrics and the simplistic melody. I have heard so many really god awful versions where people try to jazz it up and diva it out and everything and you just wanna scream NO. I thought he did not hit a bad note and he played it well. I mean what did Randy want him do, moonwalk? Given the theme for this week, there weren't too many options for him.

Melinda was great per usual.

With Jordin, I did agree with the judges. I thought she showed great control of her voice and her emotions were just pouring through. This is my mother's favorite song and it made both of us cry so she gets an A in my book.

I have no clue who will be in the bottom. But with 4 hours of voting there might be a shock, who knows. My bottom would be Lakisha, Chris, Phil, with Kiki or Chris getting the boot

[jedigrrrl]

Idol Gives Back took the fun out of the show. That was hands down the most boring episode of Idol EVER. I watched it on my Tivo and fast forwarded through most of, even the BLAH performances. i couldn't sit through them. I watched the whole thing in 10 minutes. What's next week's theme? I hope it's more exciting.

I finally caught American Idol Rewind this weekend and my husband and I both got goosebumps after hearing Kelly Clarkson sing during the Final 4 performances. That has not happened this year at all. I got it last year from Chris Daughtry.

If you wanna see a pretty cool video, search "Kelly Clarkson Metal" on youtube and watch the video of her performing with a metal band. She's awesome.

[Bethanymouse]

I think that Jordin was fabulous last night. She rocked the competition. Melinda is a good singer, no one can take that away from her however I dont believe that she will sell records. I think she will be the next Fantasia, Rueben, and Taylor Hicks. I think Jordin has the voice and the package. Hats off to her.

[Marker]

My opinion....

Top 3 - Jordan, Melinda, Blake
Bottom 3 - Phil, Lakesha, Chris..... Chris goes home.

Jordan was awesome.

"Idol Gives Back", the show is usually an hour long, it was an hour long last night. Everyone had a chance to sing. They showed a few pieces designed to increase awareness.... I don't see a problem. In fact, I voted more than I normally would BECAUSE OF Idol Gives Back.

But then, I watch the show because I enjoy it, and I vote for performances I like. Likewise, I don't mind a relatively minor intrusion for the sake of awareness and raising funds for a worthy cause. This helps children, it IS worth a few minutes of my time.

[poeticeclipse]

I finally caught American Idol Rewind this weekend and my husband and I both got goosebumps after hearing Kelly Clarkson sing during the Final 4 performances. That has not happened this year at all. I got it last year from Chris Daughtry.

If you wanna see a pretty cool video, search "Kelly Clarkson Metal" on youtube and watch the video of her performing with a metal band. She's awesome.

I've been a huge Kelly Clarkson fan since AI started and long story short, i've followed her career very close and there is just no one popping out of AI like her. I won't go on and on about how much I adore her and why but I will say that she had something that not many other contestants have had on AI, thats the "X" factor. No one knows what it is but she has it. I think Chris Daughtry had it and I'm not sure about anyone else on the show prior. I think Blake is the closest one this season.

Really, to me, Blake is the whole package. The Voice, the Style, the Personality, the Charisma, the Brains, and the Heart. He knows so much about music and that's really impressive. I'll rattle on later but I have to go tan (gettin' ready for the Florida sun!)

[Wayne]

I fail to see what is so special about Blake. His performance of Imagine almost put me to sleep. Chris is just anoying.

Phil has found his niche with the country songs but I don't think that he'll go all the way.

Jordan is great for 17, but I felt she had intonation problems last night and yelled a bit during the song. LaKesha started off great but has been a disappointment of late.

Melinda has the complete package. She is totally professional, has a voice that knocks 'em dead everytime and knows how to sell a song. I hope she goes all the way.

[Bethanymouse]

So...what did everyone think?

[jedigrrrl]

Unwatchable.

[PirateLover]

Well I actually liked tonight better. I feel like this is what Idol should've done in the first place, not intersperse the clips with the actual Idol performances like last night. I liked the Josh Groban and Kelly Clarkson performances. Annie Lennox was ok but she's not as good as she once was. Celine with Elvis was just kind of odd, even though Elvis was (is? ) the man. The Bono song wasn't as good as I would expect but ah well. I guess he was aiming more for the "we are the world" type of thing, not a U2 style.

I thought the elimination thing was really dirty though. They got me. I let out an audible gasp.

[Marker]

So...what did everyone think?

I believe he said they had already made $30 million...... doesn't matter what I thought, IT WAS WORTH IT.


I thought the Elvis thing was cool.
I thought the Simpsons thing was funny.

The end caught me off guard, but not really surprised. In fact, if you go back and listen to what Ryan first said.... he said he was going to read the names in no particular order, no top or no bottom... he gave the hint right there. ( but if the contestants didn't know about it, I thing Jordan owes them a kick in the pants)

But back to the purpose of the program, they had my donation from their very first stories, in particular the one about the 12 year old boy and his 7 year old system who's parents had died, and the 12 year old was being head of the house.

I hope, no I pray the total raised keeps climbing. That sort of poverty amongst the children of the world is ridiculous.