Country music night on American Idol was pretty much a karoake session. Martina McBride is a really talented singer, but her translation of advice didn’t seem that strong, judging by the video packages they showed. Basically what I learned listening to her advice was what every good singer says: “feel your song” and the page six advice of Tim McGraw wanted his songs on the show.
Phil covers Keith Urban, and surprisingly doesn’t do a bad job. He says he wants to sing country, that’s news to me and all of America. I think Phil will take anything he can get.
Jordin Sparks is not going anywhere. She went to the school of Melinda Doolittle and nailed performing this week, facial expressions and everything. It takes guts to sing Martina’s “A Broken Wing” and she did it justice. What’s beautiful about “A Broken Wing” is it sweeps you up as the song goes along. Jordin also has that capability as a performer to carry the song to those levels naturally and she’s so gosh-darn loveable. She’s 17, we get it, and she’s remarkable. She’s better than most of the show. She and Melinda are basically the show right now.
The person who should be voted off the show is what I’ve been preaching about for weeks is Sanjaya. He did some funky bandana trick with his hair, went not for a Billy Ray Cyrus song (“Achy Breaky Heart” could have been entertaining) and not a Shania Twain song (“Any Man of Mine” or “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”). Instead, he went for the blues artist who is never given enough credit for being a incredible artist, with Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About”, because he’s the talk of America. He talked through the song, alright, and it was fun hearing Simon telling America how it is, to Sanjaya’s look of horror and disbelief.
LaKisha sang “Jesus Take the Wheel” since that goes along with her belief system, but she should have sang anything in Wynonna Judd’s catalog and she would have soared. She didn’t do horrible but she wasn’t great either. She needs to step it up, and she can’t get comfortable.
I liked Chris during this season, but he came across as very smug after singing Rascal Flatts’ “Mayberry”. Rascal Flatts is never a good choice to begin with, as they are one of the most overrated bands in country music. Informing Simon, after he told Chris that he’d sounded “nasally”, that it had actually been intentional was a bad move in my eyes. It wasn’t good Chris, and you can do better than that.
Melinda picked a song I didn’t know, and made it her own. She looked great, sounded great and is very smart on how she handles this competition. She’s another one that could have covered Wynonna very well, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Melinda opening for Wynonna in her future.
Blake made Tim McGraw happy by covering him. It was a smart choice because I don’t know what other artist Blake could even try to cover, with the exception of some sort of controversial Garth Brooks. Despite this, it was sort of boring, but I didn’t expect Blake to soar on country week.
On Wednesday at exactly 10:05pm EST, my house rejoiced as if our Super Bowl team had just won, or if it was the start of a brand new year—cheers, clapping, standing ovation, celebration all occurred in what may be one of the most talked about moments at the end of this year. This means that he won’t steal Idol this year because of people who are out to corrupt the show. Thank you God, Sanjaya is going home.
Martina McBride’s current single, “Anyway,” was also a good choice. It felt very fitting to the times we live in today, to keep going forward in your life even if you don’t agree with what you’re handed with, and what the Idol contestants go through each week.
Thank you for reading; make your moment your breakthrough.
