Sanjaya’s gone and the international nightmare is over… unless Trump actually takes Surya’s advice and hires him. Truly, American Idol gives back.
Opening Credits
This week, Newscorp is donating 10 cents per call to charity, the (unseen) mentor is Bono, and the judges are still Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.
The theme this week is “Songs That Inspire”, so I hope you’re ready for a slew of sappy ballads. Let’s
Chris Richardson, “Change the World”, Eric Clapton
Randy – Tonight for the first time, dude you in it to win it.
Paula – It was a great song choice. I’m really proud of you.
Simon – It kind of feels that the competition starts tonight. Good vocal, I think you did really well.
Chris tries to mix R&B and Country into the song, and it works pretty well, but that’s to be expected, seeing as sappy ballads are right in his wheelhouse. He inexplicably does this run in the middle of the song, which has absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics, and is greatly unappreciated by me. I can appreciate the run at the end of the song a bit more, but it too, was kind of extraneous and unnecessary. Still, it didn’t overshadow the good work elsewhere for me.
Score: 6.5
Melinda Doolittle, “There Will Come a Day”, Faith Hill
Randy – I don’t know what to say anymore.
Paula – There’s noone like you. You’re a natural.
Simon – It wasn’t a copycat performance. You took a song, you absolutely made me believe you recorded it. That was a vocal master class.
Apparently, we will be saving a life if we vote. Way to make Canadian viewers feel great about themselves Ryan. Folks, there are other ways you can help others. Donate to the Red Cross. Volunteer time at your local shelter. Sponsor a child through World Vision, etc. You shouldn’t have to dial into an American Idol line to “do your part”.
And yes, I’ve run out of things to say about Melinda. She’s great, ok?
Score: 9
Blake Lewis, “Imagine”, John Lennon
Randy – Great choice of song. On the performance side, I was just kinda aiight for me.
Paula – It’s the first real sensitive emotional song I’ve seen from you, and I really enjoyed that.
Simon – This is a tricky one, and I kinda know where Paula was coming from. I think the most important part is that you sang it with sincerity.
This is an easy song to sing, and a tough one to sing WELL. I thought Blake sang it real well. There was no dancing, no fancy runs or anything, just Blake bearing his soul to the world and letting the emotion of the song shine through. The vocals weren’t perfect, but I didn’t think that it needed to be here. Great stuff.
Score: 7.5
LaKisha Jones, “I Believe”, Fantasia Barrino
Randy – It was another great song choice from you. It wasn’t my favourite performance, but I liked it.
Paula – I have a hard time getting past Fantasia.
Simon – I’m having an issue with the shouting.
So next week, I guess we should expect LaKisha to sing a Ruben Studdard song. This was classic LaKisha, where she unleashes her voice into a R&B/Gospel ballad. The thing here is that this is nothing that we haven’t seen from LaKisha before, and I think that that may hurt her in the voting.
Score: 6.5
Phil Stacy, “The Change”, Garth Brooks
Randy – You’re back again this week on another strong performance.
Paula – I feel like you really found your comfort.
Simon – If you can connect now with the two elements (pop and country) you can do really well in this.
I was really bored with Phil’s rendition of the song. The thing is that I can’t point to any one reason why. I suppose the point I’m making here is that Phil’s a decent singer, just not one that “inspires” me.
Score: 5.5
Jordin Sparks, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Standard)
Randy – I think that was one of the best performances ever.
Paula – You did a lovely job.
Simon – I thought you were fantastic. I think you’d have a hit record with that.
Emotionally, Jordin was right there with Blake, showing vulnerability, but like similar weeks, I wasn’t really feeling that connection with her. The thing was that I really wanted to like this performance, and she sang undeniably well, but I ended up going “eh” afterwards.
Score: 7
Kevin’s Rankings
“Inspired”
Melinda
Blake
Jordin
“Ordinary”
LaKisha
Chris R.
“Oh-so boring”
Phil
Predictions
Bottom Two: Phil and LaKisha. If it’s a bottom three, Chris will earn that spot.
Eliminated: Let’s go with Phil again.
That’s all for now.
