Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Copyright 2007, Fox Broadcasting

If the American Idol finalists thought they'd get a break after the Bon Jovi theme the week before, they were wrong. This time, they squared off with Bee Gees songs.

Barry Gibb acted as the celebrity voice coach, and despite some reservations about some of the arrangements, had little advice to give. Perhaps he realized how difficult the songs would be for others to perform, given his unique vocal range and frequent use of falsetto.

First up was Melinda Doolittle, who performed "Love You Inside and Out" in a black peasant top with dark jeans and lots of beaded bracelets. She showed off strong vocals and got into her performance, strutting across the stage. The song wasn't exactly a hit for the Bee Gees, though, and that's for a reason. It's not the most exciting song.

Judge Randy Jackson called it a solid performance and said it was good but he wasn't jumping up and down about it. Nice judge Paula Abdul said her vocals were almost spot on but she was looking for the wow factor. Tough judge Simon Cowell said he wasn't that impressed. He said it was a backing vocalist performance, not a star's and that she can do better.

Then Blake Lewis took the stage with "You Should Be Dancing", wearing a gray Nehru jacket with white embroidery, black pants and red tennis shoes, a blonde streak in his now dark hair. This song was good for his range, and he proved he has a nice falsetto. He added a little beat boxing and dancing to the song, which seemed a bit extraneous.

Randy said that sometimes the beat boxing works but that tonight it made it very corny. Paula said that he'd started shaky, and his pitch was off. But she said that nobody can do what he does, that he's unique. Simon said he'll give him unique but that he thought it was absolutely terrible.

For her first song, LaKisha Jones selected "Staying Alive", which even Barry Gibb acknowledged would be a challenge. She had to change the lyrics, first of all, making it "You can see by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman" instead of "I'm a woman's man". Overall, she definitely had presence but added a lot of personal flavor to the song, which took away from the original feel. What's more, she made a fashion misstep, in black cropped pants that fit snug to her leg and a blousy, black and white sleeveless top.

Randy called the performance weird and said that the song has a great melody which doesn't need to be changed. He said she'd tried to do too much. Paula said that taking the tempo down had killed the audience's desire to dance, but added, "We love you." Simon said, "No kiss tonight, baby," in reference to last week. He said she was back to shouting and that the performance was "scary in parts."

Finishing the first round, Jordin Sparks sang "To Love Somebody", and it was pitchy in parts and not exciting. Also, she wore a baby doll dress in a brown, yellow, red and gray abstract pattern over jeans, which did nothing for her.

Randy called it the best vocal so far and compared her to Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey. Paula said she looked beautiful and called it the best vocals so far. Simon said it was the best song choice and the best performance so far. "We're back in the competition," he announced.

Melinda sang "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" for her second song, wearing a steel gray silk dress and black pearls. She delivered a beautiful vocal with a powerful second half that had the audience cheering.

Randy said her second song was better, that it was a great song and a great vocal. He praised the beautiful ending. Paula called it a beautiful vocal and called her a throwback to Stephanie Mills. Still, she reiterated her desire for Melinda to "surprise us." Simon said that the second half of the song "has put you into the semifinals."

Blake chose an obscure tune for his second song, "This Is Where I Came In". On top of a strange performance that was a little bit Morrissey a little bit lost, he wore a very strange outfit of a shirt that looked like about half a gray argyle sweater, with one sleeve half gray and the other white.

Randy called it better than his first song and, while he liked the reggae spin, said once more he doesn't have to beat box on everything. He said it gets old. Paula countered that nothing is old about Blake, that he's contemporary. She enjoyed his singing, her highest praise being that he was on key. Simon said he didn't know what the song was and found it very tuneless. He commented that Blake hadn't had a good night and that it was a bizarre choice of song.

For her second song, LaKisha sang "Run to Me", wearing a green and black halter dress that was very flattering. This was a ballad, so that's her bread and butter, and she was doing great until the last note, where her voice broke. Oops.

Randy called it much better than her first song. Paula said not to worry about her voice giving out on the last note, that she's "still a champ." Simon called it better than her first song but said it still wasn't great. He said that she and Blake were vulnerable.

In the money spot, Jordin sang "A Woman in Love" to round out the night, wearing a teal evening gown that made her look like a teal column. The vocal was beautiful, and she handled the key change well. Her performance was lackluster, though, as she chose to just stand at the mic and sing.

Randy said it was not her best and called it pitchy. Paula said she was absolutely beautiful but the performance was not her best. Simon said he loved the song but found it old-fashioned and very pageant-y.

This was a rough week for the contestants. Kudos to Melinda for stepping it up in her second song and to Jordin for providing the first breath of fresh air on a weak night.

I agree with Simon that Blake and LaKisha are in the most danger tonight. Of course, Blake is the only guy, the only one who's really different, so he might very well stay at the expense of LaKisha.

More on American Idol:

Musings on American Idol Season 6 (2007)

Musings on American Idol Season 5 (2006)

Musings on American Idol Season 4 (2005)

Musings on American Idol Season 3 (2004)

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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