The Top-12 American Idol finalists are now down to just 11 as the pressure mounts while we move closer to crowning an American Idol Season Six champion.

BRITISH INVASION WEEK

March 21, 2007

Stephanie Edwards goes home

On a night of more surprises, Stephanie Edwards departed American Idol.  Yes, probably a bit too soon because there were certainly worse performers, nevertheless the next few weeks would have most likely sealed her fate anyway.  She never seemed to exploit her talent, and she is talented, but she just doesn't bring that extra zip or dimension that the fans crave.  We were very surprised at the bottom two - as the voters continue to show that they have no grasp on what talent really is.  Anyone could have made the argument that Chris Richardson was among the top 2 or 3 performers on Tuesday night, yet the voters put him in the bottom two.  Crasy, but true.  The reason however is clear:  The main demographic of voters has no idea what these songs were.  The 60's British Invasion is a fleeting memory for many born post-hippie era, and a nonexistent moment in time for the teens who jam the phone lines with their votes.  The fact that Sanjaya's hideous Kinks performance even got him a single vote is nearly laughable, and Phil Stacey's Tobacco Road did little to keep him around.  Nevertheless, we now enter round 3 of the final 12 with our strongest performers still in tact:  Melinda Doolittle, Lakisha Jones, Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks.  Chris may make a bid to get back to the top this week, because he does have talent, but it might just be a little too Justin Timberlake-like to keep him in good stead with Simon.  But again, the kids who do the majority of voting love the copycats, so a few upbeat, up-tempo performances by Chris Richardson could easily get him back to the top of the heap.

March 20, 2007

On a night where Idols brought us their renditions of the British Invasion, we saw perhaps one of the best final round shows Idol has shown us to date; all topped off with undoubtedly the best performance of the night by ours truly.  When Simon Cowell uses the words "sensational" and "impeccable vocal", there's not much more to say.  Once again, Melinda was a superhero among mere mortals.  No doubt we saw fantastic performances by Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks and a few others, but Melinda Doolittle was by far the best.  The very best.  We don't say that as fans of Melinda.  We say this as objective viewers of American Idol.  The judges already see Melinda as a seasoned professional, and America does as well. 

As the competition progresses, we're beginning to see growing confidence in singers like Chris Richardson, Jordin Sparks (who looks more beautiful with each passing week) and Blake Lewis, while a once highly touted Stephanie Edwards can easily find herself in the bottom three this week.  As a matter of fact, we're expecting to see Stephanie Edwards, Phil Stacey and Sanjaya Malakar in the bottom three.  Any one of these competitors can be swapped out for Gina Glocksen who didn't receive any props from the judges, and put on a performance that will make it difficult to remain out of the bottom three. 

Haley Scarnato kicked off The British Invasion night with a strong performance and a sexy, seductive, flirtatious look and performance. It is probably her HOT, sexy look that will easily pop her into the next round.  Let's face it; Haley is one hot girl and that should help propel her into upcoming rounds, while it wasn't that long ago when we thought she wouldn't even make it to the final 12.

The British Invasion night saw fantastic performances by Chris Richardson, who sang Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying; Blake Lewis who put on a phenomenal show with his rendition of Time of the Season, by The Zombies.  Chris Sligh decided to loosen up a bit as he traversed the audience with a really nice performance of She's Not There, also released by The Zombies in 1964.  Sanjaya decided to show that he has some life in him with an almost comedic version of The Kinks, You Really Got Me, a song that regained popularity in the 80's when rerecorded by Van Halen.  While Sanjaya had a little girl in the audience in tears, most home viewers were probably shedding a few of their own - but not for the same reasons.  Getting back to Lakisha Jones - we, and Paula Abdul felt that her Diamonds are Forever performance was strong, solid and controlled, although Simon found it boring and non-Lakisha like.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed it and still feel good about Lakisha continuing her march alongside Melinda Doolittle to the top 2.

And that takes us to Melinda Doolittle.  What can we say about her vocals and her control that already hasn't been said?  Her performance of As Long as He Needs Me requires no words to convey the quality of her performance.  Simon said it all, and the audience did as well.  We will see Melinda next week, and that is certain.  Can you believe that Melinda thought she was "out of her comfort zone" with this song, yet she managed to sing it as well, if not better, than any top performer could.  All we can say is that if this was out of Melinda's comfort zone, then everybody better run and hide when she gets into her comfort zone, because her performance was utterly flawless.  Randy Jackson proclaimed that we saved the best performance for last; Paul Abdul claimed that Melinda is in a league of her own; and Simon's "sensational" and "impeccable vocal" put the icing on a cake that is distancing itself from all the other cupcakes in the competition.