American Idol Round of 6/5: A Horseplayer's Perspective

[brianwspencer]

A strangely passable week for the resident bottom-dwellers, and a couple of huge surprises along the way. A weird week all around.

Phil
Let's get the good out of the way right now -- it was one of his very best weeks. It was one of his best weeks because he managed to sing on pitch the entire song, without any glaring problems like we've seen from him, um, every single week so far. That said, Simon stole my thunder. There is nothing authentic about him trying to be a rocker. He did it once before wearing all black and toting the mic stand around more like a purse than an actual mic stand. There is nothing rough about him, nothing edgy about him, yet this will be the third occasion this season that he has chosen a song that has a necessary grittiness-factor to it, and the third time this season that he came up miserably short in being a rocker. He should have chosen a song that would let him sing, but let him play off of Bon Jovi's occasional less rock persona. So half of me liked it in that he managed to sing an entire song in such a way that shows that he belongs on the show (though still not within a stone's throw of the real contenders), and half of me hated it because he's still a poser douchebag whenever he tried to come off as steely.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Jordin
I wouldn't go so far to say it was terrible, but oh man, that was not very good. I think that she looked the part and that she moved the part -- she was comfortable onstage, even though she wasn't very comfortable with the song. The first half was just dreadful and beyond saying that, not really worth commenting on. The second half had some bright spots once the song got into her range vocally, but it really was out of control -- I couldn't have said it better myself. For a performer who we've seen show such extreme control and decisive instinct on softer songs, she really let this one get away from her. This performance alone shouldn't be enough to put her in danger (especially considering that last week's vote totals count this week), but it certainly provided an opening for Melinda to deliver a powerhouse performance and cement herself back on top of this competition. I think that for Jordin, this was the week that her age caught up with her. She doesn't have the experience or grit to pull off a song like that, and no matter which Bon Jovi song she chose, she still would have been screwed -- though perhaps to a lesser extent. A sad time to make my very first critical review of her...and a critical review that doesn't just nitpick, but one that really says, "look, that was....really bad."

Final Score: 6.5 phone-in votes

Lakisha
Wow. I don't even know where to start. I believe this is the first time all season that a single performance gave me chills and gave me goosebumps. I was so worried for her after watching Jordin struggle before her, but that performance was incredible. After watching it, it was hard to not think about the coaching session with Bon Jovi and how he told her that the song is about pleading -- that her man is walking out the door right now and she's begging him to stay by professing her love. That was the type of top-notch performance that has the ability to forgive a couple of strange notes early in the song, because by the middle and the end, those notes had been erased by Lakisha's best performance of the season. I'm going to deduct minor points for the strange beginning, just to be fair, but there was nothing wrong with that performance in the big picture. She took what should have been a tough week for her and delivered a performance that should remind everyone why she was here in the first place and why she was one of the original favorites. Hopefully this performance will do well enough to counter last week's debacle, but either way this performance will long stick in my head. What a beautiful delivery of a beautiful song.

Final Score: 9.5 phone-in votes

Blake
I think this one should generate a great deal of divergent opinions. Let me get it out of the way here, in the spirit of honesty, I am so turned on right now. I love the hair, I love the arrangement, and I think that even with the huge leap he took her in trying this out, he succeeded wildly. There were a few points where I wanted him to quit with the Blake-izing of it, but right when it began to get tedious he would run into the chorus. It was a brilliant arrangement and he absolutely sold the song. It was a great return of the Blake that I had missed for a few really subpar, endangering weeks. I wish I had more to say about it, but I'm still completely blown away by what just happened. He just owned that song. Perfect. Not the best performance of the season, but holy ****, hands down my favorite.

Final Score: 10.0 phone-in votes

Chris R.
Admitting that Daughtry sang it last year, and then still going on with it? Wait, taking a rock song that was performed last year by the best rocker to ever appear on Idol, and then singing it yourself when you're not even a rocker is now prudent song-choice criteria you trashball? Stupid, stupid choice. I suppose it was delivered as best it could have been delivered given said concerns. It was very mediocre/medium for me. It was a lot of screaming, because his voice lacks that true grit that carries a song like that, so he was trying way too hard to take the Chris out of it (which normally I would be a huge advocate of). Again the judges are too busy creaming their pants to flog him publicly. After taking into account the ballsiness of the choice, it was a decent performance but nothing that will really ever stand out in my head. Passable, but still far too stupid and far too fake to leave a mark. I never thought I'd say this, but hey, at least it wasn't as bad as Jordin.

Final Score: 7.0 phone-in votes

Melinda
Her stage presence will still go unmatched by any of these other finalists. She was clearly uncomfortable with this genre and this song, and she gets up onstage and sings it like she's done it a thousand times before. She took a song that should have been questionable for her and nailed it in typical Melinda fashion. It had that sort of genuine mark on it and she was just completely in control of that song. This was exactly the type of performance that she needed tonight in order to take advantage of her closest competitor taking a major fall in her performance. Melinda once again rose to the challenge and cemented her claim on the top spot in this competition -- it's officially once again hers to lose.

Final Score: 9.5 phone-in votes