American Idol Round of 7: A Horseplayer's Perspective

[brianwspencer]

Phil
When he was first to go tonight, I thought it was fitting, as I've been pulling for him to get the hell out of here for awhile. Then he sang "Where the Blacktop Ends," and of course my mind was filling with delicious end-of-the-road jokes. Sadly for me, it wasn't awful. I still think he's weak. I still think he's a terribly awkward performer. I still think he's just a terribly awkward human being in just about every way. But vocally, tonight was good. Not great, and I'm hardly a convert -- but like Sanjaya, he'd been setting himself up with nowhere to go but up after a few positively dreadful performances. All in all, not half bad.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Jordin
I am so glad that I don't have to let my love for her color my reviews. Her performances are speaking for themselves, and with each week she becomes more of a contender. She's been cutting into what I perceive to be Melinda's lead every week for about the last month -- and dare I say that even Melinda is going to have a hard time topping this one tonight. She's just flawless. A seventeen year old should not be able to sing a song that like and be able to deliver it in a way that makes it resonate in grown men. She was simply amazing across the board. I even futilely attempted to try to find one negative from this performance, just as an exercise in creativity. Fortunately for her, she had every base covered from every angle. One of my five favorite performances this season, and possibly my favorite. Flawless. I dare anyone else to top this.

Final Score: 10.0 phone-in votes

Sanjaya
I didn't even write a thing during the performance. I don't even know what to say. If Bonnie Raitt were never a chainsmoking alcoholic, I am sure she is seriously weighing the pros and cons of those hobbies right now to ease the pain that Sanjaya just inflicted on one of the most popular, well-loved country songs in recent memory. It was just awful. I have to say in his defense, that it was still better than what he was giving us five weeks ago, but his vocals still simply just don't compare to any of the other fringe contenders. While it might be shocking to know that I still despise Phil more than Sanjaya as an entire package, this vocal just proves what we all already knew. The kid cannot really sing when placed side by side with any of the other contenders. I think he's got a nice tone and his vocals may turn out to be something with some maturation and seasoning, but he really just can't hack it and this would be as good a week as any for his ouster considering that his bottom-dwelling partner in crime already delivered a halfway decent performance tonight.

Final Score: 4.5 (the mark of the Scarnato) phone-in votes

Lakisha
I was worried for her this week with the style. I keep saying that the one girl with the huge voice never wins the competition, but frankly, I think that's he only hope is to coast by on that huge voice. I don't think it fit her at all, the song was sort of split into two pieces, the first was in the style of Carrie Underwood, and the latter was in the style of Lakisha. I wasn't a huge fan, and I honestly am worried for her chances to get through this week. She's never been in the bottom three, but I think that this would be the first week where I would not be shocked if she ended up in the bottom three -- and considering a free pass for Sanjaya, could put her in some real danger based just on tonight's performance

Final Score: 7.0 phone-in votes

Chris R.
Let me start with the closing comments, "Nasally is a form of singing," after which Chris tells us that it would be something to comment on had he done it every week. Hello?! Anyone? Pin dropping in the room? Besides your clear enjoyment of being the show's resident trashball, you are nasally and whiny every single week. It's one of the well-documented reasons that I absolutely despise you Chris R. If it tells you anything about tonight's performance, I was sitting here shaking my head the whole time and Jordan (the world's biggest Chris R. apologist) left in the middle of the performance to make a drink. I hate you. We hate you, tonight especially. The performance was just awful, from beginning to end. There were more off-pitch notes than a Haley Scarnato drunk karaoke performance. Horrific. Sanjaya territory horrific. This one should be in some serious trouble after tonight's performance.

Final Score: 5.0 phone-in votes

Melinda
I don't feel like tonight's performance is going to go down as her best, but it channeled a certain energy from the "Woman" performance earlier in the season -- one that I thought was her best performance. I think the thing that might come back to get her is that she's been static in this competition, being mostly flawless and certainly above the rest most weeks. That level of consistency is crucial for any performer, but with an up-and-comer like Jordin breathing down her neck, Melinda is going to have to deliver a real knockout performance one of these weeks. That said, I thought it was another fine performance in a long line of performances, but I don't think it was her best nor do I think it was the best performance of tonight. Her song was good enough to keep her on top of my overall rankings, but the gap is narrowing each week and I hope for her sake that she can pull one out of her hat next week and blow us away again.

Final Score: 9.5 phone-in votes

Blake
I will say the same thing as I said last week. Blake is really going to have to step up and give us something different. He is singing essentially the same song each week. His style and the fact that he's not the worst singer have gotten him this far, but he lacks the dynamic deliveries of performers like Jordin or Melinda. I was hoping he would use a performance like tonight to step outside of his comfort zone and give us something that we hadn't seen from him yet, but I still just didn't see it. The vocal was acceptable and still better than a few in here tonight, but it's getting old and I need him to show me that he's a real performer. I may disagree with the judges on this one, but it just wasn't that special for me. It's really been a few weeks since he delivered what I would call a really good performance.

Final Score: 8.0 phone-in votes