American Idol Round of 6: A Horseplayer's Perspective

[brianwspencer]

Chris R.
While the judges were busy fighting each other to decide who got to be the first to fall all over him, I was still unimpressed. I thought the vocal was a little weak in pieces throughout the song and I thought that it really came up short on the "inspirational" side. I will give him one thing here: he tricked me at the beginning of the performance with the sports coat. I thought to myself, "it's about damn time he dressed up." My joy at that went away in short order when I realized he was also wearing his latest Old Navy catch: cargo pants. Why? It's just nitpicking at this point, but he's trashy and always has been and even when he goes to wear a coat and look nice he still manages to ruin it with a pair of $28 cargo pants. The performance was alright, but all in all I found it to be summed up in one word -- boring.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Melinda
Vocally brilliant. She was untouchable with that vocal. I will say that her problem is that she sets the bar so high for herself each week, that she really has to blow me out of the water to impress me now. That said, it wasn't my favorite performance of hers. I have no critique of the vocals at all because (as usual) she was flawless. It just lacked, for me, that same sort of spunky punch that I've seen from her in some weeks. I loved the originality of her version, but it won't go down as one of my favorite performances of hers. However, it surely won't have to in order to keep her around. Still heads above the rest here on sheer vocal ability.

Final Score: 9.5 phone-in votes

Blake
I'm really beginning to get bored listening to Blake. This song is the type of song that is a "free pass" for anyone who can sing at all. It's a classic song, to be sure, but it's not challenging -- and given the nature of this competition, it all came off as a bit safe and a bit guarded. For that reason, I didn't enjoy it a whole lot. It's the kind of song for him that fits very well given his persona, but it didn't do anything to really help him make his mark in this competition. I feel like now that the beat-boxing novelty has sort of worn off (what happened to that, by the way?!), we're just left with a kid with a breathy voice and mouth that moves in scary ways when he sings who's coasting by on his personality more than he is on his singing ability. I could have done without this tonight.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Lakisha
I wish she would stop choosing songs from previous Idol winners. Let alone the fact that that song was the song that was Fantasia's first single. For once I agree with Paula. I couldn't stop hearing Fantasia's version during this performance. Lakisha still has a huge voice but the problem is that I think the past few weeks she's been letting it go unchecked. It's sort of coming unhinged along the lines of louder=better. I think that she's in great danger this week and will very well be crossing her fingers for another Phil clunker. She did an alright job, but for what we've seen from her, this wasn't even close to good enough for her standards.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Phil
Maybe I'm just jaded tonight or not drunk enough, but outside of Melinda (who I wasn't even blown away by), I'm feeling very bored tonight and markedly uninspired. The judges are loving everyone, and I'm thinking that everyone is sort of just average tonight. Again, another performance for him that was a little off on some of the lower notes and then fit his vocal style well once he moved into the upper range. There's still something lacking from him tonight, as there has been every week -- he has no charisma. I still don't like him one bit and this performance did little to change my mind. It was just okay for me, and thus far, the sort of performance that has contributed to what I consider to be the most boring, uninspiring performance -- ironically on the week meant for inspirational songs. I'm going to slam a beer now before Jordin sings because I can't take much more of this.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Jordin
At the bar the other night, someone asked me who I thought was going to win Idol. I told them that after last week, not only did I want it to be Jordin, I actually thought it was going to be her that wins. Tonight was incredible. It's a tough song, because of the way the music runs it plays into strange/less common notes and adds in some difficult runs in the early part of the song. I thought the challenge was big, and I thought she did an incredible job meeting that challenge. Another huge performance by someone who lacks the true seasoning to be delivering those sorts of performances week in and week out. This performance may be the one that actually solidifies her spot as the one to beat. Melinda for once may be playing catch-up...and with damn good reason after that -- one hell of a performance.

Final Score: Yet another 10.0 phone-in votes