Thought on the AI Top Seven (Updated!)

I meant to do an American Idol post after last night’s fascinating country music episode.  I wouldn’t have known Martina McBride had I tripped over her, and found it uncanny how much she resembles someone I know.  It’s the eyes, the facial expressions and mannerisms, shape of the face and especially the chin; even the voice.

Anyway, Phil came out and blew us away.  He even looked good.  That threw down the gauntlet for the night.  Remember, we’ve been dying to see Phil leave, but that good is that good.

Then Jordin, the person who should win American Idol in a close final versus Blake, was so astonishing she actually made me tear up.  It was one of those performances.

Sanjaya was just awful, but had fun.  He’s confounded things again, by not continuing the recent trend of showing how good he can be, and returning to joke status.  Glad the judges evaluated him as if he weren’t the season’s oddity.  He’ll be safe, but I suspect less so than normal.  Last week I’d have placed him as second best for the week; basically where I have Phil this week.

LaKisha is in trouble.  I thought she was okay, but it’s an odd and dangerous choice of song.  She looked good, and I didn’t perceive the swells as shouting, though I could have missed it.  She is probably a goner this week.  The judges are clearly trying to “throw her under the bus.”

Which is sad, because Chris was so outrageously bad he made Sanjaya look forgivable.  I pointed out that my brother can sing better than that, and Deb opined that my brother sings quite well.  I think my brother came to mind because it sounded a bit like him, except far worse.  If LaKisha doesn’t get Mandisa’d this week, and assuming Sanjaya remains safe and Phil got votes for being good plus whatever he’d have gotten anyway (there’s danger in apathy), then Chris is a goner and we’ll be all excited.  If LaKisha makes this week, there’s some chance she makes the top five and, say, Phil or Sanjaya go next week.  But I digress.

I actually liked Melinda this week!  She sang well, but she also performed, and she looked good.  She looked like she had some fun.  I liked the song, and it wasn’t a showtunes technicality copout.  It’s not a full-fledged bus-throwing, but it’s interesting, Randy with the “pro” wording, and Simon with the “lose the surprised look,” which she has somewhat the past couple or three weeks, but not before it permanently alienated a lot of people.  He reminded us all that maybe she’s not genuine…

Finally, Blake struggled.  We liked him anyway, and he should have some coasting safety.  He does always sound like himself; distinct, and that’s a big plus.  Wherever he ends up, we’ll buy his album, so it doesn’t matter to us and probably a lot of people whether he’s the winner.

My order:
Jordin
Phil
Melinda
Blake
LaKisha
Sanjaya
Chris

Most likely to leave, as mentioned, LaKisha.  Should leave, Chris.

Apparently this week is the infamous 3-1-3, where they put two groups of three out there and have the other one go stand with the group they assume is the top three.  They pretty much have to place Melinda in the singular spot, as she’s really the only one you’d assume always to be in the top three, making it that much more obvious.

Perhaps I’ll update this after the results show…

Update:

Wow!  Now Vote For The Worst will have to switch to Chris.  And WTF was Blake doing in the bottom three?  Not that the spread is very big, with only seven.

I said during tonight’s show that it seemed like maybe Sanjaya wanted to go home, or at least was daring the voting public.  Sure enough, his farewell performance was dramatically better than last night’s.  Better still, he left on a fun note, with the hair reference in the song.

Sanjaya has a promising future, if not immediately.  He sings well enough.  He’s an entertainer.  He’s young and has tremendous time and room for growth.  He’s one of the most famous people in the world at the moment, and one of the most prominent Idol contestants ever, and that has to be parlayable into something.  If all else fails, he has a hot sister to make him more marketable than he would be alone.

So despite the obvious tossing of LaKisha in the path of the bus by TPTB, and despite Chris trying to save LaKisha by throwing himself under the wheels of the bus with the lame ass tragicoattailing, it was really Sanjaya throwing himself into the path of the bus and taking one for the team.  Good for him.  I just didn’t think the voters would fail to see Sanjaya through no matter what.  Nice to be wrong.  Well, except the dynamic changes totally now, and Chris must go next week for our sanity, but LaKisha must go next week to bring the voting demographics into their final focus.

1. Hey, I actually teared up during Jordin’s perfomrance too...and had Emily and Katherine making fun of me...ha ha ha.  She was amazing, and I love that song.

   Posted by Sharon  on  04/19  at  01:59 PM  from 
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