American Idol This Week

I meant to start doing this last week, but, uh, didn't. So here's my first weekly wrap-up of the American Idol performances. I figure this is a good use of my time because no one is doing anything like this on the entire Internet. (I totally ripped off this format from Keith Chaffee, who posts weekly on The Well's TV conference, by the way. Just so you know.)

Last night's episode will be remembered for two things -- good song choices across the board, and this girl:



At least we now know why Sanjaya is still around.

On to the performances:

Haley, "Tell Him" -- Paula gave us her standard "if you can't say something nice about the performance, compliment the singer's looks" response. To be fair, Haley has amazing legs, and the rest of her isn't bad, either. Well, except for the voice. She should never have made it to the final 12, and this performance didn't do anything to change that.

Chris R., "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" -- Guest judge Peter Noone gave the first good piece of advice for the night when he told Chris to make sure not to change the main melody line. This was a decent performance, especially the first half. He started to strain in the second half and got super-nasally, which he does a lot, but still it was the best male performance of the night.

Stephanie, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" -- This was Stephanie's first mis-step and it was a big one. She looked nervous from the moment she started singing, and her tendency to drag behind the beat did not serve her well of a song that needs to be sung crisply. I give her credit for trying a ballad instead of her typical Beyonce-lite fare, but this was a bad performance.

Blake, "Time Of The Season" -- Just enough beatboxing to be interesting, and not too much to get in the way of the song. He really strained to reach the notes at the end of the chorus, though, and that dropped him from 1st to 4th among a tightly-bunched field of guys. Also, he needs to stop with the little moonwalk/pop-and-locking, because he really isn't very good at it.

LaKisha, "Diamonds Are Forever" -- First, a quibble. How is this a "British Invasion" song? It came out in 1971, for God's sake! Anyway, the performance was good, maybe even very good, but you could tell that she wasn't comfortable with the song as she basically ended up singing it just like Shirley Bassey had. Still, it was well done. I worry that LaKisha is becoming a victim of her own early success, as the judges (and possibly America) expect her to be sensational every week.

Phil, "Tobacco Road" -- I apparently liked this better than most people did. It was a fun performance that still managed to show off Phil's voice. The only change he's going to have to win the competition (and it's a longshot) will be to position himself as the good-time fun guy, and this was a good start.

Jordin, "I Who Have Nothing" -- Fantastic. I've been a fan of Jordin since the beginning and was psyched to see her put it all together. On an episode where Lulu told a couple of people that they needed to "get" the songs they were singing, I wouldn't have expected a 17-year-old to so completely inhabit a song like this, but she did. The best vocal of the night, and one of the best of the season.

Sanjaya, "You Really Got Me" -- I started cringing the second he told Peter Noone he was thinking about this song and didn't stop until he was done. There's nothing else to say about Sanjaya; he's terrible and he needs to go, but he won't as long as the Ashleys of America keep voting. Also, I think that if you don't ever bother to sing the title of the song, choosing instead to go with a series of "uh-huhs" and "yeahs" as the background singers sing it, you should leave. Immediately.

Gina, "Paint It Black" -- This song absolutely kicked her ass. I see why Lulu told her to take it up a half-step; even with that it was painful to hear her try to growl her way through the low notes at the open. She was all over the place, lost in a song that she thought was a rocker but which is actually a rather baroque piece of proto-psychedelia. Also, she loses huge points for changing the lyrics at the end: it's not "I want to see the sun flying high in the sky," it's "I want to see the sun blotted out from the sky." Because you want to PAINT IT BLACK. Black as NIGHT. It's sort of what the song is about. Maybe Lulu should have told her that.

Chris, "She's Not There" -- It's hard for me to judge this one as it's one my all-time favorite songs. He did a passable version, I guess, and he took Lulu's exhortation to understand the song to heart, even telling the judges that it was a dark song about "a girl who's not there" -- really, Chris? Is that what it's about? -- but to quote Randy, it wasn't my best performance by him for me.

Melinda, "As Long As He Needs Me" -- more excellence from Melinda, who took a boring Broadway number and made me pay attention. I worry about Melinda (and LaKisha), though -- they are clearly the two best vocalists on the show but I fear that one mis-step will give America the excuse it needs to vote them off in favor of a better-looking but less-talented contestant.

For the night: Jordin, Melinda, LaKisha, Chris R., Chris S., Phil, Blake, Stephanie, Gina, Haley, Sanjaya
For the season: Melinda, LaKisha, Jordin, Stephanie, Chris R., Gina, Blake, Phil, Chris S., Haley, Sanjaya

Who should go home: Sanjaya, Sanjaya, a million times Sanjaya.
Who will go home: Haley, out of a bottom three of Haley, Phil and Sanjaya.