American Idol This Week

This was a poor, poor week. For the most part, it wasn't the fault of the singers; rather they were saddled with the complete works of Barry Gibb, and oeuvre that depended much more on close three-part falsetto harmonies and lots of cocaine for its success than actual songwriting quality. The person who went farthest away from the disco world ended up doing the best.


I'm Barry Gibb - I will PUT you in the GROUND!!

Melinda: "Love You Inside Out" / "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" -- Things started out shaky, as Melinda exposed the weakness of the first song. There's not a whole lot going on there, and it got to #1 on the strength of the production, not the sentiment. With very little to grab onto and make her own, she failed. "Broken Heart" was better, with a stronger vocal and more of a connection to the lyric, but it was still sub-par for Melinda. Of course, sub-par for Melinda still means much better than almost anyone else.

Blake: "You Should Be Dancin'" / "This Is Where I Came In" -- I couldn't agree more with Randy; just because Blake can beatbox doesn't mean he should do it in every performance. D Jo compared this to, of all things, Marcel's run on Top Chef and his desire to use molecular gastronomy techniques every week; when it works, it works well,but when it's forced it becomes an obvious gimmick. That's what happened to Blake, and I also think he spent so much time figuring out how to beatbox "Dancin'" that his preparation suffered. He was off-rhythm and off-key for much of the song, and while his performance on "Came In" was marginally better, it still wasn't good.

Still, he appears to have emerged as a crowd favorite, and I think he has an excellent shot to get to the final against either Jordin or Melinda.

LaKisha: "Stayin' Alive" / "Run To Me" -- The most boring rendition of a high-energy disco song I've ever heard. Maybe she was trying to make the song her own, but all she managed to do was make it snoozeworthy. By the end of "Run To Me" it sounded like she was going hoarse, but even being in perfect voice wouldn't have done much for these performances.

Jordin: "To Love Somebody" / "Woman In Love" -- Jordin went outside the Saturday Night Fever era twice, with good results both times. "To Love Somebody" was from the Bee Gee's first record, in 1967, and was notably covred by Nine Simone. Jordin is no Nina Simone, but she does a great job. Her take on "Woman In Love" is less successful, and a little pitchy, but I liked it better than the judges did.

For the Night: Jordin, Melinda, LaKisha, Blake

For the Season: Melinda, Jordin, LaKisha, Blake

Who Should Go Home: Blake, who is the weakest singer of the remaining singers and also had the worst week.

Who Will Go Home: LaKisha. Melinda has proven to be a significantly better singer, and Jordin has improved throughout the season. Blake will stick around for another week (and probably more) since he's been able to connect with the crowd in a way that LaKisha hasn't.

Finally, in order to wash these sub-ar performances out of your brain, here are Ray LaMontagne and Damien Rice performing "To Love Somebody" on French TV, showing that, in the right hands, it can be transcendent: