American Idol Season 6

April 24, 2007

This week’s theme is songs that inspire.

They showed a glimpse of the trip Simon and Ryan made to Africa. It was completely eye opening and heartbreaking to see some of the footage they had. It’s devestating to watch the things that are happening across the world. There was garbage covering the entire ground, and children with no parents. I think they are doing an amazing job of introducing people to help, and will be a great encouragement to people across the world. Ryan also announced that Newscorp will donate 10 cents for every vote, but only as long as Americans reach 50 million votes. I really hope they can achieve that goal.

Chris Richardson
Change the World – Eric Clapton

I couldn’t really picture Chris singing this song at first, but I liked what he did with it. I thought it was a really good performance for him, and it really let the audience see what an amazing voice he has. The judges all really liked him tonight, and Simon said it was a very soulful performance.

Before the next performance, they played a video clip which showed the viewers that “Idol Gives Back,” isn’t based solely on Africa, but rather on a variety of places across America and Africa. The judges traveled to places in the States including Louisiana and Atlanta, showing that it is also places among us which require our help as well.

Melinda Doolittle
There Will Come a Day – Faith Hill

I thought Melinda’s performance tonight was amazing. The passion with which she conveyed in her performance was overwhelming, and it was a really amazing and beautiful performance. Paula called her “magical,” and Simon loved the fact she really made the song her own.

Blake Lewis
Imagine – John Lennon

This is probably one of the best songs of all time, and its very hard to sing it and not be compared to John Lennon. It was a good performance, and I liked the subtleness of it, but I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. I felt like he could have done so much more with the song because it is so amazing, but he didn’t give it that extra push. All of the judges agreed in saying that the song didn’t really go anywhere, but yet, it was still a very sincere performance.

The next video showed Ryan Seacrest at a feeding centre, where mal nourished children can enjoy three hot meals a day. It was heart warming to see these unfortunate children receiving the food they need deserve. These centres not only feed the children, but help find them means of an education and a future for less than 50 cents per child a day.

Lashisha Jones
I Believe – Fantasia Barrino

Over the last few weeks, I’ve lost a lot of my faith in Lakisha, and I think it’s because she never brings anything new to the competition. I thought she looked very beautiful tonight in a gorgeous black dress. She definitely has extremely strong vocals, but it wasn’t an outstanding performance. The judges actually cut her down quite a bit, with Paula saying subtlety saying the preferred Fantasia’s version to hers.

Phil Stacey
The Change – Garth Brooks

I was so glad that Phil decided to sing another country song again tonight because that was what he really shined in. Although this is a great song, I think it’s hard to keep the audience engaged with it. I thought his vocals were quite good, and it was another solid performance. The judges all really complimented him, and Paula even said it was his best performance. Simon made a good point in saying that last week he had more of a country tone to his performance, and it sounded much better. I completely agree that he needs to stick with that country tone to succeed.

The final video of the night was of Simon at a local food bank. Every year, the 50, 000 food banks across America, give food to thousands of people in America who don’t have enough to eat. Simon loved the environment which it introduced because almost everyone who worked there were volunteers. Because most of the food is donated, you can get a substantial amount of food for only a dollar. Simon called it a miracle, because it truly was really amazing to see that this existed without so many of us knowing.

Jordin Sparks
You’ll Never Walk Alone

I thought she sounded a bit shaky in the beginning of the song, or perhaps she just had a lot of vibration in her voice. For some reason, I didn’t like this performance as much as some of her others. I felt that so much of the song was almost like she was shouting. She still has an extremely powerful voice, but it just wasn’t my favorite tonight. I guess it must just be a difference of perception, because Randy said it was the best performance on all of American Idol, and the judges all loved it.

Bottom Three: Lakisha Jones, Blake Lewis, Sinjaya Malakar

Voted out this week: Sinjaya Malakar

The top 7 did a group medley to “I’m doing Alright.” I thought they all sounded really good and it was a good performance.

Fergie made a surprise appearance on the show tonight. She sang one of her new songs that I actually hadn’t heard before which was cool. It was a good song, and she did a good job with it.

The Ford commercial this week was to a song called “I ran.” All of these commercials can be seen on www.americanidol.com. Ryan announced that next Tuesday and Wednesday are two segments they’ve called “Idol Gives Back.” They have Pink, Gwen Stefani, Earth Wind and Fire, Il Divo, Kiera Knightly, Josh Groban, Hugh Grant, Jack Black, Rascall Flatts, Quincy Jones, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Annie Lennox and more. They also say they will have a duet of two musicians you will have to “see to believe.” It seems like its going to be a really entertaining show.

Once again they split the contestants into three groups. The first one consisted of Sinjaya, Lakisha and Blake, the second one had Chris, Jordin and Phil, and the third one included only Melinda. Melinda was the first one said to be safe. Shortly after, the top three was announced to be Chris, Jordin and Phil. I thought this was a pretty accurate decision, except that I wouldn’t have had Blake in the bottom three.

Next, they showed a video clip of the idols going to Dreamworks Animation for a behind the scenes look at the soon to come out “Shrek the Third.” They had a tour of the studio and a presentation of how the animation is created, and they got to voice a scene, meet Antonio Banderas, and see the new movie.

Martina McBride then sang a song from her new album. It was called “Do It Anyway” and it was a really good song. After she sang, her daughter came on stage and Ryan asked her some questions. She was really cute and outgoing. Finally, Sinjaya was told that he was going home this week. I was really relieved that it was him, and I thought it was a fair decision. However, I must say, the competition will be very different without him.

April 17th, 2007

Martina McBride is the mentor for the idol contestants this week. As you might have already known, this week’s theme is country.

Phil Stacy
Where the Blacktop Ends – Keith Urban

Martina really liked Phil, and said he chose a good song for his voice. This is one of my favorite country songs, and I expected him to do really well with it. His vocals were perfect, and he looked really comfortable on stage. I thought it was a flawless performance, and he almost sounded as good as Keith Urban. I didn’t even know Phil was a country singer, but it turns out that’s what genre he’s more focused on. The judges all really liked it.

Jordin Sparks
Broken Wings – Martina McBride

I really liked Jordin’s dress and hair tonight. It looked very professional. I thought it was a good song choice, because she has such a strong voice, and it’s a really strong song vocally. The performance felt really sincere, and I liked that about it. Her vocals were impeccable. The judges all loved it, and Simon said that he thought she could win it.

Sinjaya Malakar
Let’s Give ‘em Something to Talk About – Bonnie Rait

This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I just hoped he would actually do the song justice. His hair style once again was unattractive. It’s hard to take him seriously when he doesn’t present himself professionally. I know I cut him down a lot, but I honestly think his performance was the worst this season on American Idol. The vocals were no where near the level they should be.

Lakisha Jones
Jesus Take the Wheel – Carrie Underwood

Lakisha picked this song because she could really relate it to her own life. Martina McBride even got emotional as she was singing in practice. For some reason, I didn’t like her tone with this song. Carrie Underwood has such a soft and understated voice, whereas Lakisha sang it much too harshly, and I thought she sounded the worst she’s ever sounded. She just had an off night, and I think it was due mainly to her song choice. The judges cut her down more than they ever have.

Chris Richardson
Mayberry – Rascall Flatts

I couldn’t really picture Chris singing a country song, because he’s more of a Justin Timberlake than a Keith Urban. I feel like he just didn’t bring anything special to the song, and he even sounded off a few times, which is abnormal for him. I think he needs to do something new and really original to keep his voters voting. To me, Phil completely outshined him tonight. The judges cut him down.

Melinda Doolittle
Trouble Is a Woman – Julie Reeves

I thought Melinda’s hair looked amazing tonight, and she should definitely keep it that way. I wasn’t too crazy about hearing Melinda sing country actually, but I thought she did a really good job. I’d never heard the song, but I liked the way she sang it. It was an amazing performance, but she still isn’t my favorite for some reason.

Blake Lewis
When the Stars Go Blue – Tim McGraw

This is a really great song, and it definitely will suit his voice if he performs it well. I’m not sure if the song was too big for him, or if he just wasn’t having a good day, but he had trouble hitting some of the notes. There was also one part in the song that sounded a bit off arrangement-wise. To me he looked a bit uncomfortable which is uncharacteristic of him. Surprisingly, Randy and Paula really complimented him.

April 11^th, 2007

Bottom Three: Phil Stacey, Haley Scarnato, Chris Richardson.
Voted out this week: Haley Scarnato

The group performances finally came back this week as the final 8 sang a Latino medley. The song started off a bit shaky, with Haley and Sinjaya, but it got better once everyone started singing. I think Lakisha messed up the words at one part, but it was hardly noticeable. I thought the ones who sounded the best were Chris Richardson and Blake Lewis. Phil Stacey also sounded very good. Overall, it was a bit of a boring performance.

After the performance they showed a video of Ryan going around and asking people their opinions on this season’s American Idol. He then announced that Akon would be performing his newest release “Don’t Matter.” I didn’t even know he was going to be on the show, so that was a pretty good surprise. I like this song, and I thought he sounded pretty good. At times he sounded a bit shaky, but it was mainly a good performance.

The Ford commercial this week was to “Happy Together.” It was a cute and simple little commercial. Following this commercial, Ryan introduced a clip of Simon in
Africa. They are supporting a program in which people donate $183.00 in order to buy a complete school kit for less fortunate children in
Africa. I thought it was an amazing thing that they did, and hopefully the millions of viewers watching will help the cause. The clip ended on a humorous note as one of the African girls drew a picture of Simon, but with a set of boobs. Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy about that.

When they announced that Chris was in the bottom three, I was completely shocked. I just don’t see how he deserves to be there when his performance was ten times better than Sinjaya’s. It doesn’t really make sense. It was relieving when he was the first one to be sent back to safety.

Before they did the final elimination, they showed a clip of Jennifer Lopez, and then she finally sang. From the clip, you could see that she is a very sweet and inspirational person. She sang a song completely in Spanish (off of her new album), but it was a really entertaining performance. She had her dancers with her, so that was cool to see as well. I wasn’t a big fan of her dress, but everything else I liked. After the performance, they announced that Haley was the one to go this week. I wasn’t too surprised with this, and I thought that it was a fair decision.

April 10^th, 2007

Jennifer Lopez is the mentor for the idols this week, which I thought was really cool. I can’t believe how many big stars they are getting this season. The idols are going to be singing Latin songs this week.

Melinda Doolittle
Sway

Jennifer said that Melinda’s biggest goal for this song is to be really sultry and seductive. I thought Melinda really did a good job of capturing that sultry style. It was another perfect vocal, but I’m actually starting to get a little tired of her. She isn’t a singer who takes a song and makes it more modern. She just kind of sings it the way it was sung before, so I would like to see something really new and different from her. Simon, for once, didn’t like her performance because he said she appeared much older than she was.

Lakisha Jones
Conga

I wasn’t a fan of Lakisha’s hair style tonight. It was a bit too flat to her head, and I also thought her dress was a bit too revealing. I don’t think it was the best song choice for her. It seemed like she wasn’t as good of a singer as we know her to be. Paula and Simon didn’t really like the performance, and thought that the song was a safe choice.

Chris Richardson
Smooth

I thought that this song would really suit his voice perfectly. The beginning was a little rough for me, and it wasn’t my favorite performance. He still did really well, and Randy and Paula really complimented it, but he just didn’t sound as good as I’ve heard him sound before. I liked it better than the first two, but I wasn’t completely thrilled.

Haley Scarnato
Turn the Beat Around

Jennifer said that this song was really hard to sing because the rhythm is so strong. I thought Haley’s performance tonight was a little bit fake. Her facial expressions were too exaggerated for me. This song is definitely very hard to sing, and she didn’t really pull it off. Even her big notes were unpleasant. It was supposed to be more of a fun performance, but it was actually a bit difficult to watch. The judges really cut her down.

Phil Stacey
Maria Maria

Phil sounded really amazing in his rehearsal with Jennifer. He definitely has one of the best voices, but I just don’t think he knows how to work it yet. I thought he sounded really good in the beginning, but then had a couple notes off-key later in the song. I’m not sure if it was the arrangement of the song or not, but it was a bit lacking entertainment-wise. His voice actually cracked a couple of times, and the judges cut him down a lot.

Jordin Sparks
The Rhythm is Gonna Get You

I really liked Jordin’s hair and outfit tonight. It was very classy. I thought her performance was pretty solid. It wasn’t the best vocally I’ve heard from her, but it was still really good. Simon didn’t like it because he is worried that she hasn’t been progressing lately. Hopefully next week she will pull out something a bit better.

Blake Lewis
I Need To Know – Mark Anthony

I loved Blake’s performance tonight. The song suited him so well, and his voice sounded impeccable. I don’t have a hard time picturing him on the radio already. Each week he comes out with something new and interesting and I just really love him as a performer.

Sinjaya Malakar

Jennifer was really impressed with Sinjaya, and complimented him more than anyone else. She thought it was an excellent song choice for him. I really didn’t like his mustache and beard this week. It didn’t suit him at all, and made him look as though he was trying to look older. Simon didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t understand the song because it was mostly in Spanish, but he actually admitted that it wasn’t completely horrible. I thought it was a good performance from Sinjaya, but still nothing that blew me away.

April 4^th, 2007
Bottom Three: Phil Stacey, Haley Scarnato, Gina Glocksen
Voted Out This Week: Gina Glocksen

The ford commercial was a bit weird this week, and I wasn’t really sure what it had to do with anything, but it was still cute. This week, Ryan split the contestants into three groups, based on their standings. It was pretty clear which group was the bottom three because it contained Haley, Phil and Gina, whereas the other groups had most of the contestants who have never been in the bottom three. I was right in assuming this, and the rest of the contestants were sent back to the couch.

It was interesting to see who was in the middle and top three for the first time, just to see how people are actually voting. The top three consisted of Jordin, Lakisha and Melinda, and the middle three were Sinjaya, Blake and Chris.

They took a break from the elimination as Canadian singer Michael Buble sang. I’ve always really liked Michael Buble, but I didn’t think he was that amazing live. I actually thought he had a few notes that were off key, and it wasn’t the most entertaining performance, but I still like him.

Finally, the results were announced as Phil and Haley were told to go back to the couch. I was actually pretty surprised with the decision to vote out Gina, because I thought her performance last night was pretty good. It was really upsetting when Gina started to cry. I just felt really bad that she got voted out when she was ten times better than Sinjaya. It’s not really fair to the other competitors.

April 3^rd, 2007Tony Bennett is the mentor for the competitors this week.

Blake Lewis
Mac the Knife

I really liked Blake’s performance tonight. There was only one tiny part where he went a bit off key, but other than that, it was very strong vocally. Like the judges said, he made an old hit sound more contemporary, which was cool. All three judges said it was a good choice of song, but it wasn’t Simon’s favorite performance. He thought the band outshined him.

Phil Stacey
Night and Day

I thought Phil would really shine with the song, and he did have a good vocal, but something was missing. I think the problem was that is lacked somewhat of a build-up. Randy said that he sang it well, but it just wasn’t very entertaining, which pretty much summed up the performance.

Melinda Doolittle
I’ve Got Rhythm

Tony Bennett said Melinda was the best singer all day. I wasn’t a fan of Melinda’s dress tonight. It just didn’t really suit her body. This wasn’t my favorite performance by Melinda, and when I say this, I mean that it is still amazing, just not my favorite. I found Blake a bit more entertaining than her so far. Randy and Paula really commended her, but Simon didn’t like the first half of the song, which I think was the problem I had with it too.

Chris Richardson

This song really let Chris perform the song, which was good. He’s definitely a good performer, and it was entertaining. He, like Blake, made his song much more modern, and appealing, which was really cool. Paula thought it was his best performance, and Simon thought it was very good and believable.

Jordin Sparks
On a Clear Day

This song seemed like it was really difficult to sing, but she sounded flawless. It wasn’t my favorite song because it was a bit repetitive, and I felt like the song didn’t take her anywhere. Even still, she managed to sound amazing. Simon thought she sang it really well, but failed to make the song “young and current,” which I really agreed with.

Gina Glocksen
Smile – Charlie Chaplin

I think this song is just a really beautiful song, and I thought it was a perfect song for Gina. I’ve decided I don’t really like Gina’s clothing style. I like that she tries to make her outfits her own, but a lot of the clothes she chooses doesn’t flatter her body. Randy said her performance was really controlled, which I agreed with. It bugged me a bit how she didn’t have a bigger build-up, but she still sang it perfectly.

Sinjaya Malaker

I thought Sinjaya would really shine this week, since this is a bit more his style, but I wasn’t impressed. Nothing stood out about his performance, and it was a bit boring. He almost sounded like the song was a bit too hard for him. Paula and Randy said the vocals were a bit off, but Paula thought it was entertaining.

Haley Scarnato
Ain’t Misbehaving

I didn’t like Haley’s dress this week. She wore a sparkly light green dress, and it just looked a bit tacky. I thought the arrangement of the song was a bit weird. I liked the end of the song more than the beginning, because it was a bit more upbeat and playful. It wasn’t my favorite performance because of the arrangement. None of the judges were thrilled with her tonight.

Lakisha Jones
Stormy Weather

Sometimes Lakisha goes into a really low register, and it’s hard to explain the sound, but I really don’t like it. She definitely doesn’t seem as good to me as she did in the beginning of the competition. I think people like Blake or Chris would have a better chance of surviving in today’s music industry. It wasn’t my favorite performance at all, but the judges all really complimented her of course.

March 28^th, 2007

Voted Out This Week: Chris Sligh
Bottom Three: Chris Sligh, Haley Scarnato, Phil Stacy

As Ryan Seacrest came out at the very beginning of the show, he was wearing a huge Mohawk to make fun of Sinjaya, which was pretty funny. This week’s Ford commercial was cowboy themed, and the main characters were Chris Richardson and Jordin Sparks. It was cute, and very entertaining.

The first person announced as part of the bottom three was Phil Stacy, with Haley Scarnato soon to follow. Before they announced the third competitor, Gwen Stefani performed. Suprisingly, Akon was also there to sing his part in her new hit “Sweet Escape.” He sounded good for what he sang, but he didn’t sing a lot because he isn’t really a huge part of the song. I thought Gwen sounded a little shaky at the beginning, but I thought that it was overall an awesome performance.

Finally, Chris Sligh was told to go to the centre of the stage, as he was the final part to the bottom three. Once again, I was surprised with this decision. Chris does have some difficulties in the competition, but I thought that Sinjaya definitely should have been in the bottom three. Chris was actually the one to go this show, so it was a bit upsetting. It definitely sucks to lose him, and I’m still so shocked that Sinjaya manages to stay in there.