Idol Musings...

First off, you have to feel for this little girl (right). I mean, you KNOW they are going to show the DVD of this episode to any future boyfriend she will get. Oh, the impending embarrassment is about to be huge. Also, she HAS to be some one's kid because she had seats in FRONT of the Executive Producer of Idol in the crowd. I cannot WAIT to see what Best Week Ever does with the clips of poor Ashley.

Other than Sanjaya, none of the contestants made me cry like this. Let's see what each one did shall we?

Haley Scarnato:
She shimmied her way through "Tell Him" and finally looked like she's having fun. I think she pushed (up) her way into next week. I enjoyed her performance and I bet a lot of people did too. It was a great start to a night that I actually enjoyed watching compared to last week.

Chris Richardson:
He did the ole "sit down and croon" trick and they even brought out the acoustic guitar player for show. Chris was much better vocally than last week but it was still a pretty boring version of "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying".

Stephanie Edwards:
Ok, so I picked her to finish second in the competition. Yeah, I'm wrong. VERY wrong. She was boring again tonight, wore an outfit that looked very ill-fitting, and did not give a very good vocal of "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" at all. She doesn't have anything about her that makes you want to vote for her, and I think we'll see her at the LEAST in the bottom three this week if not sent home.

Blake Lewis:
This kid knocked it out of the park with his own take on "Time of the Season". Wow, it was great. That song was perfectly in his vocal wheelhouse and he crushed it. "Reality Check" picked him to win, and I don't think that's too far fetched now. I bet this is one of the songs he performs on the Top 10 Tour. Side note: when did Seacrest think it would be a good idea to finally give in and show the world that he has no rhythm or singing ability at all?

Jordin Sparks:
"I (Who Have Nothing)" was as great as her hair was straight. Damn, this girl is amazing. Forget that she's barely old enough to see a Rated R movie, she's got the goods. She's going to be fighting at the end of this season, no doubt. Don't forget she's "so excited" all the time and it really shows and MAKES you want to vote for her.

LaKisha Jones:
After blowing off the advice of LuLu she sang "Diamonds are Forever" and was dressed up to go to the prom. I turned to my family and said "I don't know this song, but it sounds like a James Bond song". Yup, I was right. Her voice is always spot on, but I'm sorry, she's still just so void of any personality at all that I don't 'feel' for her in the least.

Gina Glockson:
Gina better hope that America really wants to keep a rocker in the competition because tonight was not a good night for Gina. She looks the part of a rocker, but her vocals don't really back it up. "Paint it Black" was ok, but nothing special at all. I bet she could see what the bottom three looks like from the inside this week.

Chris Sligh:
The producers really went for a performance feel tonight by having Chris start in the audience and that no doubt un-nerved the kid at the beginning. That's not easy to do for someone new to performing for MILLIONS! Chris said in the pre-interview that he loved the song "She's Not There" and it really showed once he got out of the damn crowd. (I'm surprised that girl from the picture didn't run up and tackle him as he walked by.) I thought Chris did a very good job with this song and I hope he keeps picking songs he can have fun with and stops taking himself so seriously. And I know I wasn't the only one hoping he'd poke Simon in the face with that mic stand!

Phil Stacey:
I didn't think he should have made the top 12, I thought he'd go home last week and this week I have no idea what to think after watching him dance around with the mic stand to "Tobacco Road". It was very evident that he, like Gina did too actually, thought they did a great job until they heard from the judges. Phil seemed as annoyed with the judges' comments as Simon looked everytime they interviewed Peter Noone (what was THAT about?). I think Phil could be a bottom three member again this week. Maybe he'd do better singing a Moby, R.E.M. or Midnight Oil song so his head would fit in more?

Sanjaya Malakar:
For the love of Pete! HOW IS HE STILL IN THERE!?! He sang (no, that's not the right verb), spoke (nope, still not right), butchered (there we go) "You Really Got Me". I mean, he jumped around a lot, but in all honesty my two year old niece was giving me a better performance spinning in front of the tv all night. It was painful. As an avid Guitar Hero player, I know this song very well, and he didn't. My favorite part was him thinking of singing Noone's song "Something Good" and Noone convincing him not to. HAHAHA!! Loved it! Nice call Peter! Please send him home people. Don't let Sanjaya on the tour or you'll all be crying like that poor girl!!!

Melinda Doolittle:
I still think she's working her way towards a win with her version of "As Long as He Needs Me" but Melinda needs to work on her image a little I think. She's got the best voice, hands down, but unless she finds some spark somewhere, that's exactly who will take her over, Jordin Sparks. Jordin and Blake both wow the crowds by having fun and Melinda's "golly gosh gee" thing is going to get old real fast. She also needs to stop showing up to sing in outfits that make her look like she's going for a customer service rep job interview. Come on Melinda, show us so spunk and the competition is yours!

How about you? Who did you love? Who did you loathe?