Top Four:
Jordin Sparks
Phil Stacey
Chris Richardson
Melinda Doolittle
Bottom 2:
Sanjaya
Blake Lewis
Lakisha Jones
ELIMINATED-Sanjaya!
Below was written BEFORE the elimination show of 4/18/07 was aired.
The field is down from seven to six. A post right after the end of the elimination show plus some AI 2007 gossip.
Pic of the Day
Quote of the Day
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Paula Abdul Trivia
Michael Bolton babysat Paula Abdul when she was a child.
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"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack is Paula Abdul's favorite love song.
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Paula Abdul's mom Lorraine enrolled her daughter in dance lessons when she was nine. Abdul remembers feeling inspired by Gene Kelly's dancing in Anchors Aweigh and Singin' in the Rain.
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Hoop Dreams
Abdul, a broadcasting student at California State University at Northridge, tries out for the Los Angeles Lakers Girls cheerleading squad. She's picked out of a field of 700 and becomes head cheerleader within three weeks. She quits school to go pro.
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Five Plus One
At a Lakers game, some members of the Jackson family notice Abdul's moves on the court and hire her to choreograph a video for their comeback album, victory. The big break leads to more work choreographing videos for Janet Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Duran Duran and others.
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Song and Dance
Using $35,000 of her savings, Abdul records the demos for her debut album, Forever Your Girl. Her one-two punch - singing and dancing - fits perfectly within the MTV zeitgeist. Her No. 1 hit single "Straight Up" wins four statues at the 1989 MTV VMAs, and Forever Your Girl stays at No. 1 on the Billboard chart for 10 weeks and sells seven million copies.
Martina McBride Night-the Top Seven Take on Country Music and the Field Goes Down to Six
Martina McBride's sang quite a few songs that have made my Ipod playlist under "favorites". "Independence Day" comes to mind immediately. "That Wasn't Me" is another personal fave and "My Baby Loves Me the Way That I Am" is a song I like to dance to with my dogs, don't ask.
So I anticipated the performances on the evening of Tuesday 4/17/07 eagerly as one of my fave singers and fave genres-country/western-would be on the menu. I wondered how this crop of America's singers of tomorrow would do with this genre that none of them seem to favor.
Or maybe not. For Phil Stacey, who woulda thunk....belted out a country tune "Where the Blacktop Ends", a song I'm not familiar with but Phil sang it so well I think I'd buy it. I thought the ending was a bit shakey but all in all, good job to Phil and here's hoping no matter where he ends this contest, there's some country tunes out there for him to build a music reputation upon.
Judge Randy, in fact, predicted a country music career for Phil and declared it a great music genre for him.
We move on to my personal fave, Jordin Sparks, a 17 year old beauty that won't go back into the woodwork no matter who might beat her out of the top spot. First, Jordin was absolutely gorgeous in a pretty red dress with gold, banded trim. She is a beautiful young woman anyway, but her makeup and hair looked especially pretty on this night of country music.
Jordin chose a tune of McBride's to sing, an act that takes some courage. The title was "A Broken Wing" , a McBride song with which I am unfamiliar. I do like the way Jordin sang the song and even Martina declared Jordin gave the tune her own touch.
Judge Randy said Jordin built the song up wonderfully and Judge Simon declared something I've known right along. Simon said that after this night's performance, he can readily see Jordin taking the big prize. Well I've seen Jordin as 2007's American Idol right from the day she auditioned.
It was laughable, silly and worse than a really bad karoake performance. I write of Sanjaya's performance of the tune "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About", normally a happening, bee-bopping kind of tune that Sanjaya creamed to the depths of ridicule.
As Sanjaya came on the TV screen I couldn't help but burst into laughter at his latest and greatest hair style, which involved some sort of head scarf affair with wild and wooly curls burgeoning out from under. I then insisted, from across the room, that husband switch on his set and get a load of the latest Sanjaya hair craze. Husband did, giggled at Sanjaya's style as expected, then he too commented on Sanjaya's pathetic lack of music talent. No way should this fellow be in the top ten is how my husband expressed it.
Judge Simon then went on a verbal rampage that American Idole fans across the fruited plains have been waiting to hear for about four weeks now. Simon declared Sanjaya's performance "utterly horrible" and declared that comparing Sanjaya to Karoake singers is to insult Karoake singers across the country. Host Ryan then got into the fray, scolding Simon as never having liked Sanjaya and the exchange between Ryan and Simon was funnier than all get out.
Thoughts on the Saga of Sanjaya
So what IF Sanjaya wins American Idol 2007? From TMZ.com, a collection of thoughts should Sanjaya win. A few samples below.
If Sanjaya wins, I will have a memorial feast in memory of J, the hungerstriking myspace retard."
"If Sanjaya wins, I will give up sex ... forever."
"If Sanjaya wins, I will write a letter to American Idol telling them to apologize to William Hung for eliminating him so soon."
It was a sweet irony that Lakisha chose the tune "Jesus Take the Wheel" in that this is a hit tune by former American Idol performer Carrie Underwood. When I heard that Lakisha would be singing this song my ears cocked toward the TV. Also, Lakisha's gold boots were the "bomb", as Judge Randy might say.
I was disappointed at Lakisha's performance of this song but I think that both myself and the Judges were a bit harsh on Lakisha.
First, this is NOT a musical genre Lakisha is likely to perform any time in her life on a regular basis. Perhaps I'm assuming too much here but my gut tells me that Lakisha is NOT a country/western singer. As such, this tune from Lakisha's mouth just didn't set right. Which is not, I'd argue, to say that Lakisha didn't do a fine job so far as her vocals and voice depth were concerned. Maybe this song needs a bit of a country twang, something Lakisha does not have or would I want her to have.
Judges Randy and Paula gave the same vague complaint that I express above only now I've had more time to think about it. Frankly the idea is to have these contenders sing all sorts of musical genres as part of their "audition" before the American public. Not every singer is going to perform perfectly in every genre, of course. Let me re-phrase my critique of Lakisha's performance...for a non-country/western singer, Lakisha did a great job on her performance on Martina McBride night.
I think that Chris Richardson will be next to be booted off American Idol 2007, unless this campaign to keep Sanjaya ultimately fails. Chris Richardson is a singer who cannot hold a candle to Blake and forget about him beating female contenders Melinda, Lakisha or Jordin.
On country-western night, Chris sang "Mayberry" and I swear I heard him stumble on the lyrics. There was a definite hesitation in the lyrics "sipping on cherry ..." and a hesitation before the word "coke". This was mostly minor I suppose but at this stage in the competition the contestants should know their lyrics explicitly. Judge Randy said Chris showed "no emotion" with his song.
Next up, Melinda Doolittle sang "Trouble is a Woman With a Man on Her Mind". Melinda's fashion attire was a bit odd, as I'd imagine how Melinda or her "fashion advisors" deemed a country/western singer would dress. She looked fine, however, and Judge Simon declared her performance "fantastic" and yes, it was.
I thought it would be an off night for Blake Lewis but surprise was the order of the night. Blake performed Tim McGraw's "When Stars Go Blue". I thought I detected some pitchiness but I could be wrong. Judge Randy loved the song choice and the arrangement. I was surprised that this genre would sound so good when sung by Blake but as I smile, he did a wonderful job.
BEST PERFORMANCE-Jordin Sparks
BEST DRESS-Jordin Sparks
BEST SONG CHOICE FOR VOICE-Phil Stacey-"Where the Blacktop Ends"
WORST PERFORMANCE-Sanjaya, then Christopher Richardson
BIGGEST SURPRISE OF NIGHT-Lakisha is no country/western singer. No wait, maybe that's NOT a surprise
MY GUESS AS TO NEXT ELIMINATION-Sanjaya, then Chris Richardson
Below, the TOP SIX American Idol Finals for 2007:
Jordin Sparks
Lakisha Jones
Melinda Doolittle
Blake Lewis
Chris Richardson
Phil Stacey
Seattle and Minneapolis 1/16/07 and 1/17/07
Birmingham 1/30/07
San Antonio 2/6/07
The Top 24 2/12/2007
First Four Eliminated
3/1/07-Down to 16
The Top Twelve
Diana Ross and the Top Twelve
British Invasion
Gwen Stefani Tribute
Andy Williams Special
Jennifer Lopez Night
Martina McBride Night 4/18/07
More TV Reviews HERE
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