American Idol Round of 4: A Horseplayer's Perspective

[brianwspencer]

Just an FYI, for those who wait anxiously for my brilliant write-ups, that tonight's writeup may not be in until tomorrow. I've got to wait for Jordan to get home from work to watch, and may not be up to writing it until tomorrow.

Share thoughts in the meantime here

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by brianwspencer

Just an FYI, for those who wait anxiously for my brilliant write-ups, that tonight's writeup may not be in until tomorrow. I've got to wait for Jordan to get home from work to watch, and may not be up to writing it until tomorrow.

Share thoughts in the meantime here

Maybe for once I'll go first...lol! But I want to watch Veronica Mars first!

[Rileyoriley]

So far I'd say Blake or Lakisha (not sure I spelled that right) are going home tomorrow. Deb

[SentToStud]

I can whistle Dixie out of my a ss better than that guy with the skunk dye job can sing.

They should boot stuttering tard and BiGeisha off tomorrow and just get to the final.

[somerfrost]

OK, each contestant sang twice tonight...there were three very good performances, one OK performance and four stinkers. Gibb and the Bee Gees, I'd have picked some of their older, pre-disco songs...Jordin did with her first performance and it was the best of the night. I'll rank all eight:
8) Blake...You Should Be Dancin'...his luck with his "beat box" (is that the right name?) style finally ran out...this was a trainwreck, off key at times, corny and to quote Simon, "absolutely terrible"
7) Lakisha...Stayin' Alive...she'll be lucky if she does after that mess, slowed tempo and reverted to shouting again. Frankly, it simply sounded weird...very weird!
6) Blake...This Is Where I Came In...don't know the song but know this was bad. Again, his attempt to "Blakerize" a song fell flat! Tuneless to quote Simon.
5) Lakisha...Run To Me...almost lost her voice at the end, better than her first mess but average at best.
4) Jordin...Woman In Love...I was very disappointed in her job with this song, especially after Gibb said she could be the next great female vocalist. There were some pitch problems and she really regressed off her first performance. Still a lot better than the ones ranked 5-8.
3) Melinda...Love You Inside And Out...solid performance with perfect vocal but it just didn't excite me. I think a poor song choice for her.
2) Melinda...How Can You Mend A Broken Heart...her best performance of the night, outstanding vocal, the last part of the song was fantastic! Excellent!
1) Jordin...To Love Somebody...OK, I love this song but wow! She nailed it! Had her hair straight tonight and she looked beautiful as well. When at her best, her voice has a unique character that is hard to top!

So...the bottom two are obviously Blake and LaKisha, I'd give LaKisha a slight edge but I don't see three women as the final three so she's probably heading home. The best single performance of the night goes to Jordin but the consistency of Melinda is tough to beat. Still think Melinda has an overall edge but it may very well come down to whether Jordin can put it all together at the right time...frankly, they are both great!

[brianwspencer]

Wow. What a train wreck of a week on Idol.

I held off a bit tonight on writing this, and I'm not sure there is as much to write as there has been in weeks past because it was pretty clear who was good, who struggled, and who was downright awful.

Melinda
She was rock-solid as usual tonight. However, I was not impressed. Both of her songs very seriously lacked any semblance of star power, and if she goes in the final against a foe like Jordin, that lack of energy could do her in. Both performances were a bit dry, even if they were technically good, I was left wanting something more -- not once, but twice.

Combined phone-in votes: 17.0

Blake
Wow. By the way, that "wow" is the complete opposite of last week's "wow." That was awful, not once, but twice. Last week was the one week where he really took it to the next level with the beatboxing and it dominated his performance last week. Because of that, it would have been nice to see him follow that up with a performance that was centered around actually singing. Between his creepy falsetto throughout the entire first number and the entirely inexplicable nature of the whole second one, I don't really have much to say. The first was terrible, and in hoping for a better performance on the second song I was very dissappointed. One was terrible, two was terrible. Terrible night all around. Thank goodness for him Lakisha was equally awful.

Combined phone-in votes: 13.0

Lakisha
It's as if these two middle performers are actually trying to see who can perform worse tonight. The first song was completely random and ugly from beginning to end, and the second song was no better. These are the types of performances that have had the potential to do her in throughout this competition, but she would be blessed if she could survive after delivering two atrocious performances on the same evening. I wish I could be more articulate about it, but what a waste of vocal talent and what a waste of minutes from my night.

Combined phone-in votes: 13.5

Jordin
Finally a light at the end of the tunnel. I was not a huge fan of her second performance, as the whole thing seemed a little stiff from the get-go. The fact remains, however, that she absolutely nailed her first song and did so in such a way that she deserves the title of best performance of the night. Her lackluster second performance will likely be excused because of the terribly flawed performances that preceded her in each round tonight. I loved her first performance, and could easily tolerate her second one. She comes out of tonight the winner, but with Melinda hot on her heels. These two once again separated themselves from the group and will continue to do so unless Blake delivers another blockbuster performance like last week.

Combined phone-in votes: 18.5