American Idol Round of 8: A Horseplayer's Perspective

[brianwspencer]

Melinda
She looked absolutely great. I would say that it was not my favorite performance by any stretch. I wouldn't go as far as Simon and compare it to lounge singers, but it was definitely missing something for me there as well. Vocally, there is still nothing to criticize her for, because she nails every note in every song in every week. Regardless, her "off" week will still be heads above most of the others tonight. Not my favorite, not memorable -- but a performance that I'm still imagining will end up in the top three tonight. Time will tell....

Final Score: 8.5 phone-in votes

Lakisha
I thought this would be a dangerous song for her, choosing to sing Conga. I think that her song selection as much as anything made me love her tonight. It's well documented here that I think she's going to have trouble because she's up against it playing the part of "girl with the huge voice hitting the biggest notes in the competition." Paula and Simon said that it was safe -- but for me, this is the kind of song that is absolutely not safe for her. For Lakisha, the ballads with the power endings that lead into massive sustained notes are her safe zone. So while this was not as vocally challenging a song as we've seen her sing before, I thought it was a great choice for her to show a different side of her. Vocally safe, maybe. Safe as it pertains to her documented vocal style? Absolutely not. I thought she did an incredible job and she showed the kind of versatility that she needed to tonight. After a couple of off weeks in which I didn't love her very much, I thought tonight's performance was a breath of fresh air for a very talented girl.

Final Score: 9.0 phone-in votes

Chris R.
Well, as par for the course, I need to start by mentioning that once again he looks like a little trashball. With that said, I decided a few weeks back to not let my impression of his trashiness cloud my opinion of his singing. Luckily, this week, I didn't struggle with it at all. I'm completely at odds with the judges tonight, because to be honest, I hated it. He got overpowered, a la Sangaya, by the band and the backup singers. I didn't find the performance abhorrent, but I don't have much good to say. I didn't think it was "sexy" and I didn't think it was memorable at all. In fact, I found it completely forgettable. I feel like in taking a song like that, it's imperative to channel the sort of inherent "coolness" of someone like Rob Thomas, and Chris had nothing on that level. Not going to go down as the singular reason I don't like him -- but will go down as one of the many.

Final Score: 7.0 phone-in votes

Haley
When I found out what she was going to sing, I just knew it would be awful. Sort of like a calling card for a trip back to San Antonio. What I did not know, however, was that she was going to singularly redefine the word awful in the span of two minutes. Someone should update www.dictionary.com in a hurry tonight. It was just terrible. Someday down the road, people are going to be turning to their friends, drunk in karaoke bars after terrible performances accompanied by their 11th lemon drop martini, and say "GIRL, YOU TOTALLY JUST SCARNATO-ED YOURSELF UP THERE!" Terrible. She claims that she "got the audience going." I beg to differ, as I think that there are two things that got the audience going -- 1.) The music. Had it been played with no vocals, the audience would be "going" all the same. 2.) It may have had something to do with the hot pants. Your time has come doll.

Final Score: 4.5 phone-in votes

Phil
This is really shaping as the worst week ever, in a hurry. He has serious lower register issues, for whatever reason he can't hit a note in that range to save his life. This is the second week in a row that he sang a song that should have a great deal of feeling, and for the second week in a row, he could manage to register approximately a zero on my emotion meter. It was just not very good, and there are no two ways about it. Can't see many falling over the phone cord rushing to jam the lines with votes for him. But then again, unlike Simon, I can find something to be positive about. Phil, you got to go right after Haley, so no matter how awful you were, it couldn't get any worse than the minutes of my life I wasted five minutes ago.

Final Score: 5.5 phone-in votes

Jordin
This song fits her perfectly. When I watch her on nights like tonight, it seems like she has way too much confidence and comfort being on a stage broadcast into 30 million homes for being 17 years old. I thought her performance was good. She got a little stiff during the last half of it, but she had a lot of fun with it and her vocals have come a serious way since the beginning of the competition. She's becoming more of a contender every week.

Final Score: 9.0 phone-in votes

Blake
I think that Blake had the same problem that I said he had last week. He's pretty good, and he's cool -- but when push comes to shove, his vocals just aren't going to cut it with some of the rest here. On top of that, Jordan and I agreed tonight that there's something about the way he holds his microphone and the way his mouth moves that sort of freaks us out -- it's like he's had a pin stroke (Pillow Pants. http://derbytrail.com/forums/showpos...51&postcount=2. 2007.) Not bad on a pretty lackluster night during which any good performance seems like a standout (so let's keep this in perspective, it didn't take much to be among the best tonight), but I'm not dying to throw myself at him like Simon did after this performance.

Final Score: 8.0 phone-in votes

Sanjaya
The facial hair has to go. Disgusting, like a fifteen year old trying to appear tough. I think that choosing songs with Spanish lyrics is not a good idea on a show like this. That said, it was not that terrible, I actually found myself kind of liking him just a very little bit tonight. Even at his worst, it could still be worse -- he could be Haley. I think that as far as Sanjaya's performances go, this was a standout. He didn't butcher it like he has other songs -- and parts of it were (gulp) very good.

Final Score: 6.75 phone in votes