New Blog

Hey, if you're looking for the American Idol 6 Blog we've moved to www.allthingsidol.blogspot.com. Come by and see what new things we have.

Fake but still hot

Realityblurred.com reports this:

A photograph of two American Idol 6 finalists that is making the rounds online offers something a lot more interesting than Sanjaya to talk about: two male contestants who seem to have a very close relationship. However, the picture is not genuine.

The photo shows finalist Blake Lewis sitting on Chris Richardson’s lap backstage; has his arms around Blake, who’s carefully studying his phone or other electronic device.

Their images are real, but the original Getty Images photo shows both men in the same poses, just sitting in separate chairs, as a Towleroad commenter noticed. Someone with Photoshop skills clearly edited the two together using the original, which was taken on Feb. 20, as the source.

reality blurred

Top 9 - Tony Bennett/Standards

Blake Lewis - "Mack the Knife". It's pretty hard not to think of Clay Aiken singing this song. This was a great version when Clay sang it. Unfortunately Blake doesn't have the same kind of emotion that Clay had. It seems to be lacking some life. The song also showcases how weak Blake's voice actually is. It's a good voice but without the beatboxing there isn't much there. He could have done so much more. It was just a bleh performance. I think it could have been so much better. Grade B-

Phil Stacey - "Night and Day". I first hear this song last year and fell in love with it. I've heard it in so many different ways that it'll be interesting to see what he does. Hmm.. vocally he sounds awesome but again it seems to be lacking in emotion. As always, his high notes sound great. I just wish he would have put a little more into the performance. The song is all about passion and love but you didn't really get that from his performance. Grade C

Melinda Doolittle - "I've Got Rhythm". Do we really need to say anything more about Melinda? She's amazing and once again gives a perfect performance. She knows how to sell every song she sings. She can transition from soft and playful to powerful belter. She knows just what to do to each song to make it sensational. We all know she's going to win; we're just waiting to see who she's going to beat in the final 2. Grade A

Chris Richardson - "Mr. Saturday". I've never heard this song. It'll be interesting to see how he does with something I don't know. I'm liking this. This style seems to suit him really well. It's a little playful and his voice sounds really strong. When he suddenly throws his R&B side in the song really shines. You can tell that he was really having fun with it. I really liked it. Grade A-

Jordin Sparks - "On A Clear Day". I've never heard this song either. It's good and Jordin sounds great but it's lacking a little something. Maybe it's the just the song; it's a little boring. Vocally, she sounds great but it's not the best that she's done. She's still great. She's really becoming a front-runner. Grade B+

Gina Glocksen - "Smile". Again, another song I've never heard. This is a big departure from the "rock" style that Gina was trying to fall into. However, she sounds great on this song. She needs to hit some kind of big note though because vocally it isn't very challenging for her. It's a good performance but might be too much of a departure from her rocker side. How will people react? Grade B-

Sanjaya Malakar - "". Well, this is the type of music that he should be singing. It doesn't require you to be a strong vocalist, just that you can really sell the song. His voice is weak and all over the place but he can definitely have fun with a song and entertain. Finally, after a month and a half of being on the show, he's starting to show some confidence. I think this may be his best performance yet. It was entertaining (but not necessarily good to listen to). Grade C

Haley Scarnato - "Ain't Misbehavin". The performance was just ok. To me it felt very karaoke/cabaret/broadway. It's a good song for her but she just didn't wow at all. I feel like there just isn't anything to say about the performance. That's not a good sign. I think this might be her final week. Grade C

LaKisha Jones - "Stormy Weather". Well, that was a great way to end the show. Once again, LaKiki shows off her big powerful voice and actually shows some emotion and personality in her performance. This will easily throw her back up to the top of the heap. Grade A.

Overall, I thought the week was good. There were some really good performances and we're finally starting to see the parity between all of the contestants. I don't think Tony Bennett really added anything to the show or helped out the singers at all. For being such a legend I dont think he really gave out any outstanding advice.

For the bottom 3 I'm going to Gina, Phil, and Haley. As for who is going home, I think it's going to come down to Phil and Haley. Phil has a great voice but has been having a lot of problems throughout. Haley has a good voice but seems to always be lost in the mix. She's really trying to work the seductress role but I don't think that's going to keep her in. It's really a toss-up but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Phil is the one leaving tomorrow. Haley will just squeak by for one more week.

Top 10: Pop/Gwen Stefani/Random Artist Theme

So here we go. The Top 10. The ones that are going on tour. I still can't believe that Sangina is going on tour with the group but what can you do.

LaKisha Jones - "Last Dance". Finally! It's nice to see Kiki having fun with a song again and showing some emotion when she sings. I've been missing this since the first week of the semi-finals. That was a great vocal, as always. Grade A

Chris Sligh - "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". It was interesting that Gwen picked up on his rhythm challenges. I have to agree with her. I've noticed the same thing in previous weeks. He missed some words as well. He sounded alright vocally. Overall, it was ok. Grade C.

Gina Glocksen - "I Stand By You". Perfect song choice for Gina. Her voice fits nicely. She showed some great vulnerability and real emotion in her voice. Good for her! Grade A

Sangina Malakar - "Bathwater". You know Gwen was pissed when he came out singing her song. His hair pissed me off. His voice pissed me off. He forgot the words. He's a total joke. I don't like how not even Simon can say anything because it really doesn't matter. Grade T (Harry Potter grades. T for Troll)

Haley Scarnato - "True Colors". I love this song and am excited to hear how she sounds on it. I think her voice could fit this song quite nicely. Hmm. It's not as exciting as I thought it would be. She sounds nice but that's it, just nice. There's nothing that really wows me in the performance. I would have liked to hear more power behind the high notes to really highlight the lightness of her voice and the power behind it as well. It was just a pleasant performance. Grade B-

Phil Stacey - "Every Breath You Take". Another perfect song choice for his voice. He is finally able to hit the high notes without shouting them. He's still having problems of beginning the song. Once again, he seems to find the song in the chorus and takes off from there; but the first verse is a little shaky. Grade B-

Melinda Doolittle - "Heaven Knows". Melinda singing Donna Summer. Do we really think she's going to mess up? You know she's going to be amazing as always. The outfit is hideous though. Another strong, fun, perfect performance. She's in a totally different league from everyone else. Grade A.

Blake Lewis - "Love Song". It's an interesting arrangement, more reggae than how The Cure wrote it. I thought the song was acutally a little boring. His voice is really nice but he needs to start picking a little more popular songs. At first I liked that he was picking out of the box songs but now they may be too out of the box. He should start returning back to more mainstream stuff. Grade B

Jordin Sparks - "Hey Baby". What? Why this song. There's almost no real vocals in it. Well she does add some musicality to it but it's still a horrible song choice, especially after coming off two really strong weeks. I guess it shows she can really sing different things. Horrible outfit too. She looks like a picnic table. Grade B

Chris Richardson - "Don't Speak". I'm surprised that Chris has the pimp spot. I'm surprised though. He actually sounds good on this song. He surprised me. I loved his R&B take on it. I think it could actually be a good R&B song. I'm looking forward to hearing his studio recording of it. It was good. Grade B+

This was an ok week. I felt like some of the song choices were pretty random and the No Doubt songs, for the most part, didn't work on this show. Gwen didn't really offer that much advice that really helped the contestants.

I think the Bottom 3 will be Chris S., Haley and Phil (unfortunately, I just don't think Sangina is going to be in the bottom although he deserves to be the one that goes home). I think Haley will be going home but I wouldn't be surprised if it was Chris S.

Sanjaya McPhee?

TMZ.com has a little article about a mystery designer that came up with this ideal album cover. Yikes!

The sad part is that Sanjaya's hair really does look like that.

Seriously, he's completely the laughing stock of the show and is bringing it down. He needs to go. Everyone make sure you vote for anyone except Sanjaya next week. We've all had enough.

The Cryer Revealed!

My favorite part of last night's show was not any of the contestants, but the little girl that was crying hysterically when Sanjaya was singing. Believe me, if I was there I'd be doing the same thing. There's only so much torture a person can take before they begin to lose it. Anyways, LA Times has finally tracked down the little girl and revealed who she is. Here's what they have to say:

First things first: Who was the crying girl? After the show, I chatted with Idol’s newest superstar, the crying girl, Ashley Ferl, aged 13, from Riverside. For some long minutes after the show, Ashley remained in a state of inconsolable sobbing, unable to choke out a single word. However, through an interpreter (her mother) we were eventually able to learn some facts about the young superstar.

The family, I was told, obtained tickets on a website to attend a taping of “Smarter Than a 5th Grader” a day passage that included not just the taping of the show itself, but also the dress rehearsal of either “Grader” or “Idol.” The fates were kind, and the mother and daughter found their way to the “Idol” rehearsal, where Ashley’s waterworks began. Her prowess was quickly brought to the attention of “Idol” producers who summoned the clan to a ringside seat of honor at the final taping.

Her powers of speech slowly returning, Ashley revealed that while she was on stage she had been thinking that “this was the coolest thing ever.” Asked whom she was supporting in the competition she named “Sanjaya, Melinda, Gina and Jordin” as her picks, refusing to narrow her vote down to a single choice. All my journalistic powers of persuasion, cajoling, bullying and insistence that on her vote might turn the entire competition, that “Listen to reason, young Ferl, there can’t be four American Idols,” would not convince her to name a single favorite. To my every argument, she would only repeat her mantra, “All Four: Sanjaya, Melinda, Gina and Jordin.” And so the race begins in earnest, with tears at every step of the way.

Well, we'll see if she does indeed get called back. If she continues to cry I can see FOX giving her weekly seats just to make sure they get the tear factor in there. However, those tears could potentially keep Sanjaya in and we definitely don't want that. We'll see what happens tonite.

Top 11 - British Invasion Night

Here we are again. I was out of town last week and couldn't comment on the performances (no real surprises though). Now we're at the Top 11 for British Invasion night. What are the questions going into tonite's show: Will Melinda continue her dominance? Will Blake and CRich continue to be original? Will Haley be able to save herself with the performance of her life? Will Sanjaya stop sucking (and what the hell is he going to do with his hair)? Well, we're about to find out. As always, I'll be commenting while they sing so you're getting my initial response.

Haley Scarnato - "Tell Him". Wow, I'm actually very impressed with her tonite. Her voice has a nice clarity. She's having fun with the performance. She's able to transition between the low and high notes easily. She has definitely embraced who she is as a performer and isn't trying to be like Melinda and LaKisha. This was a really good performance from her, probably her best one yet. Good job! Grade B.

Interestingly, Lulu commented on her voice as not being a power voice but still having a place in the competition. I've always said that it's harder for women with the lower voices to do well because the belters always steal their thunder. While Haley doesn't have one of the lower voices her voice still isn't as strong as the belters. And yet, there is definitely a place for her here. She's the only one that has this kind of voice. There's a very pleasant clarity to it that makes it nice to listen to. It will be interesting to see if she can outlast any of the other women.

Chris Richardson - "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying". I'm glad he tried to do a really simple ballad today. I was thinking that he needed to prove he can connect and sing a ballad since all of his best performances have been uptempo songs. This performance is ok, but a tad boring. He sounds nice and controlled, but it seems a little too simple. He needs to let loose a little and really connect with the song rather than just sing it. The last couple of notes were really pretty. Good way to end it but overall a bland performance. He'll be safe though. Grade B-

Stephanie Edwards - "When You Tell Me That You Love Me". I've loved this song since I first heard it in Season 4 when Nadia sang it. I'm excited to see how she does. Well, it's a little softer than I would have thought she would do. I don't know that I believe the longing that the song is supposed to convey. It does become more believable in the chorus but she's also starting to miss some notes here and there. Overall it was just ok. I think Nadia performed it with a lot more emotion and feeling. Grade C

Blake Lewis - "Time of the Season". I've never heard this song before so it'll be interesting to see what I think. Oh, I have heard this before. He has a talent for picking slightly obscure songs but making them work. The beatboxing is worked in but doesn't distract from the overall song. His voice was on during the whole song. Overall this was a great performance. I really think that he's going to end up being in the finals against Melinda. Grade A-

The interesting thing about Blake is that I feel like I still don't really know what his voice sounds like. All we really know about Blake is his beatboxing but I don't know if I could pick his voice out in the crowd when the guys are all singing. He's really going to have to pick a song that lets his voice really shine.

LaKisha Jones - "Diamonds are Forever". Once again, she sounds amazing but is still lacking something in the performance. She doesn't have that emotion that she did during And I Tell I'm Ain't Leaving. This is real "cabaret" performance (as Simon would say). She always sounds amazing but there just isn't that pizzazz that the others have. She needs to really have fun with a song again. If she continues this way she's going to be out right around 7th place. Grade B-

Phil Stacey - "Tobacco Road". Phil sounds great on this song. It's a good choice for him. However he seems to want to do the rocker thing with it and it's not really coming off correctly. Chris Daughtry would have really rocked this song out. But Phil's voice really works nicely with this song. He finally back to the vocalist he was during the semi-finals. Grade B

Jordin Sparks - "I Who Have Nothing". Jordin is getting stronger and stronger each week. Wow! She's putting a lot of emotion into this song but everything is so controlled. She is tearing it up! Damn! Jordin is quickly jumping into the front runner position. She's finally picking the right songs to show off what she can do with her voice and it's blowing everyone away. This was awesome! Grade A

Sanjaya Malakar - "You Really Got Me". What was with the shot of the little girl crying while Sanjaya was singing? That was funny. I can't believe he went for a rocking song. There's no way he can pull this off. Oh God this is so horrible! There really are no words. And why is that little girl crying? I am more interested in her than his performance. That's not a good sign. Grade F OMG, she's crying because she lurves him?! WTF! Then again, she's a young Marsha Brady lookalike. She doesn't know he's a gay homosexual.

Gina Glocksen - "Paint It Black". Good choice. Very rocker song. Ah she sounds great on this song. It's rocky but still has some singing elements to it. I love her look tonite. She really chanelling her best Ryan Starr with this performance. I feel like she's losing a little steam towards the end though. She needs to keep the rock going and didn't really do that tonite. It was a good performance. Grade C+

Chris Sligh - "She's Not There". Sligh has a very smooth voice. It's pleasing to listen to and can work in many different genres. He's doing a good job tonite. He's having fun with the song and performing. His voice doesn't sound strained at all. Everything is very easy for him tonite. Good performance. Grade B

Melinda Doolittle - "As Long As He Needs Me". I am not a fan of her new haircut. She looked much better with the longer hair. I love her gentle performance so far. It reminds me of something similar to Barbra Streisand or something of that nature. This was a very different, controlled performance from her previous ones. It showed a softer side of Melinda. Amazing job once again. She just continues to wow every week. Grade A

I loved the guests today. Unlike Diana Ross they actually had some good critiques and helped the contestants really improve. I hope the remaining guests will help out the same way. I actually liked tonite's theme. I didn't think it would be that great because I didn't recognize a lot of the songs but there were a lot of good performances. I hope that the contestants are realizing what they need to do to win and are going out there fighting each week.

Well the best performance of the night was Jordin (two weeks in a row!) Melinda came a close 2nd and Blake was 3rd. I think the weakest and my bottom 3 for tomorrow are Stephanie, Gina, and Sanjaya. I would LOVE to see Sanjaya go home tomorrow but I'm scared that won't happen until next week so that just leaves Gina and Stephanie. Of the two, I think Gina has the weaker performance but Stephanie will be the one going home.

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!