american idol: the final three

May 16, 2007 by randomguru

well the final 3…. overall i thought they all gave great performances.

On Melinda: somehow, i was a little disappointed with Melinda’s performances. i mean, they were all great performances, but i guess i was expecting to be really “wowed”, and i know she has that capability. but, i just wasn’t “wowed” last night… maybe it was kinda-sorta close when she did Whitney Houston’s “I Believe in You and Me”, but somehow i thought that wasn’t really “her” song. and that was Randy’s choice i think. and i never heard of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” before last night, though she did an outstanding job on it, and i guess that was the producer’s choice. and i was a little bit disappointed with Melinda’s choice to repeat something she did earlier in the competition (I’m a Woman), which was great once again, but i checked out her first performance on YouTube and the first time was definitely the better performance. why couldn’t she have done her audition song “For Once In My Life”? that would’ve blown everyone away.

on Blake: i thought the Maroon 5 song was his best. Blake is unique and not afraid to take chances. he did a little bit of beat boxing that wasn’t over the top or inappropriate for the song. Blake brings this uniqueness to the competition and no doubt that’s why he’s lasted this long. the only thing that bothers me about Blake is that he has this tendency to give this “puppy dog look” into the camera. maybe it’s effective with the ladies, but it’s become rather annoying to me. Wink

on Jordin: she’s definitely got a great voice, though i can feel in her voice that she’s only 17. she’s simply not lived long enough to be able to “emote”, to really make you feel every word with emotion and passion. and sometimes when she hits those high notes it’s just a tiny bit shrill to me. but that’s just me. i guess i’m saying that i just don’t like vocal acrobatics. i like to “feel” the song. but based on her technical brilliance Jordin can win.

interesting that Jordin selected a song (I Who Have Nothing) that became popular way before she was born. and Simon kind of reprimanded her for her choice, though i thought she did fine when she sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (circa 1950’s) from the musical Carousel, another old song.

the where’s taylor hicks factor:

i was reading an article about how some of the winners of american idol have actually been struggling to really gain the fame. like Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard.

sure, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson have succeeded in staying in the limelight. but, actually “winning” American Idol has no real guarantees on stardom. you can win the million dollar recording contract, but will you be real superstar material for the public? and in the long run you would be competing against everyone who has become a superstar both past and present.

anyway, my feeling is that Melinda has more versatility and consistency to make it even if she doesn’t win AI. she can belt out a blues tune like Koko Taylor’s “I’m A Woman”, she can pull off a Whitney Houston tune, she can sing contemporary jazz/R&B like she did with My Funny Valentine. and she definitely can make it in the Gospel circuit. i can even picture her doing a Broadway Musical.

so i’m thinking logically she should win, especially based on her consistency throughout the competition. the fact that both Randy and Simon think she’ll go to the final doesn’t really mean anything because you just never know….

it could end up being Jordin and Blake. we’ve witnessed surprises before on AI. and so we’ll find out tonight.