Live-Blogging American Idol Tonight!
May 22, 2007 by Jeanne
Tonight, Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks will compete to become the next American Idol. Who will prevail? What will they sing? What will they wear? Come back tonight to go through the journey together!
Let the Live-blogging begin! Please excuse the typos, :).
Ryan asks if Paula’s nose is alright (she broke it during an effort to avoid stepping on her dog, Tulip) and after Paula said that her dog was fine, Ryan said “so the bitch is okay.” Wow.
Both Blake and Jordin auditioned in Seattle, the city that Simon said was the worst they had ever seen in terms of potential contestants. They show Blake’s audition, the judges’ commentary and a quick word from Blake about how much he realized he wanted to win as soon as he stepped on to the stage (unlike Chris Sligh, I guess). They then talk about Jordin’s journey to the top 2. So, I guess if both of them came out of Seattle, Simon could not have been right about it being the worst audition city in history.
—commercial break—
Ryan shows a coin-toss that determined who would sing first. It’s Blake lewis. He offered the opportunity to Jordin who said no, so Blake said he would go first.
Blake sings Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name.” He sounds great and his intro actually went better than it did last time. He got the timing down right. He’s beatboxing like a man on a mission. He’s working the stage but he loses a bit of contact with the mouth so his voice cuts out for a second but IT’s BETTER THAN THE FIRST TIME!!! Randy said the beatboxing was hot but the singing was just okay. Paula gives him a 10. Simon says that he’s the most entertaining and, although his singing got a little flat in the middle, it doesn’t matter because he was great. Randy looks like he’s wearing an outfit from the Michael Jackson collection.
Jordin sings Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter.” It sounds good but she’s got to stop the yodelling at the start of every sentence. She’s definitely trying her best. I did not like some of the notes towards the end of the song but the crowd seemed to love it. I guess I’m hearing a different person. Randy said it wasn’t that entertaining but that her voice was stellar. Paula echoed the sentiment. Simon says it was younger choice for her but that she sounded shreiky and that he thought Blake won round 1. Paula said it was a tie. Randy said he performance part went to Blake but that the singing went to Jordin. I did not like it.
—commercial break—
Blake says that he asked for drums every Christmas of his childhood and never got them. He heard someone beatboxing and thought he could do it and when he tried it out his father thought it was a drumset!
Blake sings Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved” and it is iffy. He is trying and it is good that he is trying to show his versatility but this song requires strong vocals and I’m not sure he is pulling it off. He is, however, showing his falsetto abillities. Randy liked it and said he likes it when Blake sings naturally. Paula liked it. Simon said it was good but that he wouldn’t have chosen that song for the final because it doesn’t make much of an impact. Blake says that he has never seen an Idol finale but that he is having fun and that the fans are amazing.
—commercial break—
Jordin talks about how she is doing her dream and that she first started competing when she was 12 years old.
Jordin sings Martina McBride’s “Broken Wing” as her second song. I never like the beginning of this song because her lower register singing is sketchy sometimes. She finishes the song better than it began which has worked all season to make people forget how it started. She did control her vibrato a lot better than normal which made it sound a lot better! Randy said it was great, Paula said it was soaring and Simon said it was good. She seemed happy and I’m happy for her.
—commercial break—
The winners of the songwriters competition. They are from Seattle and it is called “This is My Now.” Blake sings it first. It is a slow song which is not really his strong point but he is doing a good job. These songs are always cheesy, so this performance is cheesy. It’s okay, though. He looked adorable. Randy said it was alright even though it wasn’t his genre. Paula said she thought it was good. Simon thought it was odd because he seemed uncomfortable. He said that we have to judge him based on his first two performances. He did say that there was talent in Seattle.
That song does put him at a major disadvantage. It is clearly more suited to Jordin’s voice than it is to Blake’s.
—commercial break—
Jordin sings “This is My Now” and it starts shaky in my opinion. She is getting better but enough of the yodelling, please! She looks very, very comfortable singing this song. She does a better job singing it than Blake and because of this (and the fact that she is now practically crying) the judges will not mention the bum notes. Randy said that Jordin was the best singer tonight. Paula says that she is an angel and that she has a lot to be proud of. Simon told her that last week, he didn’t think she was good enough to make the finals but is now able to say she was wrong and that she wiped the floor with Blake after that song. The crowd is chanting Jordin over and over and she’s crying.
Ouch. You gotta feel bad for Blake. I don’t know if the runner-up, which he probably will be, should be subjected to public humiliation. I am wondering if the song should be more appropriate to the contestant. How would Jordin sound beat boxing? Ugh, this is why I get frustrated with this show!
Chris Daughtry performs “Home.”
VOTING BEGINS
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Go Blake!!! Oh, my heart is beating for him. He’s gotta be feeling very nervous right now. I wonder what he’ll sing tonight.
GO BLAKE!!
It was an unfair song at the end and just because of that-Blake should win!!
It was hard to watch, guys. I do think the song put Jordin at a disadvantage. In some ways, I think the show should be called “Pop and Commercial Music Idol” because it does not value different styles of music as much as it should. There is a country week, but there is no hip-hop or R&B week.
The buzz is that Blake doesn’t really want to win American Idol. He thinks his career will be better off without an American Idol contract which I believe is probably true. I don’t know if the buzz is a rumor or not.
In your other post you mentioned how Jordin’s father is an athlete and if that puts her at an advantage. Don’t forget that Blake said last week he had already worked with Sir Mix-A-Lot before AI so he has some celebrity status also.
Jeanne,
If what TallFreak (lol) says is true, it seems the contestants are aware that the goal is NOT to win b/c their careers will be better if they are not under that AI contract. I do agree with that line of thinking though b/c it has been proven.
He is also right about Blake’s semi-celebrity status (lol) I do remember Blake saying in his audition that he is the number one beat boxer in either Cali or the nation, I can’t remember which, so he somewhat has some connections as well.
As with everything in America, people are tryint to control or beat the system.
On another note, Jeanne, I am with you girl on that yodelling thing Jordin is doing. She can’t do it with every song! I love Jordin and all but come on….LOL…All in all based solely on last night’s perfomances, I think Jordin did have better vocals and definitely blew Blake out the water with that last song. But I do agree as well that the judges really did push for Jordin, but I think that is part of their strategy. When they do things like that, the public goes the other way almost all the time. Sanjaya is a perfect example!Oh and we can’t forget Antonella! She was absolutely dreadful and she got votes b/c of negative pic’s on the net and when Simon was harsh her votes went up! All the negativity got them votes! Same deal with JP Lewis from season 3…he was horrible and was the “Sanjaya” of that season.
Jeanne, what do you think of this picture of Melinda’s reaction to Jordin’s final performance? LMAO!
Oops, here is the pic:Melinda’s Facial Reaction to Jordin
I would have responded sooner, but for some reason, my comments were turned off for a bit there!
Tall Freak - I am wondering if Blake truly wanted it last night. The thing is, however, that Jordin’s family currently has money and status but Sir-Mix-A-Lot is probably on food stamps. LOL. Okay, that was mean but a little funny, right? I noticed Melinda’s face last night and I am totally going to put it up in a few minutes. I will use the link you gave me (share the traffic, ya know?).
A’kyra - I think losing makes Blake that much more appealing. He doesn’t have that Idol “stamp” on him, ya know? I remember Blake saying that he was the #1 beatboxer somewhere (…?) but let’s not forget - Blake’s “connections” are earned and come from his talent rather than who his parents are. That makes those connections a teeny bit different, IMHO. Thank you for agreeing about the yodelling. I cannot stand it. I wanted to rip my ears off. I also agree with you about last night’s performances and the judges’ strategy. Interesting. What did you think of that final song?
Funny you should mention Jon Peter Lewis… do you think Jordin sounds a bit like a more talented Carmen Rasmusen?
LOL…Jeanne you’re right…and I loved the food stamps comment…that was funny….he did look like he was getting some gov’t assistance….lol. But you are right that Blake got his name on his own not through his parents. And YES she does kind of sound like Carmen….LOL…funny
TallFreak that picture is hilarious! I remember seeing that last night too….I was wondering why she had her face screwed all up….LOL!
Ok, how come no has said anything about Paula??? She was on some serious medication last night! And her hair was a HOT MESS! I saw an interview with her on Deco Drive last night and she was on something then right before the show! She was showing all her bruises and stuttering and loosing her train of thought it was a mess….Can we please get a sober judge!
Sorry I was little over zealous there and meant to say: How come no one…..
Ooops.
Jeanne,
The final song was ok. It’s always a cheesy song that somewhat pertains to the contestants journey. Remember Fantasia cried too. It was alright. Nothing to write home to mother about…lol
A’kyra - Paula sober??? LOL, that’s not going to happen any time soon. I am going to post a video later today of her crying her eyes out earlier yesterday. Interesting…
I know the song is always cheesy but look at what happened last year - Kat McPhee seemed be “pushed” in a similar way as Jordin as been this year and behold! She got a different song from Taylor. Imagine her singing “Do I Make You Proud” - it would have been disastrous. It didn’t work in the end and I think it was partially because of this last song. If Blake had had a more genre appropriate song, the competition would have felt more real. It would have been on!
I totally agree Tammy!!!
Jeanne,
I absolutely agree with you. Now that I think about last year, your right. But you know what? To me the past couple of weeks, they both just seem worn out! They just appear to be tired.
Anyway, I just watched the early edition news and they interviewed Blake after the show last night and he said that he just couldn’t wait until it was over. That all his friends were there and his family and he just wanted to go out after the show and have some drinks and just let it go…so again I believe even more that they are tired…and it showed in their performances b/c we all know they both could have done better…and now the big news…the “rumor” for tonights show is: Sanjaya is performing with Areosmith!
Can you stand it????
I’ll be in touch if they say anything else
Second “rumor”!!!! Brittany Spears is supposed to perform!!!!!!!!
who is the guy that sang the last song before the show’s end tonight? not the contestant but the actual song that was playing after all the judges were done talking..