Yuck – I hope this isn’t true. Apparently, before the finale, Antonella Barba, Haley Scarnato and Gina Glocksen put messages up on their MySpace pages urging their friends to vote for Jordin Sparks. That is rough! I’m not sure why they would feel it’s appropriate to do to Blake Lewis with whom they must tour this summer. If they were from a different season, maybe, but I don’t think fellow cast-members should do this kind of thing. It just isn’t classy, in my books. Well, Antonella and Haley had already shown us that but I was surprised at Gina.

source

Post from: Idol Stalker

Her Ho Patrol has obviously become the “No” Patrol. Haley Scarnato is going home. I think making the contestants sing after their elimination is cruel and in this case, I feel like I’ve been punished as well.

I must say that I agree with the bottom three. I think Jordin was a bit worse than Chris but Phil is getting on my last nerve. He is talented but I don’t know what happened to him over the last few weeks. If you listen to him tonight during the opening song, “Bailamos,” he sounds good. Too bad he can’t bring that back to the stage. Tick tock goes the clock… who will be next?

Tomorrow’s Sanjaya Report 

Come back tomorrow for Thursday’s edition of the Sanjaya Report. What could he possibly have in common with J.Lo and Madonna???  Did Ryan Seacrest’s street interviews on tonight’s show give insight into this contestant’s staying power?  You’ll have to come back to find out!

Post from: Idol Stalker

Melinda Doolittle

Okay, I need to voice my frustration here. Melinda is a fantastic singer. Tonight, she delivered a good performance of “Sway.” That’s right, I said good – not great. Aside from looking like Martin Short with her dance moves, I’m totally tired of her not picking challenging songs. If she is going to consistently pick easy, repetitive tunes, she needs to blow me away – she didn’t. She did look great in that black dress tonight, though.

Lakisha Jones

Lakisha is another strong singer who isn’t trying very hard. I loved when Jennifer Lopez told her that she doesn’t “have to do too much” Right – because J.Lo has never been known as the queen of excess. Moving on… If you had the Pointer Singers of “Neutron Dance” fame cover Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” you would get tonight’s performance. Lakisha really brushed off Paula’s constructive criticism which falls in line with her total dismissal of the advice from Tony Bennett, Gwen Stefani and Lulu. Keep ignoring the advice, Lakisha, and you might be sent packing.

Chris Richardson

It almost pains me to say that Chris was one of the better performers tonight, but he was. I love Rob Thomas and Santana’s “Smooth” and, although he did not quite get there, the second half of his performance was decent enough.

Haley Scarnato

She sang, “Turn the Beat Around” but I wish she sang “Turn the Volume Down.” Okay, the backup vocals are so strong during the chorus of this song that it might be easy to ignore her terrible singing but when she started singing on her own, the truth was undeniable – it was a mess. For half of the song she was so out of breath that she couldn’t even complete her words properly. Does she really think that those short-shorts are going to get her a record deal? I think we learned our lesson with Jessica Simpson – shaking your booty is just not enough.

Phil Stacey

This was probably Phil’s worst performance. He sang, “Maria, Maria” and let’s hope it was in prayer because only a miracle could make people think he sang in tune. He was ahead of the music at least twice and it was so boring that I think it was actually worse than Haley’s performance. At least he wore a hat.

Jordin Sparks

Is no one else bothered by her yodeling? And her vibrato is so distracting that she sounds almost like a sheep. Am I the only one who feels this way? She’s got decent intonation, she can definitely carry a tune but something just annoys me. I thought the performance was boring and her twitchy behavior was odd. Her clothing was moderately better, though. I liked the top a lot.

Blake Lewis

I think Blake came out on top tonight, which, considering how everyone else did, is not a major accomplishment. He sang, “I Need to Know” by Marc Anthony, who, despite looking a bit like Skeletor from the He-Man cartoon of the 80s, can sing his butt off. Marc’s version is stylish and Blake’s was very straight. However, it was a smart song choice since it suited his voice and, in the end, he managed to pull it off.

Sanjaya Malakar

I can say, for the first time in the 12 top performances, that I did not think that Sanjaya was the worst. In fact, I think he did reasonably well. The song choice (Besame Mucho) was great, singing in Spanish won him some points and as Randy said, he’s “one of the smartest contestants” ever. I don’t know how he does it, but I don’t think he’s going home tomorrow.

Breakout performance – Chris Richardson. It was more than I expected.

Most Surprising – Sanjaya Malakar. He actually sounded okay.

Worst of the Night – Haley Scarnato. No further comment.

Biggest Risk – No one. It was very safe and boring.

Prediction for bottom three – Haley, Phil and Jordin with Jordin being safe.

Photo Source

Post from: Idol Stalker

Yahoo! tracks the searching habits of Idol fans not only by who is being most searched, but also what, in particular, people are searching to find out. Let’s take a look.

Sanjaya is still the overall leader (can you believe the staying power of Antonella and Alaina?)

American Idol Leaders
Rank Idol Move Score
1 Sanjaya Malakar +14
2 Antonella Barba +4
3 Haley Scarnato +5
4 Blake Lewis – 2
5 Melinda Doolittle +1
6 Alaina Alexander – 1
7 Chris Richardson – 1
8 Gina Glocksen – 1
9 Chris Sligh – 1
10 Lakisha Jones – 0

But Haley is the biggest mover (don’t we know it…)

American Idol Movers
Rank Idol 1 Day Move
1 Haley Scarnato 217%
2 Melinda Doolittle 176%
3 Sanjaya Malakar 125%
4 Chris Richardson 110%
5 Blake Lewis 58%
6 Alaina Alexander 44%
7 Antonella Barba 37%
8 Gina Glocksen 36%
9 Chris Sligh 29%

But what, exactly, are people are searching for?

Here is a list of the top five searches broken down by contestant -

- Sanjaya Malakar

1. Sanjaya Malakar Hairstyles
2. Sanjaya Anthem
3. Sanjaya Conspiracy
4. Who is Voting For Sanjaya
5. Sanjaya Wig

- Haley Scarnato

1. Haley Scarnato Scandal
2. Haley Scarnato Legs
3. Haley Scarnato Pregnant
4. Haley Scarnato Shorts
5. Haley Scarnato Height

- Melinda Doolittle

1. Melinda Doolittle School of Humility
2. Melinda Doolittle Neck
3. Melinda Doolittle Shrek
4. Is Melinda Doolittle Married?
5. Melinda Doolittle MP3s

- Blake Lewis

1. Blake Lewis Shirtless
2. Blake Lewis Tattoos
3. Blake Lewis Love Song
4. Blake Lewis 311
5. Chris Richardson vs Blake Lewis

- Chris Richardson

1. Chris Richardson Dating
2. Chris Richardson Shirtless
3. Chris Richardson and Alaina Alexander
4. Chris Richardson Girlfriend
5. Contact Chris Richardson

- Jordin Sparks

1. Jordin Sparks Father
2. Jordin Sparks Height
3. Jordin Sparks I Who Have Nothing
4. Jordin Sparks Fan Sites
5. Jordin Sparks American Juniors

- Lakisha Jones

1. Lakisha Jones Videos
2. Lakisha Jones Biography
3. Diamonds Are Forever Lakisha Jones
4. Lakisha Fanatics
5. Lakisha Jones Last Dance

- Phil Stacey

1. Phil Stacey Navy
2. Phil Stacey Audition
3. Phil Stacey Wife
4. Phil Stacey Hair
5. Nosferatu Phil Stacey (LOL, my son said this last night!!!)

Post from: Idol Stalker

The show is starting off and they’re going back through the highlights of last night’s show. Lot’s of good performances, and better performances for many. Sadly, someone has to go home tonight and although I just glanced at the site and I think by seeing the post I know who got voted out, I’m STILL crossing my fingers hoping it will be Sanjaya.

New start off tonight, they’ve already divided the contestants into groups of three. And sadly and shockingly, Sanjaya is with Blake and Chris, so I’m doubting he’s going home yet again.

1. 1st Group: (Probably not going home)
   • Blake Lewis
   • Chris Richardson
   • Sanjaya Malakar
2. 2nd Group: (I’m guessing someone’s going home here)
   • Haley Scarnato
   • Gina Glocksen
   • Phil Stacey
3. 3rd Group: (not going home)
   • Jordin Sparks
   • Melinda Doolittle
   • LaKisha Jones

 American Idol Challenge tonight was nicknamed “Chicken Little”, the answer is Kevin Covais, so go here to enter and get your chance to win $100,000. More about the program of American Idol Gives Back, which I’m very proud of them for doing.

Up next we’ll be seeing Tony Bennett, but he’s sick tonight and he’s not going to be on the show tonight. Instead, we’ve got Michael Buble performing. AWESOME! Lot’s of contestants have been singing his songs this year. Singing “Call Me Irresponsible”, and doing a great job of course. I’ve loved Michael’s music since I first heard about him, but have never seen him perform live, and he’s exceeding my expectations. Many times singers aren’t as good in live performances, but he’s nailing it. It’s amazing he’s the level of crooner that he is at his age. On another note, I need to get the name of the 1st trumpet in the band, that guy is good! Absolutely excellent performance by Michael Buble. Ooh, only drawback is he says he’s still voting for Antonella Barba. He could do much better than that.

Coming back to the vote, Phil Stacey gets sent back safe this week. Good call America. It had better freakin’ not be Gina Glocksen this week. Ryan asks the judges if they got it right and none of them are saying anything!!!! Sanjaya should be in the middle of the stage right now by himself!

After just under 33,000,000 votes, they vote off Gina Glocksen before Haley and Sanjaya!!! This is freakin’ stupid! I am absolutely boycotting Vote For The Worst on anything they do ever again. Wrong America, wrong!

Gina Glocksen is going home

Now Gina’s got to follow-up this travesty of voting fubar and sing again. I hate making them do this, but I guess it’s about the best thing they can do.

We’ll see you next week. Hopefully between now and then the servers hosting Vote For The Worst will crash and self-ignite in a giant fireball. Note: I know the Vote For The Worst link doesn’t go to their website.

Post from: Idol Stalker

Post from: Idol Stalker

Wow. Some have called this season’s contestants dull and unoriginal. Tonight might have been an example. Classics are classics and must be respected but, while almost everyone sang well enough, there was little that will keep me up tonight.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TELLING CONTESTANTS TO TAKE RISKS (Haley risked a “wardrobe malfunction” but that doesn’t count)?

My co-blogger, Jason, has done a fine job live-blogging the show tonight, so I’m just going to add my two cents about the performances. 

Blake doesn’t have to beatbox every week and he’s definitely among the best (and maybe the most versatile) but he sang “Mack the Knife” so straight, he almost sounded like he was auditioning for “Beyond the Sea 2: Bobby Darin Lives.” You can be respectful but still true to yourself.

Phil is a good singer but this did not even seem like a genuine performance. If you weren’t distracted by the sweat beads on his melon, there wasn’t much excitement in his rendition of “Night and Day.” In fact, I felt like a night and a day had passed by the end of it.

Melinda, as Simon said, is almost impossible to criticize. I happened to agree with what he said, however, about the first half of the song being kind of bland. That song has some real potential and I felt like she could have given more, but she’s great so who cares?

Chris gets props for mixing old with new by wearing jeans but did he have to steal Sanjaya’s hat? Just kidding. He stayed true to himself, even if it wasn’t his best performance (in my very humble opinion, at least). One tip though – learn to keep the microphone near your mouth. If you turn your head, the mic should follow! He’s had a problem with this all season. It’s bugging me.

Jordin was a bit boring to me. I’m not sure if the mic feedback was an indication that the sound was off because I’m wondering if the judges heard her whole performance. It was a clone-like, factory-made performance.

Gina is a good singer. She had a good performance. She could maybe control the eye seizures (those of you with TiVo, DVR, PVR, etc… check it out). I was somewhat irritated to have the soldiers in Iraq brought into the mix by Tony Bennett (not her fault). I was half expecting her to be draped in a flag with an eagle on her shoulder, or something. Well, at least it would have been interesting…

Sanjaya, as Mr. Bennett said, “dares to take risks.” Honestly, I do think this is part of the reason he’s still here. When he’s gone, we pretty much know how it’s going to go down and the performances will be predictable (with the exception of Blake, maybe) but Sanjaya has made himself stand out. His performance did sound a bit like a clip from an episode of Barney. Hey, Madonna’s not a great singer but she knows how to market herself. Don’t underestimate the importance of being an entertainer.

Haley is starting to annoy me in a major way. Her singing is just right for Broadway or Disney movies, and she knows it, so she sells sex, really. There, I’ve said it. Even Tony Bennett had to ask her to tone down the level of skank she was trying to put into the song. The shimmying and toying with men in the front row was almost shameless. She’s not going to win (let’s hope) so she’s using gimmicks to get votes. Why does Sanjaya get all the buzz? This is a family show and there have been times when I was embarrassed for her. Seriously.

Lakisha is back! She’s one of the few contestants I’ve seen in the history of the show who had the guts to go against the advice of the guest (Tony Bennett told her to omit the “ain’t no sunshine when he’s gone” at the end of her song but she didn’t). She is a PLUS-SIZE BEAUTY and I love her. I just want her to stay in the zone from now on.

Post from: Idol Stalker

I’m looking forward to the live performance tonight from Gwen Stefani. Can’t wait to see what she’s wearing and what she’s singing.

I think the ones to worry about tonight are going to be Chris Sligh and Chris Richardson. Hopefully Sanjaya will be the one to go home this week, but if he makes it through again. One of the two Chris contestants are probably the ones to be a little anxious on the votes.

The Ford commercial this week shows off the Mustang, so we’ve got a little bit of a western theme in the commercial. Okay, well not a little bit, completely western theme.

• Blake Lewis – safe (no surprise there!)
• LaKisha Jones – safe (no surprise again)
• Phil Stacey – bottom three (little surprised there actually)
• Melinda Doolittle – safe (absolutely no surprise)
• Chris Richardson – safe (a bit surprised)
• Sanjaya Malakar – safe (what the crap!)
• Haley Scarnato – bottom three (not a big surprise, but wish it wasn’t true)
• Jordin Sparks – safe (good job girl!)
• Chris Sligh – bottom three (not surprised given my previous comments)
• Gina Glocksen – safe (she did a good job again)

If you haven’t voted yet, here’s the Idol Challenge this week. Who’s the “Velvet Teddy Bear”, Bo, Ruben or Taylor. Ummm, let’s go with Ruben Studdard. Go vote now.

Gwen Stefani performs “Sweet Escape”, which she also performed recently on the Ellen Degeneres tour.

Bottom three is confirmed: Chris Sligh, Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey.

Phil just gets sent back, he’s safe again for another week. Simon says it’s “bye-bye curly” and that’s a vote for Chris going home.

Chris goes home. There’s lots to be said about rhythm coming through. It’s probably one of the most noticeable things the average viewer can really pick up on and catch when it’s not quite right. Chris is a good guy, and I’ll absolutely miss his comedic personality and outlook with everything. You could always count on him bringing a smile to your face for something.

Next week we’ll be enjoying the songs of Tony Bennett.

Post from: Idol Stalker

LaKisha Jones
She’s doing some Donna Summer song this evening. Not sure what it is about LaKisha, but she’s just not wowing me anymore with her performances. She can still sing, but for me it’s just not there anymore. This is a tough point in the competition to be hitting this type of wall too. Maybe it’s just me though, she’s still been doing well with votes it appears.

• Randy: good to see her up tempo song, true fly diva right there, it was hot
• Paula: Donna Summer’s not an easy artist to start out with, and she did her proud
• Simon: 30 years younger this week and agree with Randy, nice to see an up tempo song. Great vocal, putting her mark back on the competition

Chris Sligh
Viewer question from Barbara, “How much down time do you have and how do you spend it”. Not a lot, but he likes spending it knitting and crocheting as well as paying bongos in his boxer shorts. No, for his real answer he says sleep as much as possible to stay healthy. Singing some Police, “Everything She Does is Magic”. Gwen’s advice to Chris is watch the tempo and stay with the music. He’s had problems with that in a variety of songs. Sounds like tonight though they’ve upped the reverb in his mic and it makes it sound like he’s echoing, which will only make staying on beat even harder. Hopefully he can fight through it because this is a great song. It’s not quite there, but not too bad either.

• Randy: good song choice, rhythm and tempo not balancing out
• Paula: biggest amount of criticism is “staying in the pocket” with the rhythm. vocally was good, good tone
• Simon: thought it was all a mess, bad timing in this stage of the competition. Didn’t represent him well

Gina Glocksen
Gina is a big fan of Gwen’s so, she was very emotional in the whole process of working with Gwen during the week. This song was a good choice for Gina, “I’ll Stand By You”. Fits her style and range very nicely. Timing seemed a bit off though. We’ll see what the judges think.

• Randy: boot night, another fly pair of boots. One of her best performances ever. She’s got the big voice, just believe and choose wise songs
• Paula: improving each week and coming into her own. Great song that she picked and allowed her to soar with her vocals
• Simon: wasn’t one of her best, it WAS her BEST! This was all about knowing who you are and choosing the right song. The transformation from a few weeks ago was significant. Best performance of the night so far.

Sanjaya Malakar
Singing “Bathwater”, hopefully that’s fitting because we’ll throw him out with the bathwater tomorrow night finally. Gwen said he forgot the words during rehearsal and it as a hard song, but he picked it. Best of luck to him, but it didn’t sound like she’d be too torn up if this was his swan song as well.

What the heck did he do to his hair? It’s a faux-hawk. That’s just weird. If he makes it through this week with just forgetting the words, hair like that and his normal sub-par singing skills, we may have to hire some hackers to go after some people at VFTW. It’s just sad, sad, sad, sad.

• Randy: speechless every time, the hair is weird. He can sing, just put it out there
• Paula: if he had the ability to just go for it and do it, leaves a lot to be desired
• Simon: presume there was no mirror in his dressing room. He doesn’t think it matters anymore what the judges say. He is in his own universe and if people like him good luck.

Haley Scarnato
Singing “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper. Gwen didn’t like the extended flourishing that Haley added to the end of the song. Do they contestants here that stuff before they perform? Hopefully they do, Haley doesn’t need to try any risks on her performances and see if she can outlast Sanjaya. You’d think that should go without saying, but not so from what we’ve seen. She seems to be staying with the main, known version of the song. Ending was kind of weird, but nothing too off the wall.

• Randy: started rough, got better towards the end. Just kind of all right. Didn’t really grab him
• Paula: beautiful song that requires nothing other than just singing the song, less contemporary
• Simon: sweet, but forgetable. Nothing to remember really

Join us for part two of tonight’s performances

Post from: Idol Stalker

The contestants come out Gina and Melinda got their haircut and Phil is bald, oh wait, that’s normal. It was pretty impressive in that Simon Cowell got quite the applause and screams when they announced his name. On a side note, there are new Coke cups tonight.

Tonight we’re doing the British Invasion, the Beatles led the initial wave and following with some little groups you may have heard of like The Rolling Stones, The Who and Herman’s Hermits or even The Animals. It just struck me that if the Beatles were still alive and rocking, they’d be old farts like The Rolling Stones are now.

Let’s get it started.

Haley Scarnato – “Tell Him”
She’s really coming out and showing a completely different side of her. I think the advice from LuLu to keep it staccato was good advice. She also said not to worry about being compared to the “big voices” because there’s a place for everyone and Haley just needs to do what she can do and be herself. I’m ont sure if it’s because she really worked it out this week, or if the style really suits. One thing to say for sure, she sure did make good use of some warddrobe tape.

• Randy: perfect song choice, best performance to date
• Paula: girlish quality with a perfect song for her
• Simon: “you naughty little thing”, fun, young a bit shrieky in the middle

Chris Richardson – “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin’”
Peter Noone didn’t have much to say about Chris. Said he didn’t hear much of his voice. Doesn’t sound like he was impressed with Chris at all. Singing a little acoustic set with just him and a guitar. So far it sounds like he’s delivering on his goal. The setting and focus of the him and the guitarist on stage puts all the emphasis on his singing and his voice. He’s got talent, but I’m just not a big fan of his nasally and pinched sound. This performance was a good one though, nice falsetto ending that will get votes too. It’s a competition tonight!

• Randy: another great performance, showed a really different side. It was beautiful, one of his best vocals
• Paula: playing this game to win, very sexy and charming for the entire performance
• Simon: “I think that was your best performance”, your control was excellent and didn’t make it sound old-fashioned. Simon agrees with me, a little nasally.

Stephanie Edwards – “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”
Lulu said she’s so grounded. She reminded her of Beyonce when she hears her sing. But, we don’t need another Beyonce. Let’s see Stephanie. I’ll bet this will be a great performance. Very nice orchestral intro to the song. Everything backs off and let’s Stephanie’s voice to massage the lyrics into the air. The long black boots don’t work with her blue dress though. Oooh, sounds like her performance is just falling apart to me. Maybe it’s just the audio. Nothing memorable.

• Randy: good song choice, little pitchy, not her best performance
• Paula: loves what you’re wearing, picked the right song, minus some notes that fell off
• Simon: believes she’s losing her edge and her soul. A very good cabaret performance. Misses her passion and rawness

Anyone else think this show would be about half the time without all the commercials?

Blake Lewis – “Time of the Season”
Paula Abdul is rockin’ out at the judges desk. Very nice intro does it’s job of getting you on your feet. The final note of the chorus seemed a bit out of his range though. His beat-boxin’ and performance skills sets him so far apart from the rest of the competition it’s amazing. I think he could probably lose tonight and have an album before the winner is actually announced.

• Randy: cool, vibey, edgy, massive yo-factor, much props
• Paula: I felt like she was at a concert, he’s raised the bar
• Simon: a million times better than last week, I think this week it was a right song choice, kept the melody intact while putting his own slant on it.

Ryan danced a little bit and it I can’t decide if it was good or just completely goofy. I’m leaning a little more towards goofy.

LaKisha Jones – “Diamonds Are Forever”
LuLu tries to convince her to sing “You’re My World”, but she ends up and chooses “Diamonds Are Forever”. I’m not sure how she would have done on LuLu’s suggestion, but LaKisha’s performance isn’t doing a whole lot for me this week. There are a couple of lyrics and notes that she really launches at you, but overall I’m a little bored with the song.

• Randy: good choice, not his favorite performance. Didn’t feel enough LaKisha in it
• Paula: picked the right song, not much to talk about her song, so she resorts to talking about the diamonds she’s wearing
• Simon: feels it was like watching her perform 50-years from now

Phil Stacey – “Tobacco Road”
He’s picking a song because of how fun it is to sing. Peter believes it’s a good choice to highlight Phil’s range. Said he’d never heard it sung that well before. This song is full of energy and totally stretches the singer’s ability to hit a full range of notes and runs. A good variety of the tempo changes as well. I’m not sure what it is though, I like Phil and his personality, but for some reason on this song, his appearance just throws me off. He’s stepping up to the competition though and bringing it.

• Randy: had a good time up there, likes his upper register, good for him
• Paula: real good choice of song, some parts were pitchy, liked hearing the various ranges of his voice, good performance
• Simon: wasn’t crazy about, doesn’t hear any grit in his voice and it was needed in this song. It needed to be believably and he didn’t believe it

Join us after the break for the second half of tonight’s performances.

Post from: Idol Stalker