expanding on what Tonichelle just said, before I get to the "meat of things":
I wouldn't have said Sting, necessarily, but I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed a definite "British vibe" in Blake's singing. And not just Tuesday night, either; he just sounds like a British guy when he sings. You know how many British singers have no accent when they sing, but they just have a certain vocal quality anyway that most American singers DON'T have? He's got that "thing" going on. I would love to see Blake tackle Erasure.
Now, as to Tuesday night and the results. Stephanie was ROBBED. I had a feeling she'd probably go home earlier than she deserved; I actually considered a couple of times since this started to call in for her just to help keep her in, but I didn't, so I geuss people like me are part of the problem.
(No, actually, people who keep calling for Sanjaya are part of the problem; sorry, Dee....
).
The bottom 3 should have been Sanjaya (if Simon for all practical purposes wouldn't even go there, I won't either), Haley, and Chris R, who took all the emotion out of that song with that whiny boy-band voice of his. So at least Chris R being in the bottom 2 was right, but I had a feeling of the 2, Stephanie would be the one to go because Chris probably appeals to a wider demographic.Or to put it another way, Chris appeals to teenaged girls who are obsessive enough to call in over and over for 2 hours straight and rack up the vote total, whereas Stephanie would appeal to people who are for the most part older, less obsessive, and will only call once or twice. (This coming from a nearly 40-year-old man who spent an hour and a half dialing in for Fantasia a couple of years ago and got 12 votes in on Finals night -- like I'd be one to talk.
) But I think y'all know what I'm saying here....
My top 3 from Tuesday would definitely be Jordin (who almost had me in tears; definite goosebumps), Blake (no other word for that performance but "COOL"; lose the plaid pants, tho...) and LaKisha (I've had that song going through my head for about 36 hours now....
What a great selection! Tho I agree with Lulu that she would have completely blown us away with "You're My World") Melinda was good once again, but it's the second week in a row she's picked a totally BORING (IMO) song to sing. (If someone was going to do something from "Oliver!", I would have LOVED to have heard "Oom Pah Pah" done by Gina, ha.) Chris S did a really good job with a song I really don't like, but I think starting out in the audience like that was a terrible idea.
I think LaKisha is terrific, but my quibble with her is that she tends to imitate whoever it is who covered the song she's singing. I detected definite Shirely Bassey Tuesday night, picked up a Billie Holliday vibe on "God Bless The Child" and her trying to do Whitney with "I Have Nothing". I think Jordin is definitely the one to watch; I can see Blake (why do I keep wanting to call him Drew??) and Jordin being the final 2.
I thought it was rather amusing that with all the talk the judges make about "not oversinging the song" and "keeping it simple", guest vocal coach LULU goes out there last night and destroys her OWN big hit by turning it into an absolute SHRIEKFEST. I wonder what would have happened if say, Jordin, had gone out there the night before, sang the same song, and shrieked all over the place like that. You KNOW she would have been criticized mercilessly. It's like, well, if your well-established guest stars are butchering their own songs, it seems a bit odd to criticize the less experienced constestants for butchering others.....
(my favorite by a mile) or Lakisha (just a few steps behind her). I thought the judges raved because 1) she improved a lot; 2) she is very personable and photogenic; 3) for ratings purposes, it's best to have it appear to be a 3-way race rather than a runaway.
