Wednesday, February 21, 2007

'American Idol 6' - Top 12 Girls - Part 2

I covered the first six girls performing in Part 1. So, if you haven't read that one, please do! And, of course, if you hit the American Idol 6 label at the bottom of any American Idol 6 entry on this blog, it will bring up all the show's entries. You can also use the show title in the Categories section on the sidebar of the main blog page for the same result.

Onto the last (but far from least) girls performing tonight...

Nicole Tranquillo was next up on the stage singing "Stay" by Chaka Khan. (Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan... oh, I'm sorry. I can't say Chaka Khan without doing that.) Oh, my. I'm not sure what to say about the performance. I didn't care for it. Maybe I'll just keep saying, "Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan."

Randy was a firm no. Paula said it was good. My eyes went rolling with that! Simon called it indulgent, fake, and over-rehearsed. Bingo, Simon.

Then it was Haley Scarnato singing Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." Um. Okay. I found it boring, but that song is a bit draggy anyway. It wasn't as bad as Sundance's song last night, but close.

The second Randy sighed, I knew I was right. He said it was "just okay." Simon said she sounded like she was a 40-year-old. Hey! Is there something wrong with being 40? Oh, wait... she's about half that age. I think she might be gone soon, maybe tomorrow.

Doolittle is a misnomer. This girl can do a lot. Melinda Doolittle has been one of my favorites since her first audition and she's getting better each time I see her. She's growing her confidence, yet retaining a humble presence. She belted out Aretha's "Since You've Been Gone" in a style which had to make Aretha proud.

WOW! Now, this is the best performance of the night... so far. The judges were as ecstatic as I was. Randy yo-yo'd and said she "blew it out of the box." Paula didn't say she was pretty, but called her a "firecracker" and a "front-runner." Simon said she's an "incredible singer and a fantastic person." Yay, I say.
Alaina Alexander followed a tough act. And, she didn't make the grade as far as I'm concerned. She sang The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket." While I like the song, her version did nothing for me. It wasn't horrible, no. But it didn't excite me.

Randy sighed and said it wasn't great. Paula said she didn't make it her own. Simon quoted some lyrics from the song -- "I'm special" -- and then claimed she wasn't.

Then we had to endure another Simon/Ryan spat. I don't know what's with them this year, but I find it annoying. Just give the boys boxing gloves and let them duke it out or something. Simon thinks Ryan is biased in favor of Alaina and Ryan thought he's overly harsh to her. Give me a break, guys.

Gina Glocksen, who's never been one of my favorites, sang next. She performed Celine Dion's "All By Myself." It's a hard song and historically hasn't gone over too well with contestants on the show. I didn't care for it.

Paula and Randy both thought it was good. Simon didn't think she hit the "big note" and Gina took issue with that. She kind of sort of hit it, but the whole song seemed a bit off to me. I thought she was too "throaty" at times during the song.

And then all heck broke loose with Lakisha Jones' performance. I have to claim bias -- she and Melinda Doolittle have been my favorites all along. But, wow, Lakisha rocked the house with a song perfect for the occasion in oh-so-many ways. The song was "And I Tell You I'm Not Going" (how perfect is that?) and it's from Dreamgirls with Jennifer Hudson. Her performance was the epitome of the term "owning the song." Tremendous! Yay, Lakisha!

The judges were as awed as I was to the point of Simon predicting a win which garnered him glares from the other judges. I know that's been a controversy during past seasons -- Simon declaring a winner. He said she and a few others were in a different league.

They sure are.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jackie!

WOW is right!! I typically don't watch until we reach the Top 12, but I was a bit bored this evening, and couldn't find anything else that excited me, so...

I am sooo glad that I tuned in!!

From what I saw tonight, the boys are in trouble this year! I agreed with all of your critiques from tonight's show, but may have enjoyed Jordin a bit more than you. Hard to believe she is 17 years old.

This could be a good season after all!!

Thanks for the updates, as always! You rock!!

dla

Anonymous said...

Jackie, I agreed 100% with your critique's of tonight. YOu were spot on in my book. The guys show was so boring compared to the girls. Lakisha blew my socks off and I got goosebumps because I knew I was witnessing something special. As far as I am concerned, the competition is between the girls of color and maybe a boy or two. No one is in the same league as Lakisha and Melinda. Thanks for a great blog as always.
Caligirl

Anonymous said...

Too bad they have to have 6 of each gender because none of the boys could hold a candle to even the worst of the girls this year. The guys will really need to pick it up if they want to stay around. I think Randy's estimate of about 9 good girls and 3 good guys was about right...so we will have to tolerate some poor singing and watch some good female talent go home to "keep things even." Why not all girls?

Anonymous said...

Oh,I wouldn't want to see all girls,because some of those guys were better than SOME of those girls!But the girls have the definite edge this season. I liked LaKisha and my other fav was Sabrina. Jordan doesn't do it for me,think she needs a couple more years under her belt,altho she can belt,but that's not all there is!
BUT,I like Blake,Chris S,and a couple of the guys much better than all the white girls on this year. HOW did they put through such weak and bland girls...and I don't think it was just "song choice" either. Why is it they only seem to respond to the loud,full of "runs" songs?? A good ballad is much,much harder to sing correctly and sometimes,belters can't handle those at all!!! IMHO!

Anonymous said...

Is it now politically okay to refer to color? White girls? It seems like not so long ago it was a sin to refer to color, race, etc. at all. Now "white girls" is okay? I guess I'm just getting too old for all this. I spent the evening reading Four To Score by Janet Evanovich.

Anonymous said...

melinda and lakisha are my favorites, and it was totally reinforced last night, especially lakisha. it was really clear that she could have done the exact same thing as jennifer hudson and made it sound just as good, but she changed it a little bit and made it her own. i liked that. she's REALLY good.

Anonymous said...

So,what is it you would want us to call them? I know that people of color prefer the African American label,so what do we call the caucasian girls.....plain ole Americans?? This is where all the so called "political correctness" has gotten us.The fact remains,some of us are white skinned and some of us are black,tan or yellow. AND the fact remains that we ALL should just be Americans,that's my feeling and if it offends some,then sorry. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anyone.I admire musical talent,even if you are purple!

Anonymous said...

I would call them by name, Sharon

Sydney said...

Hey all -- Wow, I'm really sorry I didn't catch this... just to see the one who sang the current hit by Jennifer Hudson and see her hold up well enough to get such accolades. That's a really risky thing to do considering not only how hard that song is to sing well, but to legitimately "make it her own" when it's the hottest song of the moment, a week before the Oscars, when it's reported that JH sang it so well in the film that NY audiences actuaully gave it a spontaneous standing ovation in the middle of the MOVIE THEATER...

THAT I would like to have seen... Jackie, you have been doing so many technical upgrades on the blog... maybe next... sound bytes? LOL!