Tuesday, April 24, 2007

American Idol Top 6

It's a new week, and that means another American Idol recap! This week it's inspirational song, all leading up to American Idol's big "Idol Gives Back" campaign and two-hour show tomorrow night. A bunch of high-caliber singers will be performing tomorrow night and Ryan Seacrest promises a huge "shocker" in the history of the show. We'll see how big it ends up being. All that is tomorrow, so let's get started with the performances!

Chris Richardson leads off tonight, singing one of my favorite Eric Clapton songs "Change the World." To use a term uttered by Randy or Paula, Chris started off pitchy with the song, but I think he quickly rebounded. I thought it was a great song choice for him and recovered nicely after stumbling a bit in the beginning. The key question is, will it be a performance that saves him from being eliminated? We are getting down to the nitty gritty and I honestly believe Chris ends up in the bottom three this week, but not without trying.

Melinda is next singing a Faith Hill song, one that I'm not familiar with. Despite that, I think she did a fantastic job with the song, as usual. Some of my comments are like a broken record because she's such a flawless singer. A few weeks back she had a hicup but so far, is one contestant that has yet to be in the bottom three. It probably wasn't my all-time favorite performance from her, but I still think she did a great job with it. And despite her never being in the bottom three yet, I think it will remain that way this week. She's safe.

Going third tonight was Blake and he took a huge risk when he chose John Lennon's "Imagine." Just as Simon said, it's one of the greatest songs of all-time and how can you not compare Blake's to the original? I didn't think it was a spectacular performance, but I still thought it was quite good. I think Blake handles lower-key songs pretty well, but I think his forte is more with the more up-tempo songs. Usually when he goes that route, he gets favorable comments from the judges. Still, he should be safe this week.

Another risk-taker this evening was Lakisha. I thought she learned a valuable lesson from previous weeks that it's hard to take on songs originally performed by Ameircan Idol winners (such as the Carrie Underwood song Lakisha sang before). But she takes on a Fantasia song and it just did not live up to the original. I thought Lakisha had the weakest performance of the night. I especially thought the beginning was rather awkward and the remainder of the song wasn't much better (she started shouting again). Lakisha has really fallen on hard times and I think it may be the end for her this week. Bottom three.

Phil Stacey goes fifth and after an exceptional performance last week, Phil really built up on that momentum from country week. He went with a Garth Brooks song and although it didn't sound the least bit like a country song, he had another great week vocally. I realized this week that there are times when Phil sounds a lot like Michael Bolton during certain melodies. Not that that fact is ever going to hurt him because he seems to be really charging at the end of this competition and making a name for himself. Earlier on in the top-12, he had some performances that really made him look like a laughingstock. I think Phil will land in the bottom three, but he will not be eliminated.

And last but not least for this week is Jordin. What a way to end this week. At first, I wasn't sure if she picked the right song, but I was quickly proved wrong. I love the emotion she expresses in her face when she's singing the more serious parts of her songs. She has tremendous compasion when it comes to singing and week after week she has been stepping up and making a name for herself. After this week's performance, I think Jordin is the favorite to win it all. I think Melinda is growing a little stale with the fans and if Jordin keeps this up, she'll be this year's American Idol winner. Safe.

It's getting extremely difficult in this stage of the game as to who will wind up in the bottom three. I think it's safe to say who the likely candidate for elimination will be this week. But for a recap, I believe Phil will end up in the bottom three but will be sent back to safety. The bottom two will be Chris and Lakisha, and Lakisha will be eliminated from American Idol. Although I think you could pick Blake as a wild-card to the bottom three, since he was there last week. Needless to say, I think things will get very interesting week after week as we head towards the Idol finale in May.

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