Blake? Please explain the appeal..

[StellarWind]

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I think Lakisha is back and she is going to take out Blake and Jordin(I'm not sure in what order) and then face down Melinda in the finals where it will be anyone's game!

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I don't see it that way.

Melinda and LaKisha are obviously linked to the same audience segments. What is less obvious is that the same applies to Blake and Jordin. Both have strong appeal to the critical teen and pre-teen segments. Plus a wide range of voters of all ages who don't really care for soul-style singing.

My theory is that whoever succeeds in eliminating their niche-mate this week will capture the lion's share of their voters and receive a direct ticket to the Top 2.

It won't be possible to eliminate Jordin and Blake in consecutive weeks. If LaKisha wants to reach the Top 2 she needs to beat Melinda first. The two finals we won't see are Melinda-LaKisha and Blake-Jordin.

When I was 15 my driver education teaching assistant told me about the great Alice Cooper concert he attended the night before. Then I asked some naive question and he explained a fundamental truth that seems to escape some of you. A rock concert has music but that's not why people go. A popular music concert is a *show*. A good show has much more than music. Dancing, acting, instrument handling, facial expressions, gestures, looks, wardrobe, props, special effects, and many other things go into a successful performance. In fact the sound quality of live music is usually inferior to most people's stereos. If it were really about the music most people would stay home.

Those of you who believe in the myth of the singing contest are doomed to be disappointed on a regular basis by American Idol. If this were really about singing ability Blake would be dead money this week and Jordin would need to bring her A-game every remaining week just to remain somewhat competitive.

PS: Melinda made enormous strides in showmanship last week. That may not have been her A-game singing but it was one of her very best all-around performances. She deserves credit for melding her singing style with the rock theme instead of evading the subject as she sometimes does. A clear contrast with LaKisha who once again chose not to play the game. No matter how well you do, I think you really alienate genre fans such as rock, country, etc. when they tune in for "their" night and see you blow them off. Now sometimes this strategy may be the lesser evil (see Jordin's rock-n-roll disaster) but it still hurts, especially at the end when you need a wide coalition as opposed to a fanatic core.