***Official Top 9 Show Thread***

[Aloysius]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Jordin
2. Melinda - 2. Lakisha
3. Lakisha - 3. Melinda
4. Blake
5. Gina
6. Haley
7. Chris
8. Phil
9. Sanjaya

[/ QUOTE ]

That's about right for me with my changes in bold.

I am just bored by Melinda. Yeah she's a great singer - but outside of her "My Funny Valentine" performance (which was just insanely good) I find nothing captivating, interesting, emotional about her voice or performance. I also might be prejudiced against people with no necks, it's hard for me to look at her sometimes...

Lakisha... while she doesn't execute as well pitch-wise or in phrasing vs. Melinda, she sings with more emotion and feeling, I just like the overall sound of Lakisha more, and she is a great performer (despite her jiggliness).

Jordin's voice is ridiculous and the tone / texture / quality of her voice is my favorite of all contestants left. It seems effortless for her what a natural.

Guys all suck except Blake I guess. I was watching some Elliot Yamin performances from last year on youtube.. wow do the guys really suck this year.

-Al

[Dominic]

Jordin as the best, with Melinda and Blake right behind...

bottom three:

Sanjaya
Phil
Chris


Phil goes home.

[private joker]

1. Melinda
2. Blake
3. Gina
4. Sanjaya
5. LaKisha
6. Jordin
7. Richardson
8. Phil
9. Haley


I wish Richardson had done worse so he could leave, but I still thought he sucked compared to what the judges said. Ugh. And Jordin's asthmatic wheezing between every word had me clawing my face off. Phil was even worse than usual, and Haley was just gross all around, par for the course.

[SumZero]

I actually thought most of the second tier people did better than usual with this week's songs. It helps that many of the songs are classic, good sounding songs. I'd rate the performances as:

1. Jordin - Best performance by Jordin. She sounded great and had a fantastic tone to the song.
2. Blake - Great song choice with a solid delivery and smooth stage movement made everything but the scat attempt great.
3. Lakisha - Standard strong Lakisha performance.
4. Phil - I closed my eyes for most of Phil's performance because he is funny looking, but he sounded pretty good for this song.
5. Melinda - I think this was one of Melinda's worst performances ever. The first half was boring like Simon said and the second half was good but she appeared to me to be working too hard in the second half. Normally Melinda is killer and effortless, this time seemed like a huge effort. Also the lack of neck/shoulder slouching was accentuated by her shrugging in an unflattering way. That said, it is nice when your worst performance is middle of the pack beating some people's best performances.
6. Haley - Simon is right that she has killer legs. She sounded fine, nothing special, and her dance moves were not so great.
7. Richardson - I did think this was his best performances (I'm in the minority that didn't like his too fast tempo Keane cover) with much less vocal wobbling and less nasal sound. That said he's a poor mans Blake or a poor man's JT and he just doesn't have the skills to cut it.
8. Gina - I like Gina and am a Gina fan but this performance seemed boring and uninteresting to me. She sounded fine, and I liked the boots and outfit but I was itching to FF the performance. The interchange with Simon was also no good.
9. Sanjaya - I thought this was a pretty good performance for Sanjaya, possibly his best yet. He just so clearly doesn't yet have the chops to sing on a large stage. He isn't projecting his voice at all.

[HajiShirazu]

I really think Gina goes out this week. Of course, I haven't watched this show this season, or know anything about betting on it, but maybe a fresh opinion is good for something. She just seems to be the one person that I can't find a reason why someone would vote for her. Especially after the exchange w/Simon, who I agreed with.

[soflat]

That show was terrible. I thought Lakisha was little better than the rest, but that's not much of a compliment.

The judges should be fired. If not Simon, then at the very least get rid of Paula. Simon can't carry all the judging duties and that is exactly what he's been doing this year right from the start of the auditions.

None of these 'singers' will be successful after the tour, except maybe Jordin who is young and can develop some more.

[disjunction]

[ QUOTE ]
grrr.. i think the judges comments are going to help haley get enough votes to not get booted

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the judges comments hurt haley week after week. It works for her to wear a certain kind of outfit etc, but when she gets called out on it, if she doesn't handle it right, it loses its appeal. Just the way our society works. I also think she looks very uncomfortable and doesn't like it when they call her out.

I read an article once claiming that Madonna's appeal back in the 80's was more to women than men, to empower them, that's what I think of when I see this stuff, and Haley aint doing it consistently. Especially when she listened to Tony Bennett's advice and didn't do the song her way.

[soflat]

The ratings are going to be in the toilet when they get down to Doolittle and whoever.

DI looks awfully close. Gina has been near the bottom at least a couple weeks and was not B3, while Phil's been up there but in the B3. I'm thinking it's Phil or Jordin leaving.

I hope the theme is better next week.

[tdarko]

[ QUOTE ]
I am just bored by Melinda. Yeah she's a great singer - but outside of her "My Funny Valentine" performance (which was just insanely good) I find nothing captivating, interesting, emotional about her voice or performance. I also might be prejudiced against people with no necks, it's hard for me to look at her sometimes...

Lakisha... while she doesn't execute as well pitch-wise or in phrasing vs. Melinda, she sings with more emotion and feeling, I just like the overall sound of Lakisha more, and she is a great performer (despite her jiggliness).

[/ QUOTE ]

Al,

Wow, my thoughts exactly. For one, I get tired of her shoulder shrug--which is amazing b/c she has no neck--and then her eyes getting big and buggy as if, "me? I did better than everyone so far? I didn't even know that?" That routine is so f'ing old. My gf's dad thinks she is the best and I told him she very may well be but every time she sings I tune half of it out b/c I get bored whereas when Lakisha sings I feel some emotion and find her interestion (other than "Diamonds Are Forever" blah).

Blake is still my favorite and I don't think that can change in this competition. If you think about the way Idol is set up it is really just one big karaoke contest, a bunch of singers sing a variety of different styles of music that has already been done for months...that is a drawn out karaoke show.

So the big or great voice should win but that doesn't have anything to do with creativity. I was watching on AI a few weeks ago Gwen Stefani, whose music I actually can't stand but I have to give her credit, she is incredibly creative but do you think she would win a "singing" competition? This is also why more than half of the idol winners have been flops even with a road paved for them. A guy like Blake seems like he could actually get in a studio and do something creative and not just get handed a sheet of 12 songs that were written by his record company for him to sing. I like that his creativity sometimes doesn't really work with certain styles of the show like Tony Bennett week b/c I would rather listen to something different than the same song sang the same way a thousand times.

I think maybe I should have started my own thread.

[kurto]

I think its more interesting to talk about who should be #2. There's Melinda and then everyone else. Though Melinda is not likely to put out the kind of albums I'd buy. I'd really like to hear her do something rock or reggae.

For me, the only one who I'd buy records of is Blake. I know his range is limited but I really like the sound of his voice. He's the only dude who is somewhat hip. (Chris is too damn nasally for my tastes.)

Sanjaya is still interesting but mostly because you wonder how the judges are going to handle his success and partially because I'm curious what else he can do with his hair. I thought this weeks choice of choosing to look like a 70's low budget porn actor was ballsy.

Phil needs to grow his hair back. Some people look cool bald. He's not one of em. His looks are distracting. My favorite thing about him is the shots of his wife. I like seeing her swoon over her husband. She's having a good time.

Haley- She's starting to make me uncomfortable. She's looking for approval from her father (Simon) but Daddy's just looking up her skirt. "At least Daddy likes my legs." Will her skirt be shorter next week (if there is a next week?)

Gina- I'm bored of her. Though her hair was pretty cool this week. And this was one of her better performances.

Whats-her-face-- the 17 year old. Very good. But she bores me. Her personality bores me. Musically she's competing against Melinda who is just much better at this point.

Lakisha- Shes still a strong singer. I just think Melinda is all around a better singer and is more likeable. She's a very strong singer though. She's another one who I wish they'd make her sing something totally different. Make this girl rock out or something.

The funny thing is I know there's another singer but off the top of my head I can't think of who it is. Does that say something about that singer or just my memory?