American Idol 6

[Eric]

Season 4: Vonzell Solomon (Best Singer went out 3rd)

Wow. With the possible exception of Nikki McKibbin, I think she's easily the worst singer ever to make the top three.

Taylor Hicks made the top three.

[dws1982]

Season 4: Vonzell Solomon (Best Singer went out 3rd)

Wow. With the possible exception of Nikki McKibbin, I think she's easily the worst singer ever to make the top three.

[Anon]

Blake might just win this thing.

Not if the producers have anything to do with it.

[Anon]

Simply: Thirteen-year-olds are running the country... Can you imagine if the results of much of what we hold dear would be decided by the hands of young Britneys with parents who don't monitor their phone time?

And that's why, in the voting elections that do matter, we have a minimum voting age of 18...

Now that I've slept on it, it's become even clearer to me why Mindy Doo's boot this week shouldn't have been so shocking.

1. Even before the Top 3 took to the AI stage on Tuesday, there were already rumors circulating around that "sources" out in Hollywood were calling this week for Melinda to go home. I didn't pay too much attention to it b/c how could anyone call this before the actual performances? I now suspect behind-the-scenes shenanigans. This is not to say that I don't trust the results of the American public vote, I just don't trust the show's "spin" to influence the vote - in much the same way that Washington pundits were able to "spin" the results of the 2004 election. I was convinced then, as I am now, that major manipulation took place to get the American public to vote the way they want: in essense, for an aliterate and inarticulate moron who plunged us into an atrocious economic deficit and an immoral and unwinnable war all because he was "right with the Lord," hated gays and same-sex marriage, and was going to bomb the "terrorists" to kingdom come... In the same way, I think this show set up the Top 3 in much the same "spin" - look at the pop schlock they had Jordin sing and the very contemporary songs they had Blake singing, compared to Mindy Doo's "standards," topped with her wearing some of her worst fashion missteps? All grays, whites, and dreary colors, compared to Jordin's "flashy" looks? Hmmm...how much of this is really the contestant's choices?

2. Subdued Melinda this week? Again, thinking back on Tuesday night, I was surprised at how off Mindy Doo seemed. First, the godawful clothes, the clothes, the CLOTHES!! Whoever dressed her up that night had some serious MELINDA HATE! Then, the first off-key notes in a Whitney song (Randy definitely made sure he picked a tricky and "uninspiring" Whitney song for her to sing), followed by an upopular Tina Turner song (again with an unmelodic hook, that was the producers choice), and last, a reprisal of one of her more "mature" songs - I'm a Woman. Man, I gotta tell you, when you start overanalyzing, you start seeing all kinds of things. With this number, talk about all the subliminal messages: "Take note, teeny boppers, this is a real woman who can do anything! Are you sure you want a woman and not a girl to be your next American Idol?" Then, the real kicker, the backup singers join her on stage AND look far more womanly in their sexy black outfits to contrast the corporate white suit Melinda was sporting. Knowing that, these past few months, Melinda has shown that she's got some intelligence and even admitted that Simon's comments last week were a "wake-up call" to be more than just "consistent," to actually start "wowing" her audience, I did not expect Mindy Doo to retreat in this manner. I can't believe she would have made those choices on her own. I suspect everyone involved - from her stylists to the vocal coaches who help them with their songs - sabatoged her so that she could be ousted and NOT show up either Jordin or Blake for their vocal limitations in a finale. I guarantee you, had Melinda chosen a new song, shown up in a glittering RED dress (a la J-Hud on Oscar night), and sang that song a capella, not only would she have advanced to the finals, she would've won the whole thing. I smell a set-up!

3. Speaking of back-up singers, I'm now going to bring up the specter of "race." Not in the crybaby sense, but just in a critical perspective sense. Let's be honest: Black women, as a whole, dominate the music scene and have been doing so for much of the modern era. The fact that the black female style of singing is called "diva" and all that only proves this point. Many can even say that Kelly Clarkson's strength in Season 1 was singing R&B style, but she was smart enough to not even compete in that market and turned her attention to rock, where she now flourishes as a pop star. Interestingly, Carrie Underwood also avoided this market by fitting in nicely in the country music niche. Unfortunately, Melinda Doolittle's singing kept getting comparisons to Tina Turner, Gladys Night, Stephanie Mills, and a host of other heavy-hitters, and the bottom line is: Melinda was held to a higher standard, and everyone expects black female singers to excel. They are the measuring stick for everyone else, so how can you outmeasure yourself? Not only do measuring sticks hold everyone else to a specific standard, but such vocals are guaranteed to shore up everyone else - hence why you'll always find black women as back-up vocalists, EVEN ON THIS SHOW! In other words, American Idol is just not a good venue to find the next Aretha, Whitney, or even Mary J. Blige. In fact, I'd say now that, b/c hip-hop corporate culture is such a powerful force outside of AI, that any black female vocalist who can't fit into that genre is going to fail (Fantasia has been marketed toward this, but her vocals are just too unique - hence why she would be the only black female vocalist to win on AI b/c her style doesn't easily invite comparisons with other greats - to simply function as a "hook" in a rap song). Melinda is totally unsuited for that whole scene, but I'm still crossing my fingers that she - like Jill Scott - will one day emerge as "last women standing" by the time all the pop stars - Rihanna, Beyonce, Ciara, etc. - have aged themselves out of popularity. More than the degrading images of black women that hip-hop has put out, I'm disgusted at the way that whole genre has screwed up the way we listen to black women's singing.

And before anyone points to the biracial Jordin Sparks as the "but she's black" argument to debunk this theory, my response is: I doubt the public who voted for her sees her as a black diva. No one would compare this light-skinned, young, pretty pretty princess to Tina or Gladys. Mariah, maybe, and even then, I don't see Jordin fitting into the hip-hop/R&B scene either. The producers will be in for a surprise: Miss Pro-life is Contemporary Christian through and through.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm still processing all that "went wrong" this week and why, when we really think about it, we should've been prepared.

[OscarGuy]

I'll go back to my prediction when the last guy was removed from AI. Blake might just win this thing. Hicks had the country voters behind him and all those older folk who just loved what he did (I met quite a number of people who had limited tastes and loved Taylor Hicks. They were, by a large margin, Republicans. So, he won over McPhee because he was a guy (for teenage girls, that's great) and because he wasn't controversial or another "britney wannabe" so the pubes could behind him.

Now, we have a major quandary. Republicans can't get behind either of these without knowing their politics. That gives Jordin a bit of a boost.

However, I still maintain that the teenage girl, gay teen and gay adult vote could swing to the bedroom eyes of Blake Lewis. He also has the larger municipality voting for him (Seattle) vs whereever the hell Jordin was from. I don't know. There will be some who'll vote for Jordin because of the pop princess vibe...

This could play out like Season 1 where two pop princesses were battling for the top spot and the uglier of the two won (Guarini also sucked). If the Idol producers choose, it's obviously going to be Jordin (She Works Hard for the Money? Come on...)...then again, they could go with Blake...after all, they did give Blake a song by the band that was going to be performing the following night...

Either way, of the two, only Blake deserves a win. Jordin's got some key and cracking issues that could easily be overcome, but I would never buy her album...which would rank her right with Studdard, Underwood and Hicks, so either I have 50% of the idols I like or 66.6% that I hate.

Seriously, though, look at the producers' choices for songs. That should have told you they didn't want Melinda in the final two. They gave her Nutbush City Limits...what a horrible song and one that most of the teenies in the AI audience have never even heard of...If they really wanted her to win by singing a Tina Turner song, they would have given her Proud Mary or What's Love Got to Do With It.

But, seriously, AI has always had problems putting the best singers out there.

Season 1: Tamyra Gray (Best Singer went out 4th)
Season 2: Kimberly Locke (Best Singer went out 3rd)
Season 3: Fantasia Barrino (Best Singer won, but until she did Summertime, I didn't think much of her)
Season 4: Vonzell Solomon (Best Singer went out 3rd)
Season 5: Elliott Yamin (Best Singer went out 3rd...and am I the only one that thought his new hair style looks like a poodle crapped on his head?)
Season 6: Melinda Doolittle (Best Singer went out 3rd)

Bad track record. Hell, Gina Glocksen this year was better than most of the singers in the competition as the only rocker girl with pipes, but she kept picking bad songs...



Edited By OscarGuy on 1179404136

[99-1100896887]

Ridiculous.

Melinda has class, incredible talent, an amazing range, great pipes, a winning personality.

Well, now that I think about it, I really shouldn't have been surprised. There were quite a number of people associated with the show who gave all kinds of interviews predicting Jordin to win it all and basically saying absurd things that pretty much translated as "Melinda Doolittle is just too good for this show."

So, Damien, when you remind us that Melinda has "class, incredible talent, amazing range, great pipes, and a winning personality," apparently that's just too much for little old, mediocre American Idol to handle?

Just as well, at least she won't be forced to put out a craptastic album as the AI winner.

Still, I do worry about her low self-esteem issues; losing out to two people who are far less talented but who only got through because of superficial things like a) AGE, b)gimmicks (beatboxing), and c)show-pimping (I'm looking at you Miss Seventeen!) could do a number on you - it was clear to me for a couple weeks now that Melinda really wanted to win this thing!

Please, please, please let a dozen sensible, fiercely talented record producers look past the bubble-gum pop that this show promotes and sign up this superbly talented gal by week's end! If her career goes by the wayside a la Tamyra Gray, my heart will break! Why oh why did I watch this season and hold out hope? Silly me...

Simply: Thirteen-year-olds are running the country. They did when Taylor Hicks was chosen as well. It didn't matter that she had all the attributes that Damien notes; talent doesn't
matter with boppers. All of you saying now, well--it was meant to be because she wasn't a screamer or whatever, ought to look at your earlier posts.
Can you imagine the if the results of much of what we hold dear would be decided by the hands of young Britneys with parents who don't monitor their phone time?

Talent doesn't matter when you are thirteen. If we all knew what DID matter to them, we wouldn't have had to deal with, for example, intelligence amd talent; all we need to look for in perfection is the best-looking dude--and we would all be rich vapitalizing on it( cf. American Idol). The rest of us plain guys and girls should obviously have been put to death when we exhibited one ounce of talent or intelligence.
This will not be on MY Must-Watch list next year.

[dws1982]

Melinda got sent home because, in a head-to-head contest against Jordin, which involves singing those big belting ballads, Melinda wins every time, and there's no way Jordin could beat her without some serious behind-the-scenes scheming. Blake's voice isn't suited to big ballads, so Jordin beating him can be explained away fairly easily. He'll never be able to belt some inspirational thing about rainbows and dreams and puppies the way Princess Jordin can. Although I'm still not sure that Jordin can actually beat Blake in the final two.

This is one time though that Simon didn't seem to be on the same page as the producers--he obviously knew about Melinda before hand tonight, and was in a bad mood the whole time.

Please remind me next January of how I feel tonight, and how I felt last year when the dopey garage band singer won, so that I won't invest a couple nights a week for 5 months on this nonsense.

I told myself that after seasons two, three, four, and five, and kept coming back, although this year I worked every Tuesday and Wednesday, so only watched the episodes on DVR if I felt like. Next year, I may actually not watch at all.

[anonymous1980]

My rankings for last night (in terms of overall performance):

01. Melinda
02. Blake
03. Jordin

Wait....Melinda got the boot?!?! How the fuck did that happen?

Now, I only have two words: Go, Blake!

[Damien]

Why oh why did I watch this season and hold out hope? Silly me...

Please remind me next January of how I feel tonight, and how I felt last year when the dopey garage band singer won, so that I won't invest a couple nights a week for 5 months on this nonsense.

[Akash]

I know this is petulant but I am not watching the Finale. Why bother? A homo hobbit versus a rotund republican? No thanks.

[Anon]

Ridiculous.

Melinda has class, incredible talent, an amazing range, great pipes, a winning personality.

Well, now that I think about it, I really shouldn't have been surprised. There were quite a number of people associated with the show who gave all kinds of interviews predicting Jordin to win it all and basically saying absurd things that pretty much translated as "Melinda Doolittle is just too good for this show."

So, Damien, when you remind us that Melinda has "class, incredible talent, amazing range, great pipes, and a winning personality," apparently that's just too much for little old, mediocre American Idol to handle?

Just as well, at least she won't be forced to put out a craptastic album as the AI winner.

Still, I do worry about her low self-esteem issues; losing out to two people who are far less talented but who only got through because of superficial things like a) AGE, b)gimmicks (beatboxing), and c)show-pimping (I'm looking at you Miss Seventeen!) could do a number on you - it was clear to me for a couple weeks now that Melinda really wanted to win this thing!

Please, please, please let a dozen sensible, fiercely talented record producers look past the bubble-gum pop that this show promotes and sign up this superbly talented gal by week's end! If her career goes by the wayside a la Tamyra Gray, my heart will break! Why oh why did I watch this season and hold out hope? Silly me...

[Damien]

Ridiculous.

Melinda has class, incredible talent, an amazing range, great pipes, a winning personality.

Little Miss Anti-Reproductive Rights would deserve to win the talent show at her high school, but that's about it.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, as Elliot -- whose "Moody's Mood" is still in my opinion the best performance ever on the show -- was also a third-placer. But mediocre winner Taylor Hicks has already turned into a joke. and Little Miss Having Your Baby ain't gonna have much of a career either, beyond warming up the crowds at Republican candidates' campaign rallies.

[Anon]

There are NO words!

OK, I take that back...

Man, this show is a huge JOKE! I do not believe Jordin has more fans than Melinda or Blake.

How did the producers manipulate the votes, you gotta wonder...because I guarantee you, there's NO WAY they would let Melinda and Jordin go head-to-head. Melinda would show up Jordin for all her weaknesses.

That 17-year-old Pretty Pretty Princess Pro-life Beeyotch needed to have gotten off my TV set this week, and I am thoroughly disgusted that Blake has such a mediocre competitor to LOSE to next week!

Blech!!!

[Penelope]

Sigh....

[OscarGuy]

I had no idea I was going to be right. I really had hoped Melinda would be there with Blake...but it was as I feared...the songs that were chosen for her and her own choice just weren't catchy enough.

I'm shocked, but this would NOT be the first time the best singer of the competition was voted out before the final 2, so this shouldn't be unexpected...

She'll have a much better career if not forced to record for the lame-brains that screwed Fantasia's career up.

I guess I'm rooting now for Blake ALL THE WAY!