From the Archives: Season 6 Idol Gives Back Week

The dying tree stayed upright against the 60 mph winds (who says we don't have weather in California?) so I'm back with another from the archives.

It'll be interesting to see if there will be another charity week this season. Keep in mind when you read the end that at the time we didn't know that no one would be voted off this week. Of course, that did keep Ryan Seacrest from almost giving eventual winner Jordin Sparks a heart attack by making her think that she was being voted off until the announcing at the end that no one was.

I found a video of Jordin's performance, which I felt was the best of the night. I'll try and find similar clips on future posts.

From April 24, 2007:

This week promises to be very interesting. There has never been a theme quite like this one before so it's hard to say who will be in their comfort zone and who will not. It’ll also expose anyone who tries to play it safe. You can’t play it save with a song that is supposed to be inspiring.

Think the stakes are high? Ryan Seacrest starts the show by saving that the audience’s votes “will save lives.” Then there are all the big name singers who will be appearing on the results show tomorrow night. And, there’s no Sanjaya to fall back on. So no, no pressure at all.

This week’s mentor is none other than Bono from U2. If there is anybody who can encourage the contestants to be inspiring and emotional this is the guy. They've really been pulling out the big names to work the show this year. Barry Manilow and Kenny Rogers can forget about getting an invite to the finale.

So now that Sanjaya is gone and we are left with actual singers in a singing competition, how will they all fare? Let’s go to the play-by-play:

Chris: “Change the World” by Eric Clapton
This will be interesting. The kid with the light voice trying to sing something deep. No words of advice from Mr. Hewson, at least none that we got to hear. Well, it’s going to be very difficult to critique anybody this week, but I have to admit that his vocal was quite pitchy. Some good, some bad. The emotion was there, which tonight is important. It didn't really pack much oomph though, not surprising I guess. Very few Justin Timberlake songs ever do.

In between each performance we get lots of Idol Gives Back promos and appeals for donations. Reminds me a lot of Comic Relief. Now we know why we’re not hearing from Bono. Too bad, I’m interested in hearing what he has to say to these contestants. Besides, how can I bash the mentor if they don’t show him saying anything?

Melinda: “There Will Come A Day” by Faith Hill
Tonight there wasn't as much of the musical gymnastics as we’re used to hearing from Melinda, but in its place we got to see a whole lotta soul. This sounded more like an Aretha Franklin song than a Faith Hill one. She really belted this one out without getting sloppy. Amazing, powerful vocal. Not for one minute did I think she was singing someone else’s song. This woman really knows how to make a song her own, just like the Queen of Soul. What else can I say, except God I hope this woman wins?

Blake: “Imagine” by John Lennon
OK, here’s the other guy with the light voice. Let’s see if he’s got some soul. I’ll give him some points for having the guts to take on one of the most famous songs around. To be honest, it sounded rather flat to me. He stayed in tune this time, which he doesn't always do, and while there wasn't a lot of emotion in his performance it’s a difficult song to really pour a lot of emotion into without sounding hokey. Probably not the best song choice.

LaKesha: “I Believe” by Fantasia
Now this is the one person I’m looking forward to hearing, the queen of emotion coming off a week when she was this close to being eliminated. This is the third time she’s chosen a song by another Idol contestant. Risky choice in that it invites comparisons to an Idol winner, which she failed at last week doing a Carrie Underwood tune. Same thing happened here too. It was a very strong vocal, stronger than most of her others, complete with all of the emotion that I was expecting. However, her performance still suffered in comparison to the original. I don’t feel good about her chances of making it to next week.

Phil: “The Change” by Garth Brooks
Squidward sticks with the country this week after jukin’ the joint last week with Keith Urban. The cowboy approach seems to be working well for him. His vocals were a little bit pitchy but not as bad as his previous performances. It didn't sound very country, but then again neither does Garth Brooks (whatever happened to him anyway?) His performance was very powerful emotionally, a very strong vocal that he managed to keep in control, and it was an excellent song choice. He really made the song his own. He has definitely hit his stride the last two weeks.

Jordin: “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel



Interesting song choice, instead of a relatively recent number she picks one that’s older than her parents; have been covered by no less than Sinatra, the 3 Tenors, Johnny Cash, and Elvis; is the song that Jerry Lewis sings at the end of his Labor Day telethon; and is the theme song for the Liverpool and Glasgow Celtic football teams. The song has a long history of inspiring people so we’ll see if it has the same affect in this setting. It’ll also be interesting to see if she can control the emotions tonight. She struggled just a little bit early on, and in the middle it looked like she was really close to an emotional breakdown but she somehow managed to hold it together. That being said, it was one hell of a powerful vocal performance, especially at the end. Not only was she holding back the tears, so was the entire audience. After hearing it I’m ready to donate money to something.

Your 3 Stars of the Night: There was a clear distinction between the top and bottom this week, more than any other show thus far this year. First the top 3, same as last week, Melinda, Jordin, and Phil. I'd have to give Jordin the edge tonight. Phil was good, Melinda was great, but Jordin's performance gave me goosebumps.

The Fearless Prediction: I’m going to break protocol and not discuss how I did last week, since I think I covered it in enough detail in an earlier post. So this time I’ll go straight to the bottom 3: Chris, Blake, and LaKesha. It’s possible that there may be a rise of support for LaKesha since she was close to elimination last week, and in terms of pure vocal ability she is much better than either of the pretty boys. However, she’s pales in comparison to both Melinda and Jordin and singing songs by former Idol winners has proven to be the kiss of death to more than one contestant, so I predict that LaKesha will be going back home tomorrow night.