From the Archives: Season 6 Semi-Finals

I found out that my last post was listed on the web site http://melinda-doolittle.net/. I felt kind of honored even though it's an "unofficial" site. Seriously, it still upsets me that Melinda was voted off before the finals. Not only was she the best singer in the competition in Season 6, she was one of the best singers in the history of the show, only to be set aside in favor of a teenager and Beat Box Boy. In my humble opinion, she was robbed. Like Chris Daughtry before her I hope that she outsells everyone else from Season 6 and makes a ton of cash. She's too humble to want that for herself but if it counts for anything I want it for her.

So you can probably guess who the feature performer is this week.

From May 15, 2007:

We have reached the Final 3, or as Simon likes to call it, the “semi-finals”. The big challenge is having to sing not one, not two, but three songs, only one of which the semi-finalists get to choose. The other two are selected by the judges and by the producers. I guess Clive Davis, who has selected one song for the final 3 every season before this one, including last year sans Chris Daughtry, decided to take a pass this year. Since by contract he gets exclusive rights to sign all the American Idol finalists one has to wonder if Mr. Davis' absence means that he agrees with the complaints about this year's contestants not measuring up to year's past.

Without Clive there is no mentor this week, so Jordin, Blake, and Melinda are on their own. How did they fare without the expert guidance from the likes of Jennifer Lopez? Let’s dare to find out.

Glendale, Arizona’s Jordin: “Wishing on a Star” by Rolls Royce, selected by Simon
Jordin pulls out the above the knee blouse this week, reminiscent of former contestant Haley Scarnato. Remember her? Me neither, except for her legs. Pretty much the same performance we normally see from Jordin. Little over the top on the vocals, big note at the end, generally solid performance. I will say, though, that she has done better.

Bothell, Washington’s Blake: “Roxanne” by The Police, selected by Paula
They showed the crowd at Blake’s homecoming and I think there wasn't a single guy or woman over the age of 18 in the crowd. Paula is always good for odd song choices, just ask Elliot Yamin, who lost last year because Paula made him sing a crappy song (the sappy 70's tune "What We Won't Do For Love"). Sure enough she didn't disappoint. Beat box boy sung it mostly straight, probably because he couldn't think of why Paula chose this song for him either and thus couldn't figure out how to tweek it with his special gift. It was off key the whole time. Randy and Paula loved it for reasons that I cannot fathom. The crowd gets all over Simon for not calling it “fantastic”.

Nashville, Tennessee’s Melinda: “I Believe in You and Me” by Whitney Houston, selected by Randy



The judges routinely trash contestants who try and sing Whitney songs, then Randy goes and selects one for Melinda, so this ought to be interesting. Well, now we know why Randy chose this song. Key changes, rhythm changes, challenging vocals, and Melinda aced them all. Randy challenged her and she came through. Best of the night so far, and it’s not even close.

During Ryan’s recital of Melinda’s phone numbers Simon suddenly asks “are you drunk?” Ryan, apparently thinking he’s asking Paula, asks Simon, “are you looking at me?” then acts totally flummoxed by the question. No doubt we all are.

Jordin: “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer, chosen by the producers
Jordin reveals her favorite song is “Hmm Bop” by Hanson, and a groan emerges from the audience. Rightfully so. This is the third song from the Queen of Disco that’s been attempted this year, and the last two by Melinda and LaKesha were not impressive, so let’s see how Diva #3 handles it. This one was a little better than the other two as well as Jordin's earlier song, but it seemed a little flat to me, at least at the start. The now expected big finish worked a little better this time.

Blake: “This Love” by Maroon 5, chosen by the producers
This performance was like night and day compared to the last one, because the song choice was so much better for him. Nice arrangement and he mixed in a little beat boxing without over killing it. He even managed to stay in tune. Blake was “in the zone” as the kids used to say. His best performance since "I Need To Know" on Latin week. Paula says “I was hoping you would sing that.” So why, oh why, Ms. Abdul, did you not choose it for him?

Melinda: “Nutbush City Limits” by Ike & Tina Turner, selected by the producers
Boy, they are really laying down the gauntlet for Melinda tonight. First Randy asks her to sing Whitney Houston, now the producers challenge her to match Tina Turner. Is there a conspiracy to get her off the show? Neither Jordin nor Blake have had to sing anything even remotely as difficult. Once again she came through without another dazzling performance. Lots of soul in this one. I like what she did with the mike stand too, Tina must be proud.

Jordin's own selection: “I, Who Have Nothing” by Shirley Bassey
This was the song she hit out of the park during British Invasion week. She pretty much duplicates that performance again here. If anything it might have been a little better since she added a little more emotion this time. I would have liked her to challenge herself by picking another song, though. Simon whines about her being old fashioned again, and then Jordin rightfully questions why Simon chose a 70’s song for her if he had such a problem with her singing old songs. Pretty sharp for a 17 year old.

Blake’s own selection: “When I Get You Alone” by Robin Thicke
It started out sounding like Pat Boone singing Metallica, a white bread imitation of what should be a grittier song. Then he settles into a nice groove and does a good job with it. Good song choice, because it was a song that fit into his motif and was a song that only he could do, and it wasn't a song he had done before. It was about as good, maybe even slightly better, than the Maroon 5 song. I’m sure he’s glad the Paula Abdul song was the first one he had to sing since it’ll make it easier for everyone to forget about it.

Melinda’s own selection: “I’m a Woman” by Peggy Lee
This is the classic version that Melinda sung to get into the Top 12, not the Helen Reddy number that we've all since forgotten (oops, my mistake, I got the "a" and "m" in the wrong order, but it's too good a chance to trash Helen Reddy to delete it now). Now she’s challenging herself, and again she makes it work. I had forgotten how good she is at phrasing until this performance. Nice touch bringing out the backup singers. Probably the worst of her three performances tonight, but still better than anything either Blake or Jordin did.

Final Score: 4 digs at Paula Abdul (though I try to kiss and make up below), 2 digs at Simon Cowell, only 1 Chris Daughtry reference, and no insults for the mentor.

Your 3 Stars of the Night: Melinda, Melinda, and Melinda. She was that much better than the other two. Not that Jordin and Blake were bad, except for maybe Blake’s performance of “Roxanne”, but Melinda was just that good.

Idol Looks Back: No surprise that LaKesha got the boot last week, so there’s not much I can add to that. I looked back and saw that on March 27 I trashed Paula for declaring that Blake would make the finale, making the first of several comments about Paula’s sobriety. Now that Blake is one night away from the finals and after being called out for criticizing Barry Gibb last week, I have to ask, who am I to question the expertise of these folks? I have all summer and fall to contemplate that.

The Fearless Prediction: It would be a crime if Melinda is voted off now, so it’s down to Blake and Jordin. Both have positives and negatives going for them and both have very devout fan bases amongst the High School Musical set. I think Blake was the one in the bubble coming in and I don’t think he did enough to pass over Jordin and get into the finale, so my prediction is that it’ll be Melinda vs. Jordin for the American Idol contract and the ugly Pontiac.