The Weakly Weekly

Thought about not watchng Idol (again) this evening. I was fairly busy on my computer downstairs when it came on, but I made the trip to the TV after all.

I arrived for the last third of Phil's performance. What I saw and heard seemed fairly strong, and I'm thinking that he should have been doing something like this during the whole competition. If he had stayed upbeat with all his song choices, I think maybe he wouldn't have spent so much time in the bottom three.

Chris' piece was a train wreck in my opinion. He has kind of a mousy voice anyway, and it was fairly nasal in spots. In the chorus, he broke free of that sound, but it wasn't enough to save the song. I have to say that it was an utterly boring performance, and I was just waiting for it to be done.

Sanjaya has come back down to earth this week. The hair thing notwithstanding, he gets very pitchy during his runs. And what's up with the runs anyway? I can't imagine Bonnie Raitt doing that with her own music. I think they tend to be overdone and unnecessary most of the time. It wasn't the San-man's most terrible performance, but no way was it good either. I think he peaked with Latino week.

Lakisha. I think her star is falling. I don't know what it is, but where others have grown stronger through the weeks, she seems to be faltering somewhat. She was a tad on the boring side this week. I predict that she will be the surprise elimination ­ maybe not this week, but within the next 3-4.

Blake's performance seemed a bit pitchy in places, actually kind of jarringly so. I tried to get into his song, and I think I could with someone else singing it, but Blake left me flat on it. That wasn't a winning performance from him, everyone can have an off week. But with the fewer numbers of contestants, tt's growing more imperative that everyone brings the A side each week. This was definitely Blakes B side.

Melinda. During the session with Martina I kept thinking that here's another Melinda jazz ­ Broadway type performance. So I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. She phrases very well, hardly misses a note and has the ability weave a story every time she's on stage.

Jordin, Jordin Jordin. Though she went second I saved the best for last. It was an incredible performance. When she has the ability to reach through the TV screen and stir something deep inside the viewer ­ that says it all. Her singing, her facial expressions and gestures, I am still in awe. I also like her look for this week as well. She could have wardrobed silly with the country genre, but she went high class, and she was absolutely drop dead gorgeous.. Kudos, girl!!

Who to go? Hard to say. If it was based on performance alone, I'd say this week's bottom three will be Blake, Chris and Sanjaya with Sanjaya getting the pink slip. But Phil has been in the bottom three for too long that it will be difficult to overcome the inertia.