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March 27, 2007
American Idol: The Sanjaya Show Continues
American Idol was only an hour and seven minutes tonight, which we think meant shorter songs clips and shorter packaged coaching segments with guest judge Gwen Stefani. And the shorter show was just fine with us because (1) most of these “Top 10” singers are good -- but they’re not great; (2) while the song choices were better than last week’s British Invasion, they were ripped right from the Adult Contemporary radio station playlists (think No Doubt, The Police and Donna Summer) and (3) FOX gave us a new episode of House immediately following AI. And House might just be the best show on TV right now.
But we digress.
Our biggest pet peeve with tonight’s show was that the producers didn’t fill up the entire hour with more camera angles of Sanjaya Malakar’s hair. Picture this, if you will -- his long locks were put up in seven ponytails to create a massive fauxhawk. It was incredible. And much better than his rendition of No Doubt’s “Bathwater.” (LAist understands that he has a HUGE fanbase, but the guy was seriously out of tune. Guys, do you really, really believe he has a better voice than Melinda or LaKisha? Or is it his sex appeal that draws you in?)
Anyway, here are LAist’s top three and bottom three performances from tonight’s show:
The Good:
1. Melinda Doolittle singing of Donna Summer’s “Heaven Knows.” She may be shy, but the girl exudes personality plus on stage.
2. Gina Glockson’s version of “I’ll Stand By You” surprised us. It’s hard to cover Chrissy Hynde, but Gina did, and did it well. Her performance was so much better than last week’s.
3. Blake Lewis might not be the strongest singer, but he gives us interesting song interpretations. Tonight’s “Lovesong” by The Cure showed that he has a decent voice – and there was no beatboxing involved.
The Bad
1. Sorry Sanjaya fans, his “Bathwater” wasn’t good. At all. He was off key and showed no charisma during his performance. Even Gwen couldn’t muster an “I’ll think he’ll do a good job…” for the cameras.
2. Haley Scarnato’s version of “True Colors” can be summed up in one word: boring.
3. Ditto can be said for Phil Stacey’s “Every Breath You Take” by The Police.
Tune in tomorrow night at 9 to see if Sanjaya makes it through to the next round.
Random AI note: Unfortunately, while they’ve whittled down Tuesday shows, starting April 11, American Idol’s going to stretch out the Wednesday night show to an hour because lately the cut contestants haven’t been able to sing their farewell songs. Well boo freaking hoo – note to producers – maybe just cut the drama and tell us who gets the axe without going through the whole lineup? Just a suggestion...
AP Photo/FOX, Frank Micelotta
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I disagree for the most part. The bottom three should be Chris which has been awesome, but yesterday a total flop because of timing. Lakisha which at best was boring. Sanjaya which doesnt even belong in the top 12 anyway.
The top 2 were Gina which had one of the best vocals of the season and Phil which was awesome I have no idea how you can think that was bad. I also think Haley had one of the better vocals as well. Melinda is great do not get me wrong, but this is American Idol 2007 not American Idol 1977. All her songs are disco type era and it is getting very old. If she gets out of that comfort zone I believe she will began to fail. I could be wrong but she is getting boring to me.
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I did not watch the "Idol" last night. I only saw the news this a.m., which was again mostly negative about Sanjaya..He would get my vote every time because of the vicious punishment he has taken from the media and from Simon, who says he will quit if Sanjaya wins..I immediately thought about the "experts" who told Elvis Presley he would never make it because he could not harmonize. I also thought about the girl who just won the Oscar who Simon was negative about. Sanjaya has REAL charisma and star quality..A rare thing and anyway, I thought this was a program which would let America decide who the winner should be. I am worried about Sanjaya and his family..I hope he/they do not get beaten down by all this..He is just a kid who took advantage of an opportunity. Something all of us would do and he is being treated like some kind of criminal because he is succeeding..DISGUSTING!
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Sanjaya has everything it takes to be the Idol.... I can't say as much for the other performers, sort of a boring bunch that don't stand out. Kiki and Melissa both have great lungs, but it's like i've heard the same song over and over again. It's like ok, when are they going to sing something else, something different. Blake is the only one offering anything unique, deserving of some respect. Rocker girl was right on the spot last night. Sanjaya took the show.... That's Entertainment!
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I have to turn off the show every single time that Sanjaya comes on just because he's the least polished, most annoying and frankly horrible singer. I don't know how he even got on the show. His "fan base" consists of people who vote for him only because he is the worst singer. If you don't believe me, go google "vote for the worst" american idol. He definitely belongs in the bottom three. But I do feel bad for him that he's been placed in this role. But AI brings both good and bad publicity. That's just part of the show!
I actually liked Phil's performance last night, as well as Gina's and Blake's. I'm excited to see that many of the singers are stepping up to the plate and really improving. I'm excited for next week's performances!
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SANJA I LOVE YOU