American Idol Round of 11: A Horseplayer's Perspective
 

Haley
Sang Tell Him. I was really happy with the song she chose, because she’s been performing in such a way that will guarantee her an early exit if she didn’t step it up. She’s been one of my least favorite performers since the top 24, but she brought it tonight in a real serious way. Easily her best performance so far. To boot: She’s going to secure the “foot fetish” vote this week after that gratuitous heel and toe shot during the post-performance conversation.

Final Score: 8.0 phone-in votes

Chris R.
I realized what it is with him. I hate him. That’s the problem. It’s not that he didn’t deliver a good performance tonight. It’s not that he didn’t hit all of the notes. It’s not that he wasn’t on point during the entire song….it’s just that for me, it’s all irrelevant, because I feel fire each time he talks and each time he sings. I tried to be objective about his performance, so I will use a deduction to arrive at my final score.

Score: 8.5 phone in votes
I-hate-you-more-than-my-job Deduction: -1.0 phone-in votes
Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Stephanie
It all didn’t make a whole lot of sense for me. It seemed very timid vocally at most points throughout the song. After last week, this was a big letdown for me. She’s much better than this performance shows, and I hope she gets another chance after a pretty disappointing display this week.

Final Score: 6.5 phone-in votes

Blake
Vocally, I haven’t loved his last two weeks. I think he reached a little bit on a few of the higher notes. On the other hand, I loved what he did with the song. Blake has a lot going for him, because even if he comes with weeks where the vocals are lacking a bit, he’s still going to skate by on his originality and on his looks. He also gets the benefit of an entertaining aired interaction with Ryan after his performance.

Final Score: 8.0 phone-in votes

Lakisha
I thought he look was great for the song she was going to sing. Like Stephanie, I think that he relatively subpar performance was more a product of this week's theme than it was a product of actual talent or ability. If she wins the competition, she'd never have to sing a song like this again, so I don't put too much stock in tonight's performance. Her previous performances should be more than enough to get callers to forgive her for this week and bring her back next week.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Phil
The whole thing was a little weird for me. I don't mind people trying to have fun, but the performance was all a bit campy and feminine. I don't see what the point is in trying to sing a tough old song like that and then swaying your hips while singing it or prancing around with the mic stand instead of taking control of like a real ****ing rocker. It was all a whole lot of Daughtry wannabe crap, and I didn't care for it one bit. I'm with Simon here, that this one was totally unbelievable in every way.

Score: 6.5 phone-in votes
Guys should never wear black jeans again deduction: -0.5 phone-in votes
Final Score: 6.0 phone-in votes

Jordin
The strange thing is that here we have this heartbreaking, miserable song. On the other hand we have a seventeen year old girl. Somehow, somehow, somehow, she made that song so incredibly believable it was just amazing. I was speechless after this performance -- only the second time this season that I've just been totally blown away (the other being Melinda's Funny Valentine). Performance of the night, without question. She threw her hat into the ring a few weeks ago, and dare I say, moved herself up into second place after that mind-blowing performance.

Final Score: 10.0 phone-in votes

Sanjaya
So there's this girl in the audience who has been insanely crying all night. During his entire performance, they keep cutting back to her and her sobbing braceface. I don't know what to make of her. She also freaked out for Chris Richardson, so she might just be that girl who is in love with every male Idol contestant. So in addition to being utterly sick of seeing her ugly face, Sanjaya managed to sing. It was his best performance to date, though I'm not sure even I can qualify exactly what that means. He's still a huge cut below everyone, and after tonight, he's there all alone as Haley has distanced herself from the very bottom dwelling performers. I guess it's good enough for a decent score. It would be awesome if they sent him home after his best performance.

Final Score: 6.5 phone-in votes

Gina
The Good? That was the perfect song choice for her. The Bad? Everything else. My love affair with Gina from last week has cooled significantly. The problem is that I like her so much, I like her style, but her performances don't really overwhelm me. Well, tonight I was overwhelmed...but most by how overwhelming awful the whole thing was. The thing that pained me most in discussing it afterwards was that I am finding it hard to justify rating her higher than Sanjaya, and that's really saying something. I really believe that this was the worst performance of the night, but just on principle, I can't rank her that way because I can't appear to endorse Sanjaya in any week. Therefore....

Score: 6.5 phone-in votes
The hey, it could be worse; you could be Sanjaya bonus: +0.01 phone-in votes
Final Score: 6.51 phone-in vote

Chris S.
I laughed out loud during this performance. First off, let me say that I thought it was good. It wasn't the best, but it was good. But the way he sang the first chorus was almost operatic, and it reminded me of the skit on SNL where Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer are the couple who travel around and play songs but butcher them every time by singing them in really high, strange tones that disconnect from the original song. Just something about the way he was singing drove me crazy during the first chorus, and I found it impossible to take him seriously. With that said, it was okay, but no more than okay.

Final Score: 7.5 phone-in votes

Melinda
It was out of her comfort zone, she said. She still reaffirmed the thinking of anyone who thinks she is strictly the one to beat in this competition so far. She can take any kind of song and make it sound huge and make it sound amazing. I don't think it matched Jordin's performance, but it was damn close.

Final Score: 9.5 phone-in votes

Maybe it's me.. silly, wacky, kooky me.. but if Lulu is working with your female contestants, shouldn't someone sing "To Sir, With Love"????

WTF????

Are you kidding?

You have Lulu... LULU! And none of these gals think to do To Sir, With Love? Not even Sanjaya? I don't get it.

I missed Haley so I can't judge her.

Chris R-was decent in my opinion. I like a good ole boy though. :)

Stef-BORING. She sounded nice, but I didn't want to watch or listen. I actually got up and went into the other room to fold laundry.

Blake-I actully really liked him tonight. Not the best vocal, but Good and his presentation was great. I liked what he did with the song.

Lakisha-Not her best, but still very good.

Phil-I like this guy, but it was not the best. (Bottom three bound)

Jordin-LOVE HER! Enough said. WOW!

Sanjaya-PLEASE GO HOME THIS WEEK (Bottom three bound though)

Gina-I liked the performance but not the best vocal.

Chris S-I like her. Not his best, but still good.

Melinda-She is good.

Bottom three in my opinion: Phil; Sanjaya; and Haley.

Ha!

Actually, I think it would have been a great choice for Lakisha. When I hear that song, I always hear the Melky Sedeck version, which is sort of a modernized hip-hop version of the song, but Melky makes it SO big -- and I think Lakisha could have done the same thing with it.

Curly hair guy gets my vote hands down

Close your eyes and listen to him sing

Vonda Sheppard (of Ally McBeal fame) does a version with Al Green that is absolutely terrific...

Brian,
As usual, we largely agree...my ranking bottom to top:
11) Sanjaya...seems like a really nice kid, he tried hard tonight and it was his best performance...still, far below the others.
10) Phil...Tobacco Road??? Agree with Simon you need a little grit in your voice to do that song...he sings like Tiny Tim!
9) Gina...now we know why Mick is a legend, Paint It Black is a tough song but she murdered it!
8) Stephanie...this is my era, Dusty Springfield had the big voice...You Don't Have To Say You Love Me one of my favorite songs...she wasn't good!
7) Chris R...terrible version of a great song, he sings through his damn nose!
6) Chris S...She's Not There...Zombies were underrated, he's mid pack
5) Lakisha...Diamonds Are Forever but not her best friend, subpar for her
4) Blake...Zombies again, vocals very average but he has a style and takes chances, the best of the guys by far!
3) Haley...nobody will forget her name anymore! Vocals were very good, Tell Him a good song for her and forget the feet, how about those legs and the rest...I agreed with Simon that last week something changed, it was front and center tonight!
1B) Jordin...I'll ask again, when did she become a babe? I Who Have Nothing is a great song but a challenge for ANY singer...she nailed it!!!
1A) Melinda...a star, simply put! As Long As He Needs Me...she moves me everytime she sings...right now, her and Jordin sit atop the contest!
There were 5 excellent performances tonight, the top three were outstanding and yes, Haley was that good!

Haley, did not realize she sang a song? Legs, what legs;)

Buffy, how can you admit not hearing Haley and still rank her in bottom three?

You know, I couldn't agree more -- and you know how hard I've been on her. On the phone-in votes scale, she ranked third behind the obvious two standouts tonight.

Well, Chris R. would have been up there had I not reduced his tally because I hate him so much -- but those three girls were really heads above the rest tonight.

A disappointing effort for both Lakisha and Stephanie, but I'd be interested in how they bounce back next week because they're both much better than that and I would contend that it was the category of song more than ability.

I think Stephanie could be in some danger...people tend to compare her to the other 3 black girls and that could be trouble. Obviously Phil and Sanjaya should be two of the bottom 3, Gina could be the third but she has fans so Stephanie could be the third.

They should have that crying pre-teen girl on every week. Great stuff.


Now who do I think is going home tomorrow?

Idols????????????????????????????
 

If This Is All The Talent In The Usa, Then The Ship Is Going Down Quick!! You Are Right , I Hate That Chris Guy, The Timberlake Copycat. And The Rest Are Just Time Fillers For The Over The Top Fox Channel. Would Anyone Actually Buy A Record By Anybody Here? I Wouldnt Even Cross The Street To Hear Whats His Name, Soul Patrol Dude. He Really Is A Winner Isnt He.. This Show Is Entertaining Though In A Don Rickles Kind Of Way. To Pick People Apart Is So Fun! Basically Though It Is Kid And Gay Oriented. But Regardless, I Keep On Watching.

I thought Stephanie and Phil were the bottom two last night....I thought Blake and Jordin were the top two...all the rest were okay.....

She doesn't have the fan base that others have. Now don't get me wrong, I like her. HECK I even voted for her a few times. I like Haley. Just don't think she has the fan base that others have.

Bottom three prediction:
Stephanie, Phil, Chris R.

Phil gets sent off the island tonight.

I think we might agree on that....not sure about Chris though....although he was much better than he's ever been, at this point there really isn't anywhere else for Sanjaya to be but the bottom....but I think he is bottom 3 this week instead of bottom 2.

Well, after last night her base rose (pun intended) and I suspect increased in size (somebody stop me!)

As long as none of my top 5 end up in the bottom three, I won't complain. I really think those five should be the last 5 standing with all having a chance to win! Clearly, only the most jaded of folks with no recognition of talent can not agree that Melinda and Jordin are potential stars! I'm not a big fan of Blake but I recognize his appeal, LaKisha must "right the ship" after a couple "ho hum" performances and Haley must continue to listen to Simon!

Okay, please stop.
I would say that she brought out the big guns last night, putting everything she had out there for the judges and the audience. No doubt her fan base felt more invigorated after that performance and will likely be more stimulated to vote for her.

Yes, seriously...she listened to Simon. Before last week she was lost in the crowd, good voice but not on a par with the "big guns" and stage presence was unremarkable. She tried last week but got hurt by lapse in memory which then caused some pitch problems...Simon giving her a decent review I think gave her self-confidence, I suspect she thought if he thought that performance wasn't so bad then maybe...! She came out last night and sang her absolute best to date, the outfit would have been over the top for most but with her figure, she pulled it off! The way she moved...especially the little upper torso shakes HAD to get the attention of EVERY male not on the Bob Doyle mailing list! This was a great performance...naughty yet wholesome, full of life with vocals surpassed only by Melinda and Jordin! I thought this would be the week that would make or break her...how would she react to last week? In my opinion, she knocked it out of the park!

I liked her too...but she failed to do what Haley did do...stand out by utilizing her strengths. Antonella's voice was good enough but her energy levels never rose to where she would be noticed.

100% agree, it was an example of someone paying attention and reacting in just the right way. She IS memorable now, everyones talking about Haley.
And she could have botched it if it wasn't handled right. Like you said wholesome but naughtly.

Yea, to finish fifth on Girls-From-New-Jersey-With-Beej-Pics-Online Idol, maybe.

Brian,
She was good enough for top 12 I think but no, she wouldn't have won. It turns out that Haley has a bigger stronger voice than her. Certainly Antonella was better than half the top 6 guys...at least!

Your math is wrong, 1/6 is not half.

Well, I'm thinking she was possibly capable of beating Gina at least...I like Gina but why did she pick Paint it Black? If she wanted to rock, an Animal's song...perhaps We Gotta Get Out of This Place would have suited her much better!

Sorry to interrupt, 1st time caller, Long time listener...She may be cute, her voice may carry, but don't you think she should have sang on key...don't you think that is why she no longer is on the show? Her voice definitely was not a strength.

That's all, Good Day!!

1.) No. Gina is not consistent, but inconsistently good is always preferable to consistently awful. I know you're trying to be diplomatic about Antonella, but I mean really, she was just awful during the entire audition process save her very first performance at the original audition.

2.) I was actually excited about it. We were talking about the theme and we were hoping that was what she would sing at the beginning of the show. She just did a terrible job with it.

Well, Paint It Black is a tough song to do well! With her big voice, something from the Animals (House of the Rising Sun even) would seem a better fit. If she wanted to do Stones, even Satisfaction would have served her better I think....anyway, we do seem to pretty much agree with that one exception and since Antonella is long gone, it will be interesting to see if we continue to see things the same. What i think is gonna be interesting is the fact that we have three girls with big voices...Jordin, Melinda and LaKisha...it will be tough for all three with similar voices to make it through, Jordin is starting to carve a nitch for herself and Melinda has the polish and "likeability" things going...they probably deserve to be the final 3 but I think America will want at least one performer seen as "different"...pray to god it's not Sanjaya...I suspect that opens the door for either Blake or Haley.

I don't think Antonella was experiencing pitch problems any more than several others....I think the major factor for her was she simply did nothing to stand out! The internet pictures may have hurt her...or they may have helped or had no effect, impossible to say. Antonella has talent, perhaps she held back because of the pictures, perhaps not...I thought she could have made top 12, I fully agree she was not gonna win against 4-5 women with stronger voices!

You're right. I'm willing to entertain lots of opinions about Idol -- Antonella being a passable vocalist is simply not one of them.

I think you're right here about those top three, and at first I feared that Jordin would get the short end of the stick, but with every week she seems to carve into Lakisha's hold on a top-two spot. I think that Jordin is coming into her own at the right time, and poses a big threat to Lakisha's chances to get to the very end.

I would say that Blake is the most likely person at this point to round out the top three. As for Haley, let's not get carried here just yet Somer. So she had a phenomenal night last night. I wouldn't disagree with that in any way, I had her ranked top three last night. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and say that she's somehow injected herself into the frontrunners race. If she can come back next week and repeat that performance and carve her own space as the sort of sexy, playful contestant with a great set of pipes, then she's got every right to move into that group. But I'm not ready to annoint her a contender after just one good performance following a series of pretty mediocre ones. I want her to show me that last night was the rule, not the exception...and based on prior performances, I fear that it was not the rule.

Oh I agree, Brian...she has a lot of work to do! One performance does not an Idol make, but the fact is that now we know she CAN do it! We've known the top 3 girls CAN win for awhile...the dynamics will be critical, I have to admit...I don't like Blake, there is something about him that just rubs me wrong. He takes different types of music and adapts the arrangement to his style...so far he's done so extremely well but I wonder, if forced to actually go outside his comfort zone, how will that voice hold up? It's easy to fall in love with Jordin, every week she seems to perform and look better! Right now, I say that LaKisha could be odd man out when crunch time arrives...time will tell!

QUESTION IS: DID ANY OF YOU THAT ARE "TALKING" ABOUT HER ACTUALLY VOTE LAST NIGHT?

For what it's worth, I was interested in how the "phone-in votes" ranking system I've been using would rank the final 11 based on their performances since I started ranking them, which was the round of 20 I believe. These are the cumulative totals and rankings through four weeks of ranking them. I think it's pretty darn close to how I feel overall -- the top is very obvious, the bottom couple are very obvious, and everyone in the middle is a crapshoot!

Totals:

1. Melinda -- 39.0 phone-in votes
2. Jordin -- 38.0 phone in votes
3. Lakisha -- 35.0 phone-in votes
4. Stephanie -- 32.0 phone-in votes
4. Blake -- 32.0 phone-in votes
6. Chris S. -- 30.5 phone-in votes
7. Gina -- 30.01 phone-in votes
8. Chris R. -- 29.0 phone-in votes
9. Haley -- 27.0 phone-in votes
10. Phil -- 26.0 phone-in votes
11. Sanjaya -- 21.0 phone-in votes

Well, the only problem is that this will come down, as most contests do, to what have you done lately. I was bored today so I went to some news sites that had articles on last night, some interesting things I noted...those who wrote in (and I assume folks writing in are likely to vote)...mentioned Sanjaya more than all the others combined...about 60% favorably (the other 40%, in touch with reality, saw him for what he is). I'm afraid that this kid will be around awhile...he has a huge teenybopper following! A lot of attention to the little girl crying with lots of insulting remarks but one poster who claimed that she was there as part of Make a Wish Foundation...wonder how folks who see the necessity to poke fun at her will feel if that's true? Then again, they will probably feel nothing...as usual. People making fun of Melinda for not having a neck...interesting! All in all, it appears from the comments that Phil, Stephanie and Gina could be in trouble tonight...we'll see!

I didn't, I've never voted.

If I would have just boxed them, instead of keying Phil on top, I would have had the exacta. That exacta should pay huge.

LOL! Well, I had Stephanie at #8 so I had three lower, I did predict that she might be in trouble due to being compared to the other three black girls; Sanjaya is here for awhile I'm afraid, even Phil...Stephanie had loads more talent but she simply didn't bring it the last two weeks...interesting!