May 22, 2007 
Can it be? Have we really reached the TOP 2 already? Every year it seems that the weeks leading up to the American Idol Finale fly by faster and faster. Perhaps the rationale is that, even after all these weeks, I still could not figure out where this show was going this season. It didn’t have a sense of purpose and personal favorites kept “topsy turvying” around in my head from week to week.
I think the talent pool was actually quite good this year; however, with so little focus on the contestants – save for Sanjaya – and their backgrounds, the show felt a little flat and predictable this season. And who here doesn’t think Jordin is going to win? Even Blake, her co-finalist wants her to win? Now, there’s a first.
Simon is walking around pouting over Melinda’s exit – and rightfully so. Usually his favorite was granted a place in the Finale, but then, come to think of it, his pick, Chris Daughtry, didn’t reach this stage last year either. He has done phenomenally well nonetheless, so, apparently, it doesn’t really matter anymore who wins this competition. Maybe that’s the rub. Don’t win, sell big! But then that would not explain Kelly’s or Carrie’s success. Oy, my head!
Okay, I’ve had my say. The ball’s in your court everyone and spoilers are warmly and greedily welcomed on this blog. (smile)
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It’s sad that the season is coming to an end.. I enjoyed every moment of it, it’s definitely my favorite. Just too bad my dream finale (Blake and Melinda) was not meant to be. I do agree that there wasn’t enough focus on the contestants; if it weren’t for all the forums I frequent and American Idol Extra (which few people receive and is hard to find online) I wouldn’t know much about them.
SPOILER:
Apparently besides the winner’s single, Jordin is singing Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter” and repeating “A Broken Wing”. Blake is doing Maroon 5 again, “She Will Be Loved”, and repeating “You Give Love A Bad Name”. I’m looking forward to it!
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Jordin sang A Broken Wing flawlessly. It gave me goosebumps (which is my ultimate way of judging!) I enjoyed it soooo much. I do agree that Melinda’s voice was amazing, and I am sure that she will get her due fame. Jordin, though, has the all around “IDOL” thing happening I think. I’m not sure if Blake has platinum record written all over him. He’s kinda “boy-band” singer, not to say that he isn’t talented; I just don’t think he has staying power.
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Wow. Blake won the coin toss and gave Jordin the pimp spot. He doesn’t seem to care. :think:
Perhaps getting a jump on his CD?
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Xena – Blake wants to cut the string. He even said he wants Jordin to win and she was terrific tonight.
leeniemarie – do I know you? I know someone else with that username.
Masterclass article should be up tomorrow or early Thursday. I have a student recital on Friday, so the rehearsals are cutting into my writing schedule.
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OMG. Chris sung “Home”. He seemed to be straining. But the most interesting part was his eye shadow. 😮 😆
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A good finale but certainly not on a par with some of the others. The winning song from the songwriting competition was fairly boring for me, although it did give Blake a chance to sing in his lower register which I really like. Have any of you listened to the MP3’s on the Idol site of him singing – he’s got an extremely great recording voice, and no matter where he finishes he will have a very good career.
Jordin deserves to win the title after tonight’s competition, although I do prefer Blake personally because he’s fun. Jordin is kind of like a Miss America competitor to me. She’s absolutely adorable and she sings very well – and marketable? Oh yeah. Nothing but great things for this girl’s future.
Both Blake and Jordin are very likeable performers – whoever wins will be fine with me. 🙂
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Kworb- thanks for the spoilers.
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On the fly:
Blake
First off, what the hell? You win the coin toss and blithely give the pimp spot to Jordin? Maybe you have figured out that not winning is the better deal. You get a contract and have way more time to craft your album. And have way more FUN.
You Give Love a Bad Name – A bit off key at the beginning; smoothed out and rocked it out. Very good performance. Crowd loved it as did the judges. NB, I still think there are weird things going on with the audio this year.
She Will Be Loved – Good song choice; nice job baby; he could be invited into Maroon 5 on this one. Crowd loved it. But at this moment I am not seeingt the fire in the belly like last week. But he is a cool cat, so we shall see how it goes with the 3rd song.
This Is My Now – Nice resonance at start. Singing lower than usual. He must have read MCL’s critique saying he should take advantage of that part of his voice. Good GOD – the backup singers suck. Blake was emoting, but that song just wasn’t very good.
Jordin
Fighter – She’s rocking it, but screeching a bit through. She looks troubled? Crowd likes it. Her singing was better than her performance though.
A Broken Wing – A bit shaky on start. She is doing a tender treatment. I like it. Yelling now, ruining the mood for me. Crowd loved it and so did the judges.
This Is My Now – Hmm. Going back to Kelly / Justin singing the same song in the final. Shaky start – screeching, but hit some strong notes. Having more trouble with the more subtle parts. Crying at the end. May have shredded her voice. All the judges think she wins.
Interesting that the judges didn’t take note of the coin toss nor did they ask Blake why he was so “safe”.
Did anyone else think the show was rushed?
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Oh here we go again. MCL, can you check the Spam area for my comments?
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Blake has said repeatedly that he wanted Jordan to win. He made sure of it tonight. Clearly, he doesn’t care about his fans, otherwise, he wouldn’t have let us down this way. I regret all the hours I spent voting for him.
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The show sure was a letdown. Neither really showed what they are capable of. I’m not a fan of repeat performances so both “You Give Love A Bad Name” and “A Broken Wing” fell flat for me, though the former will always have its charm.
I thought the new songs they did were bad song choices. The performances were alright but they’ve done so much better over the course of the season.
And what’s there to say about the coronation song? Another cheese fest, hard to believe that’s the best out of thousands of songs. I felt so sorry for Blake when he sang it, you could tell just how uncomfortable he was singing it. Jordin’s was another shaky vocal, with some crying at the end that I’m sure was genuine, but was still out of the place given the quality of the song and the fact that she hadn’t won yet.
I hope the finale tomorrow will be more memorable than this.
And Sherry, I fail to see how Blake let us down. What else could he have done? Maybe pick a better song. But he redid his best performance and was forced to sing “This Is My Now”. If anything, blame the show’s format.
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Kworb – He just didn’t seem to care. After last weeks phemonenal performances, you can’t tell me this was all he had to offer. I believe he put on such a good show last week because he believed it was his last. He went for broke because he had nothing to lose. He thought he would be voted off. But not so, because he had fans like me who voted the entire 2 hours, getting nearly 400 votes in. That’s why I feel let down. He should have walked when he made Top 2. You don’t throw a contest when you know you have so many people working to advance you in the competitiom. And, that’s why I feel let down. Also, my emotional investment in this kid was substantial. I’m quite depressed about the whole thing. I was so looking forward to following his career. I thought he was so real, but now he seems like a player.
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It was a boring finale for me. As much as I like Blake, I feel certain that Jordin will win based on the last song they sang. I’m sorry Sherry feels that Blake let her down. I don’t see it that way at all.
Often I like to go back and listen to some of the performances again, but there wasn’t one performance from last night that I want to hear again. And I’m definitely not looking forward to tonight’s show except to hopefully see Taylor!!!
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Sherry, I don’t feel let down by Blake at all. Though his disappointment with being saddled with that crap coronation song was evidence, I really felt he did great on his first two songs, including She Will Be Loved. I listened to it again just now without watching the visual, and his vocals were beautifully done and definitely showed the softer side of Blake, IMO.
I don’t think Blake threw the competition, but I’m pretty sure he’s smart enough to know that TPTB were favoring Jordin over him and that even with his extremely dedicated fanbase voting in droves, his shot at winning was fairly slim.
And as much as I love Blake and was hoping for him to win, if he doesn’t, part of me will be secretly glad he won’t have to release that HORRIBLE single as his first single. I mean, really. Even though it was better suited to Jordin’s style, it was still another AI cheesefest coronation song.
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I don’t think Blake let me down at all. I think The Powers That Be are to blame for what happened tonight. Honestly, what could he have been expected to do with that drippy ballad? I’m HAPPY that he looked uncomfortable singing it. I would have been disappointed if he had pretended to love it. I think his discomfort showed that he’s more real than ever.
Plus, did anyone else notice the sound problems? I felt like Blake’s first performance was just odd because of sound issues.
Overall, I just thought he sounded like his voice was tired, which I’m sure it was. They both sounded like their voices were tired. At times, Jordin’s voice sounded more tense than I’ve ever heard it.
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Xena and Hoppy – I retrieved your articles from the “spam folder”. I went to bed early last night and didn’t see this until this morning.
Thanks for all you comments everyone and for keeping this thread alive.
Re Blake – his heart left the competition last week. I think he had very little choice in the process, quite frankly.
The finale was definitely geared to Jordin. Big surprise!
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Dialidol has Jordin winning, but Zabasearch has Blake winning. Am a bit ambivalent about who wins, but it seems Blake didn’t have his heart in it, so I am more confused than anything else. I want Blake to win because he is the only one that was interesting and is a real musician. Oh, and I love it when someone who isn’t supposed to win, does win. Love to gig the AI machine ya know? But is really might be better for him to not win.
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It was painfully obvious that the finale was geared for Jordin to win. That song wasn’t even close to Blake’s style. I also believe that if Blake could have he would have changed that song up someway, somehow to make it more palatable. I suspect he wasn’t given that option.
It doesn’t really matter to me who wins. It just would have been nice if the favoritism wasn’t so apparent.
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Was it just me, or did Jordin sound a bit strained on those high notes in “This Is My Now”? I thought she did pretty well with the song, though.
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I got the impression that Blake let Jordin sing first because he’s a nice guy and cares about her a lot.
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He tanked it so he wouldn’t have to sing that horrible song.
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I agree that the final 2 night was a bit of a letdown. While I liked both YGLABN and Blake’s Maroon 5 song, I wish he had repeated “Somehwere only we know” and then given us a fresh, upbeat song with new beatboxing in it that would have created a lot of buzz. However, with the schedule they are on, and having to learn stuff for the finale tonight as well, I can understand the challenges of learning new songs at this point.
On the Maroon 5 song I thought the band was much too loud. On Blake’s coronation song I thought the back up singers were much too loud and off key. Compare them to when Jordin sang the song.
Randy did what he could to hand the title to Jordin except stand on his head.
Ryan even added to the slanting of comments by telling us that “Blake has done all he can” and then later congratulates Jordin after she sings.
I’ll be tuning in tonight to see Taylor.
Good luck to all the season 6ers who get contracts.
P.S. MCL, how are you doing? I was out of town last week and did not post–hope things are going better 🙂 .
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Zazzy – thank you for your concern. I am feeling better.
Your comments and vists are always most appreciated.
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Yes you know me…I am one of your favourite past students!
I only heard the last part of both of Jordin’s songs. She was getting emotional at the end of This is My Now, it’s a big end to the rollercoaster of the past few months. I just love her tonal quality…it’s soothing, kind of like chocolate. 🙂
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leenie baby! How are you doing? I had a mini Idol party tonight. Great show wasn’t it?
And, yes, you are and will always be one of favorite and most talented students.
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