The Divas Came Back Last Night On Idol

We've finally gotten to the real part of the American Idol competition. Tuesday night was the boys, and they sucked ass. I think the worst had to have been Sundance. I don't know what crap song he was singing, and he didn't even sing it in tune. He looked like he was actually trying to sound like screeching roadkill. It was also very amusing last night to see all the guys scowling and crossing their arms after every time the judges reminded them how much they sucked last night.

But last night the girls took their turn and they were leaps and bounds better than the guys. The standouts for me were Stephanie and Melinda. Melinda sang an Aretha Franklin song ("Since You've Been Gone"), one which I had always thought of as kind of an anticlimactic tune because it just kind of builds and builds and crescendos and crescendos without any huge screaming finish. But Melinda came out movin' and groovin' and gave the song a second life. Plus Melinda, who must have lost her neck in a tree cutting accident, really does have a great story, like Simon says--background singer to Gladys Knight and now she comes out on her own, but she's so humble about it that you're naturally rooting for her. If I had to give some advice to Melinda, being the seasoned Idol watcher myself, I'd tell her to go easy on the "singing with my eyes closed" style and look at the camera some more.

But am I the only person who really didn't think Lakisha was all that? She did an admirable, even great, job on "And I Am Telling You." But I didn't think she was anywhere close to Jennifer Hudson's or Jennifer Holliday's delivery (and she lacked Jennifer Holliday's funny faces). Simon said "I think the other 23 should go ahead and book their plane tickets home." Well that's just a prematurely dumb thing to say. Mandisa was the belter last year and had loads of natural talent, but look how far it got her in the show. Of course, Mandisa started hating on gays and preaching about Jesus all the time. If Lakisha can avoid that, she'll probably stay a crowd favorite. But something about Lakisha just bugs me. She always hangs her head and looks like she's about to cry because American Idol is going to give her and her baby so many "opportunities." Well, duh. Winning Idol would change anyone's life. I think she just hit one of my pet peeves--people trying to get the "I've worked so hard and sacrificed so much" vote. Everybody works hard. Everybody makes sacrifices. It's all relative, and it annoys me that I'm getting the sympathy vote vibe from her.

My votes this week (links are provided for the best performances. I didn't bother for the worst):

Best Guy: Chris Richardson. I liked his rendition of Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want To Be" even though that song has been Idol-ed to death. Plus he's from Virginia!

Worst Guy: Sundance. Dude, everyone's forgotten about your great audition and we've all moved on. Time to step it up.

Best Girl: Melinda Doolittle. Her lack of divadom is refreshing.

Worst Girl: Antonella Barba. This jersey girl looks like she was born in a mall. She butchered that Aerosmith song that makes me all teary-eyed every time I see Armageddon.