American Idol/Top 11: Why Was That Girl Crying?

Last week, we said goodbye to Buckwheat Brandon after Diana Ross gave a pretty strange performance. His departure was overdue, but it just means that we're all going to be subjected to Sanjaya's girly whines for that much longer.

This week is British Invasion week from the 1960s, it seems. And as usual, many of the contestants continued to exhibit their incredibly bad taste and poor judgement by choosing the most coma-inducing songs ever written. Really, there are so many good songs to choose from. So why was Melinda freaking out so much about what to sing?

Speaking of Melinda, she's getting kind of boring. The new hair-do did give us something to different look at, and I whole-heartedly approved of the new straight-do versus her old flippy haircut. But she sang some song that I had never heard of, perfectly in-tune albeit, but totally forgettable, especially because she also sang a showtune the week before. We all know that Melinda can sing anything under the sun. Why couldn't she have chosen something that was, um, a little more fun?

Her co-leader, Lakisha, really disappointed me too. First off, all I could think is "Whoa, mombo hair; mombo boobs." She also had some major bling going on, like she raided the Harry Winston closet. But her performance of "Diamonds Are Forever" kind of reminded me of a Nell Carter preening session. She really should have listened to Lulu and sung that other song.

By the way, Lulu was giving some really good advice to all of the girls. She was extremely nice to Haley by telling her that there was a place for everyone, which you could either interpret as a genuine compliment or a backhanded way to tell her that it's okay to be a loser. Anyhow, Haley ditched the bra and sang a flat "Tell Me" in a kind of slutty Kathie Lee Gifford way. It actually wasn't that bad, but definitely not the best of the night.

Lulu also had some words for Stephanie, Gina and Jordin. Lulu told Stephanie she sounds like Beyonce, which I'm sure both Stephanie and Beyonce are tired of hearing. Stephanie had an off night, although it was kind of hard to tell anything because I could barely hear her over some over-zealous background singers who sounded like a 50-person chorus (there were three singers). Overall, pretty bad, but not as bad as.....Gina. Gina sounded lost while singing "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones. It was really out of Gina's range, and I felt bad because I like Gina a lot. It was a good thing that Jordin came out to redeem the girls, giving a pretty kick-ass rendition of some song that made me want to trek through many hardships and rescue her from her prison of utter despair. Lulu advised Jordin to scream, which seemed to go against all the advice that the judges give, but here it really worked. Jordin sang with more conviction than anyone else that night with defiance and yet poignancy at the same time.

The guys were much better this week than they were the previous week. The guest artist was Peter Noone who started off by completely dissing Chris Richardson and even imitating the way Chris R. sings in a way that didn't seem in the least bit complimentary. Chris came out and sang some slow song. I'm still not sure what the judges were raving about because I didn't think he was that great.

The other guys were ok. Chris Sligh started in the audience and spent a little bit too much time there while doing a pretty good job, I thought, with "She's Not There." The "Bring Back Chubby" signs were very amusing too. Phil Stacey was just weird. He was walking all over, dragging that mic stand all over the stage, singing a bluesy song ("Tobacco Road"). I didn't think he was able to really pull it off. It didn't seem to fit him.

For the first time ever, I really enjoyed Blake. His pitch wasn't perfect, but I thought he Blake-i-fied "Time Of The Season" pretty well without making it sound silly like he did with whatever song he sang during Diana Ross week. He grabbed my vote for this week.

Finally, we come to Sanjaya. This time, Sanjaya was without the at-home perm, and picked something more upbeat than his past choices ("You Got Me Going"). His performance was very disturbing. I really did not enjoy seeing Sanjaya gyrate in front of Paula. But I guess at this point, Sanjaya feels like he has nothing to lose, because he knows he doesn't deserve to be there anymore. I'm not quite sure why he thought the judges were praising him. I think the judges are indulging him because they don't know what else to say at this point. But lucky for him, he inspires reactions of pre-pre menstruel extreme hormonal proportions as demonstrated by that really strange crying girl, or as the folks at TWOP called her, "Little Miss Sobshine." Seriously, what was with her?

My votes:

Best Performance: Blake Lewis. I couldn't tell who won the beat boxing contest between him and Ryan.

Worst Performance: Sanjaya Malakar. He and that crying girl should leave the show and go off and play with their Barbies.

Most Improved: Jordin Sparks. Not that she was all that bad during Diana Ross week. But she picked a much better song, and didn't sing it sitting down this time.