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After last week's mens' show -the longest two hours in American Idol history- this week we were treated to a much stronger effort by nearly all of the contestants. At this point it still seems to like it's a woman's contest to lose, but it may eventually become conceivable that a man may challenge for the win.
The biggest problem (for me) about tonight's show was the theme. Each contestant was asked to dedicate a song to someone special. "Dedicated song" is analagous to slow and sappy. Luckily not every contestant tried to "slow it down" for someone they love.
The Contestants:
1. Phil Stacey- "I ain't missing you at all." There was good and bad with this one. Phil was okay, but he wasn't particularily memorable. He was on first, so that could have potentially been trouble for him save a well-done vignette which may have helped his effort tonight. GRADE: C+
2. Jared Cotter- "Let's get it on." Jared sounded alright. The good news was that he didn't sound like he was trying to sing someone else's song. GRADE: B
3. AJ Tabaldo- "???It's a new day?" Between last week's episode and tonight's show, I had completely forgotten about this kid. He was different, and the judges liked him. GRADE: B-
4. Sanjaya Malakar- "Steppin' out." His voice had a nice tone, but this song came out kind of silly. Judges hated it. GRADE: C-
5. Chris Sligh- "Trouble." I liked the way the song sounded, and Chris' voice. Nice. GRADE: B+
6. Nick Pedro- "Fever." His voice sounded fine, but I wonder whether he actually "wow"ed anyone. I prefer Edna Krabapple's version. GRADE: B
7. Blake Lewis- "Virtual Insanity." Over the years that I have watched and written about Idol, I have always wondered why more people didn't try Jamiroquai songs. Blake did a good job with this one. I liked his scat/ scratch/ beatbox fills. It is nice that Blake has something to do during the dead spots in songs. GRADE: B+ (Didn't Blake's clothes remind you of a generic white kid that would hang out with one of the Cosby kids on TV?)
8. Brandon Rogers- "Time after time." He stumbled over a couple of lyrics, but in the end it didn't turn out close to the original. It would be nice if we could combine Nick's voice with Brandon's charisma. GRADE: C
9. Chris Richardson- "Geek in the pink." Never heard this song before. . . Chris had a cool shirt on. I wonder where he bought it. Good song. Not slow. It broke the monotony. Judges liked it. GRADE: B
10. Sundance Head- "Ride around Sally." Good news for Sundance was that he didn't suck this week. A nice, feel-good song to end on. He gets the votes from having a good performance, plus those from "votefortheworst." Good for him! GRADE: B
Tonight's Best: 1) Blake 2) Chris Sligh
Tonight's Worst: 1) Sanjaya 2) Brandon
Who'll get tossed on Thursday? My guess: AJ and Sanjaya