American Idol Fan Site | Who got voted off American Idol

On 2-28-07 the American Idol Top 10 Girls performed. It was a continuation of the Dedication Songs.  Emerging from the pack once again was Lakisha Jones and this time Melinda Doolittle. Who were your Favorites?

Gina Glocksen is up first. She dedicates her song to her boyfriend, Joe. She’s singing “Alone” by Heart. The background singer is not doing her any favors — I can’t tell whether it’s Gina or the background person making that harmony kind of a mess. I didn’t love it at the beginning, but harmonies notwithstanding, she pulled it together at the end. Randy says it was a good song choice for her. He also didn’t love the beginning (but he does give Charlotte the backup singer credit for helping), but says it came together in the middle. Paula points out that Carrie Underwood sang this song two seasons ago and then says Gina did an excellent job. Simon agrees with the song choice but that the vocals felt forced at the end. But he says he is confused about who she is, that he thought she was edgier than this.

In the red room, Ryan chats with Alaina and Lakisha. He tells Lakisha she’s showing some leg and it’s sexy. He says she’s created some media buzz in the past week (should I feel guilty about that?), and she says she hasn’t really been paying attention. She tells Ryan she is nervous, and he says she isn’t showing it all. Alaina says she hopes she does her song justice.

Alaina Alexander dedicates her performance to her mom. Her mom cries in the audience over the sweet words in her dedication. She sings “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” from the Dixie Chicks. She doesn’t sound in tune to me for most of the song. Randy: “Well, God, uh, listen … the first couple of bars were good. … It was a mess for me.” Paula says it’s a hard song to sing, but that her pitch was off some, but not as bad as Randy said. Simon says, “It was like Randy taking part in 100-meter sprint, i.e., three quarters of the way through the race, he would run out of steam. … That’s what happened. … In the middle part of the song, you lost it.” Paula: “You’re still adorable.”

Lakisha Jones is dedicating her performance to her almost-90-year-old grandmother Ruth, who came out to New York to see her perform. “My grandmother is in love — L-U-V — with Ryan Seacrest. … Get ready, this is for you, we’re going on a train ride.” She sings “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight. She is excellent yet again — and we got to see more of her personality in her interview. Randy says, “That was hot. … It started kinda rough, but you turned that around like that.” Paula: “Remember, you’re Lakisha. … I loved it, and I love you.” Simon: “Interesting dance at the end. … You are a phenomenally good singer. I don’t think it was as good as last week because I don’t think you came out with that ‘I’m going to prove a point’ that you did last week. I think at this stage you can afford to believe that you’re going to be a big star, and you’ve got to start acting like a big star now. Can I be honest with you? … I don’t like the outfit; I found it distracting. … But I think you are, as I said, a phenomenal singer.” Ryan and Simon discuss the color of her shirt.

Melinda Doolittle is next, and she dedicates her performance to two of her closest friends. She says she calls them her “Gayles” (as in Oprah and Gayle). She sings “My Funny Valentine.” She does an amazing job. Paula gives her a standing ovation. Randy: “We got a competition going on here. … That was unbelievable. … You are the one to beat, so you’re up there, you and Lakisha [he makes boxing motions].” Paula says it was just astounding and “out of this world.” Simon says, “That was incredible. I think for me, the, without question, the best vocal of the competition so far. What I like about you — we’ve had some precocious little monsters on this show [um, who's doing was that?] with very little talent and enormous egos — … what I like about you is, you don’t know how good you are, and I don’t think you’re someone who would change if you did well. I think this is part of your appeal. It was a fantastic performance.” Ryan asks Simon for names of the precocious little monsters. Randy names Simon. Simon says that was rude.

Ryan talks with Antonella Barba. She says she thinks she picked a better song and have more fun. She dedicates the song to her brother Vincenzo, who plays guitar, and she respects his musical skills and his support means a lot. She sings Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.” Her mom sings along in the audience. The first two-thirds, she doesn’t seem to be singing the song that I know as “Because You Loved Me.” The end sounds somewhat familiar. Eh. Randy says the song was completely wrong for her and that her pitch was all over the place. “I wish I could sing like Celine, too, but I can’t. It just didn’t work.” Paula says she made “leaps and bounds from last week.” Simon says “most of the vocals just weren’t good enough. I thought you were worse that last week.” Antonella says she is going to listen to Paula’s criticism because “Simon was wrong about Jennifer Hudson, so.” Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but you, Antonella, are no Jennifer Hudson. Simon says, “Let me be absolutely clear. We put Jennifer Hudson on to American Idol. The American public voted her out. OK. I didn’t kick Jennifer Hudson out.”

Jordin Sparks dedicates her performance to her younger brother, too. She cries talking about him. Awwww. She sings “Reflection” by Christina Aguilera. She has a little trouble on the lowest parts, but shines on parts of the rest of it. She starts crying as soon as she finishes singing. Randy says she chose a really good song. He says she had some pitchy moments, but where she is at 17 years old today is unbelievable and that he is impressed by her even though it wasn’t her best. Paula says she is “infectious.” She doesn’t mean it like that. She adds that she is brilliant and talented and is going to be around for a long time. Simon says it wasn’t her best, but compared to a lot of other people, it was “excellent.”

Stephanie Edwards tells Ryan the atmosphere is friendly and not catty. She claims it’s not competitive, but Simon doesn’t buy it. She says she is going to try to perform the song with as much heart and soul as she can. She dedicates her performance to her parents because they pushed her to audition. She sings “Dangerously in Love,” from Destiny’s Child. She has a couple of rough patches, but she closes strongly. Randy says she proved that she could sing her “face off,” but that it was a little too much like Beyonce at parts. Paula says something about Beyonce that I don’t really get. Simon says he agrees with Paula, that she is coming out, putting her mark down and that “it was a terrific performance.”

Ryan says Leslie Hunt is up next with Nina Simone. Wait, so, last week Aretha was too big for her, so she’s taking on Nina Simone? She dedicates her song to her late grandpa. She sings “Feeling Good” (which AJ sang yesterday). She even works in a little scatting. Randy says it was good to see her back to her jazzy roots, but that it was pitchy. Paula says she is back in her element. Simon says the bit at the end (the scatting) sounded like Paula talking. (His impression of this is fairly hilarious but has so few words that I can’t exactly type it.) He says he’s kidding. He says the problem is that he just got “whacked” by three big voices before her. Paula makes an ice cream analogy. Simon unfortunately runs with it. That’s all of note.

Haley Scarnato dedicates her performance to her fiance, Bobby. She and her giant spiral curls sing “Queen of the Night,” and I unfortunately start giggling. I don’t know, I guess it was better than last week, but it didn’t stand out for me that much. Randy says she had a good a time, but that it bugs him that the song has more background parts than main parts (”That’s why she chose it,” Simon says.) “It wasn’t great for me, though. Vocally, it just wasn’t on point.” Paula says it was more her having fun and better than last week. Simon says it was an “A” for effort, but it was “a little bit manic verging on insane at one point.” Vocally, he says, she came out badly because it’s always a risk doing a Whitney song. He says she is one of the vulnerable girls this evening. She cries.

Sabrina Sloan is last. She dedicates her performance to her grandmother. She sings “All the Man That I Need.” (She is not dedicating the lyrics to her grandma; she just wants to make her happy.) She is also tackling Whitney, but better. Randy says she had some moments when she lost touch with the pitch, but that she had a big old voice. Paula calls her a big contender in the competition. Simon says it was good, but not to confuse power with shouting and that she was just on the edge of doing that. He also tells her she should have steered clear of Whitney. He says he preferred her last week, but she will be back next week.

The pre-vote recap of the performance reminds me how loud Gina was, how boring Alaina was, how good Lakisha was, how polished Melinda was, how off Antonella was, how emotional Jordin was, how on-point Stephanie was, how low Leslie was, how generic Haley was and, well, I didn’t get the recap of Sabrina, but she was only a couple of minutes ago, so I didn’t need reminding. She was good.

Who did you vote for? Who did you like best or least? Results for the American Idol Top 20 are tonight 3-1-07 were 4 additonal Idol hopefuls will be voted off.

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