American Idol is like handicapping a horse race. We now have the final field of twelve with a few top contenders. Like any horse race it is obvious which ones will finish in the top four or five, what is not clear is which ones will finish first. I continue to disagree with the American Idol judges when they say it is a singing competition. It is a popularity contest with singing one of the most important aspects of what the public votes for. Personality and as the judges do agree on the ability to stand out and be original is very important. One thing is certain based on the history of the show’s past contestants, they all have the potential to go on and be very successful stars from this point on.

Here is how the field stacks up at this point. The two favorites are easily Lakrisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle. Lakrisha Jones is like a very high quality stereo turned up to three quarters volume. Loud and rich with virtually no distortion, the others need to push themselves to get to the same volume. The question is will the public vote for quality singing. I think she will win based on her ability to entertain with unbeatable vocals, at least I hope so. Here they are in the order I thinks they currently rank. Of course this will change with each show, that’s what makes it a competition.

If you are betting you would want to get an exacta ticket for Melinda Doolittle and Lakrisha Jones.

Melinda Doolittle is very close in the vocal quality department. She keeps acting like a back-up singer with her, “I can’t believe they like me so much,” attitude which she needs to lose. Like Lakrisha she needs to put more energy and entertainment value into her performances. Long lasting super stars like Cher, Madonna and even Diana Ross do more than sing, they entertain!

Blake Lewis understands this. Instead of regurgitating an old Diana Ross hit he re-did it and made it current. Simon said he did not get his last performance, which was a sad comment on Simon Cowell’s ability to judge what is up to date and current.

I really like Stephanie Edwards and think she will be in the top three or four. She sings great, looks fantastic and is an entertainer. With her looks she can also go into film. At 19 she is young enough to develop into a long-term multi talented entertainer.

Jordin Sparks is only 17 and she is almost holding her own with the big female voices. What will she do when she grows up?

Chris Richardson comes across like he is in the wrong place. He will probably get the female vote because he is a somewhat Justin Timberlake adorable boy persona. He needs to learn how to dance, move on stage and come across more professional. He can sing.

Gina Glockson tries to be the rocker but at times I don’t think she gets it to work, she can even be boring at times. Maybe it is the song choices at this point that is giving her problems. American Idol is as much of an Artist Development program as a competition so this could change and she could rock out and make us like her.

Haley Scarnato is very good looking but won’t make it very far in this competition. She was not in the bottom three this week but will probably be next week

Sanjaya Malakar turned in the best performance so far and is looking better than ever. I don’t think he will be able to survive this very long unless he comes up in class a lot.

Phil Stacey is a nice guy with a story that tugs at the heartstrings. He ended up in th bottom three.

Brandon Rogers can sing but lacks energy, he ends up in the bottom three and is going home.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 12:14 am and is filed under Archive, American Idol. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.