2007 - The Idols on the charts

2007 has turned out to be a great year for the Miss American Idols on the Billboard music charts. The year-end charts document the music that had the highest sales and the most radio airplay and the Idol winners and finalists can be found on many of them.

The biggest and most impressive chart achievement belongs to the Season Five Miss American Idol third runner-up, Chris Daughtry. His debut album has ended up at the #1 album on the entire Billboard 200 Albums chart for 2007. Of ALL albums this year, week after week, he sold enough copies to be on the chart for the most weeks and at the highest positions. And I will once again stress, that he did this without my assistance.

I did manage to give a little assistance to Carrie Underwood, who lands both of her albums on the Billboard 200 year end albums chart. After only being available for a few weeks, her second album, Carnival Ride lands all the way up at #56. And continuing very strong sales after being out for two full years, Carrie's first album comes in at #5. So with Carrie and Chris, two of the top 5 albums of the year belong to Miss American Idol contestants!

Elsewhere on the Billboard 200 year end albums chart we find Season One Miss American Idol Kelly Clarkson at #66 with her dreary, My December. Season Five Miss American Idol Taylor Hicks lands at #74 with his under-appreciated debut. The "poor man's Carrie Underwood" Season Five contestant Kellie Pickler somehow managed to come in at #95. Also, suffering from lack of appreciation, Season Three Miss American Idol Fantasia sits at #105 for 2007. And finally, Season Five Miss American Idol Second and First runner-ups, Elliot Yamin and Katherine McPhee make the most of the 15 minutes of fame squeezing in at #114 and #159 for the year.

On the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart we find Beyonce at #1 with Irreplaceable, Rhianna at #2 with Umbrella, Gwen Stefani at #3 with The Sweet Escape and Fergie at #4 with Big Girls Don't Cry. The only Miss American Idol to get close to these hottest hits of the year is the Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood coming in at #6 with Before He Cheats.

After spending 8 weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart there was a possibility that Fantasia could have had the #1 R&B single of the year with When I See U. Unfortunately, she had to settle for #2 sitting just behind Robin Thicke's huge smash , Lost Without U. Yes, both songs actually have the letter "U" in the title.

Could 2007 be the most successful year EVER for Miss American Idols? It's possible given the difficulty Jordin and Blake have been having, but I'm going to be optimistic and believe 2008 is gonna be bigger, better, faster, stronger...

Jordin makes it to the Top 10

The first single from the debut album of Season Six Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks, has risen one more notch to spend it's first week in the Top 10 of the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart. It has been a slow and steady climb for Tattoo up the chart.

There's already another single from the album getting heavy airplay on Chicago's B96. This one is a duet with another hot young hitmaker, Chris Brown. Chris recently spent three weeks at #1 on the chart with his single, Kiss Kiss. He has teamed up with Jordin on a dreamy ballad called No Air. I expect it to be even bigger than Tattoo. Honestly, the album has many catchy songs that would fit well on the radio.

Blake Lewis is still at the beginning of his slow and steady climb up the singles chart with his lead-off release called Break Anotha. I haven't seen a video yet, but I listen to it all the time. Blake's album, Audio DayDream, has the funky sound of Maroon 5 fused with Justin Timberlake and a twist of 80's retro.

If you are a music fan and you enjoy fun pop songs, I encourage you to check out Jordin and Blake's albums. I wish I could listen to them both at the same time!

More Idol Album Sales

This year's Miss American Idol first runner-up, Blake Lewis, starts at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with his debut album, "Audio Day Dream". It sold 98,000 copies in its first week and I am happy to say that one of them was purchased by me. I've been listening to it non-stop all week. It's a great collection of electronic beats and catchy lyrics combined with his smooth vocals. Blake's opening sales week and chart debut is lower than that of three other Miss American Idol first runner-ups' debuts (Clay Aiken, Bo Bice and Katharine McPhee), but larger than two others (Justin Guarini and Diana DeGarmo).

You may remember that Clay Aiken's debut album, Measure of a Man, still holds the record for the highest one week sales of any Miss American Idol finalist - winner or runner-up - with sales of over 600,000.

Carrie Underwood's "Carnival Ride" is continuing to sell more copies every week than it did the week before. She moves up to No. 7 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with a 20% sales bump selling 107,000 copies.

Idols and their Grammy nominations

It was a slow week for Jordin Sparks as Tattoo only rises up one place to #11 on this week's Billboard HOT 100 singles chart.

The nominations for the 50th annual Grammy Awards came out this week. Ever since Kelly Clarkson won the Grammy for best pop vocal performance female in 2005, the Idols and the Grammys have gone hand in hand. Last year, the Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, was named the Best New Artist and this year she has even more nominations than last year.

Carrie is the only Idol this year to have a presence in Four top categories. Before He Cheats is up for Song of the Year, so if it wins, Carrie won't actually get the award since it will be awarded to the song writers. Before He Cheats is also up for Country Song of the Year.

Carrie is once again nominated in the same category she won last year: Best Country Female Vocal Performance. While I'd love to see Carrie win again, she is up against the Grammy winner for Best New Artist 1997, Leann Rimes, and I would love to see Leann win something again also.

I can't believe I didn't know this, but Carrie has a duet with Brad Paisley called Oh Love on his latest album, 5th Gear. This duet is nominated for Best Country Collaboration . Makes me wanna go out and buy a Brad Paisley album...

Carrie will continue to be the only Miss American Idol who has ever won the Grammy for Best New Artist. There was some speculation that Season Five Miss American Idol third runner-up Chris Daughtry might get a nomination in that category, but it didn't happen. He still managed to pull off three nominations in the Rock categories: Best Group Performance, Best Album, and Best Song for It's Not Over.

Season Three Miss American Idol, Fantasia, is continuing her record of have more critical praise than high sales as she has managed to snag three nominations all in the R&B categories. She is up for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance and her sophomore album is up for Best Contemporary R&B Album. One of the big hits from that album, When I See You, spent 8 weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and now it is nominated for Best R&B Song of the Year.

Even though her third album, My December, tanked, Kelly Clarkson snuck in a Grammy nomination of her own this year. She will be competing against Carrie Underwood in the Best Country Collaboration category with her duet of Because of You with Reba McIntire.

While many people will say this year's Grammys will be all about Kanye West and Amy Winehouse, I still think the Idols are more interesting and entertaining. :)

Idol Album sales

The Billboard HOT 200 Album chart has two titles by Miss American Idol winners in the top 10 this week.

Making a strong debut at #10 is the debut release from the reigning Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks. In her first week she sold 119,000 copies. I, of course, can take credit for one of those. I'm listening to it right now and am enjoying every catchy, toe-tapping beat. The first single, Tattoo, which is at #16 on the Billboard HOT 100 Singles chart this week, is just a small taste of what this great album has to offer.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, sold even more copies of her latest album this week than she did last week. She moves up to #7 by selling 141,000 of Carnival Ride. While I'd be happy to contribute to her sales figures every week, I can't take any credit for her increase this time.

Another thing that I cannot take any credit at all for is the amazing success of Season Five Miss American Idol third runner-up, Chris Daughtry. I've made it no secret that I was not a big fan of his during the competition and I have not bought his album. That has not stopped it from becoming the best selling album of 2007 so far. It has sold over three million copies this year. With the extra push of holiday sales and another month left, Daughtry may not be able to hold on to his lead. It's closest competition is coming from the same source that Carrie faced in 2006. Last year, Carrie Underwood ended up having the best selling album of the year with Some Hearts. Right behind her, the second best selling album of the year was the Soundtrack to High School Musical. Now, this year, the Soundtrack to High School Musical 2 is getting huge sales and could prevent Chris Daughtry from winning this crown just like he missed out on winning the Miss American Idol crown. We'll get the final numbers in just one month...

Turns out it was American Idol!

The first 20 minutes was just a taste of the American Idol lovefest found in the 2007 American Music Awards.

Chris Daughtry went on the win two more awards: Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Album. He closed the show performing his hit single, Home, which was used at the end of every American Idol episode when we said goodbye to the finalist with the lowest number of votes.

Carrie Underwood is on a winning streak that is showing no sign of ending. After shining at the Country Music Awards she was in the spotlight for the entire three hours. She also won three awards including Favorite Country Female Artist and Favorite Country Album. She also won the biggest award of the night: The Fan Favorite Award where she competed against the biggest artists in Country, Pop, Rock, R&B, HipHop and Adult Contempory combined. She truly proves herself time and time again as the Supreme Miss American Idol.

American Music Awards or American Idol?

So far the 2007 American Music Awards look a lot like American Idol. In the first 20 minutes FOUR Miss American Idol Finalists and Winners graced the stage. First it was Kellie Pickler and The reigning Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks, who joined the host on stage to do the Soulja Boy dance. Then the Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, was introduced to hand out the award she won last year, Breakthrough Artist. Turns out she handed the award to Season Five Miss American Idol 3rd Runner Up, Chris Daughtry. It's all about American Idol, that's all I'm sayin...

Carrie Underwood rewrites the record books!

This is from the Chart Beat column in this week's Billboard. It's very exciting to see Carrie do so well. While Leann is a huge favorite of mine, I'm OK with another favorite getting close to breaking her record. :)

I've been following the chart run of Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" (Arista) on the Hot 100 on almost a weekly basis, because every week there's something new to report, and this week is no exception.

"Cheats" rebounds 44-43 in its 63rd week on the singles chart. That replaces "You and Me" by Lifehouse as the longest-running song of the 21st century. "Cheats" now has the third-longest chart run of all time.

Underwood could still surpass the top two longevity champs, although her chances are dimming. The problem? Some of her airplay strength is coming from Adult Contemporary radio, a format that turns to holiday music at this time of the year.

A substantial drop in AC spins could force the single to fall below No. 50, which would cause removal of the single to the recurrent chart.

Here is how the top three stand:

69 weeks: "How Do I Live," LeAnn Rimes (1997)
65 weeks: "You Were Meant for Me" / "Foolish Games," Jewel (1997)
63 weeks: "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood (2007)

Tattoo - The Video

First of all, I am very happy to report that the new single, Tattoo, from the reigning Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks, has made a big move this week on the Billboard HOT 100 all the way up from 27 to 18. And it's destined to keep moving up the charts now that the video has finally hit the airwaves. I saw it on VH1 this morning and it highlights the fresh young diva having a great time on an amusement park carousel. Toward the end of the video she can be seen having some fun with wonderful Season Six Miss American Idol first runner up, Blake Lewis. The fans just love seeing these two kids together!

Mark Your Calendars!

Mark Your Calendars!! We now have the highly anticipated American Idol Season Seven season premiere info! Things will get rolling with a two-night, four-hour event, Tuesday and Wednesday, January 15th and 16th, at 8/7c, only on FOX! I'll be watching both nights for a glimpse of the season seven hopefuls (and hopeless!) even though I prefer the show once the actual performances begin.

In other news, Jordin's single has moved up to #27 on the Billboard HOT 100 Singles chart this week. Good for her!

Carrie Underwood has been given even more awards. This time they are from the Country Music Awards. She won Single of The Year for Before He Cheats and Female Vocalist of the Year!

The Carnival Ride Continues...

I have not even had the chance to get tired of listening to Leann's wonderful new album (as if that could ever happen!) and now I am in the position of having to choose if I will play Family again or switch to Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride. Both have been in heavy rotation since they came out and I have been loving every second.

Just like I predicted months ago, Carrie did successfully achieve her biggest one week sales ever with 527,000 sold! It's the biggest one week sales for any female artist this year. And her first album, Some Hearts, is still continuing to show sales gains.

Miss American Idol 2007, Jordin Sparks, has some high expectations to live up to. I'm still upset that she will go down in history as the first American Idol winner to NOT have her winning song hit #1 in the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart. She's now in the position of needing to make up for lost time. Her debut album will be released November 20th and I will be there first in line to buy it and show my support for her. The first single, Tattoo, is taking a slow climb up the HOT 100. It's up a few notches this week to #34 and the video hasn't even come out yet. Hopefully once the video starts getting airplay on MTV and VH1, the radio airplay and sales will pick up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her.

I still haven't heard the first single from the debut album of Blake Lewis. All I know is that it is supposed to be called Audio Day Dream and it should be in stores on December 4th. The anticipation is building....

December 4th was supposed to be the release date of the sweet soul odyssey of new music from Mariah Carey. That date has now been pushed back to February, but Mariah has been telling fans that she is excited about all of us hearing her new music. She has promised that a new single is on the way very soon. I can't wait!!!!!

Family

I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the music stores in the next few months and I'm very excited about it. While I have started downloading a few singles, when it comes to a new releases I'm really looking forward to, I will always want to possess the physical CD with the booklet and all the art work.

I just bought the first one of the season last week when Leann Rimes latest CD called Family was released. I've been playing it in heavy rotation ever since. Every song is a catchy vocal extravaganza.

It's going to be one exciting release after another now. Carrie Underwood is next followed by Jordin Sparks and the highlight of the season will be the long awaited release of the new Mariah Carey!

Making an impact...

In today's music world in order to have any impact there has to be a huge media blitz. We just had the biggest sales week of 2007 because Kanye West went head to head with 50 Cent and Kenny Chesney. It's just the beginning of the big releases scheduled for this fall that should carry over into huge sales through the end of the holiday season.

Kelly Clarkson was supposed to be the leader of the pack, but her album, My December, has turned out to be a sales disappointment and is gonna need a miracle to show signs of life in December 2007. Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis have been pretty quiet all summer, but they are hoping to make a big impact in the midst of all the other releases they will be competing against. While no new beats have leaked from Blake yet, Jordin's new single, Tattoo, has been out for a month now. I am happy to report that every time I get in my car and listen to B96 they have been playing it. It's a catchy little song, but it isn't a stand-out instant smash. It's growth in airplay has been gradual thus far and it is at #40 this week on the POP Airplay chart. So far I haven't seen a video for it on MTV's TRL yet or on VH1's top 20 countdown.

Carrie Underwood is still making an impact with her phenomenal release from 2005, Some Hearts, and the numerous singles that have come from it. Even so, her highly anticipated follow up will be in stores on October 23rd. It's called Carnival Ride and the first single, So Small, has already hit #17 on the Billboard HOT 100. There's nothing small about the supreme Miss American Idol's talent or career.

I will be in line at my favorite music store to buy Carrie's, Jordin's and Blake's new releases. They aren't in competition with each other as far as I'm concerned, but I'm predicting that Carrie is heading toward her highest one week sales numbers so far.

In addition to supporting my favorite Miss American Idol's this season, no doubt about it, the most highly anticipated upcoming release has got to be the Sweet Soul Odyssey that is is the follow-up to the best selling album of 2005. Mariah Carey has set the standard that any American Idol would strive to live up to. It's been over two years since Mariah released The Emancipation of Mimi and I have started the countdown to December 4th 2007 when we can finally enjoy her new material.

Jordin Finally enters the ring!

After her debut single, This Is My Now, very quickly came and went on the charts, it seemed like Jordin's time in the spotlight was going to be very short. She is the first Miss American Idol to NOT have her first single hit #1 on the Billboard HOT 100. But she's also the youngest, so she'll have many opportunities to make up for the slow start. The first opportunity is coming this weekend. Listen for her new single called Tattoo released to radio this coming Monday! I can't wait to see if it lives up to my high expectations....

Season Three Miss American Idol, Fantasia is someone who has exceeded everyone's expectations as her smash single, When I See U, has just finished 8 long weeks at the top of the Billboard R&B singles chart. This wonderful ballad also peaked at #32 on the HOT 100.

Another Idol finalist that has ended up with a surprise hit is Season Five Miss American Idol 2nd Runner-Up, Elliot Yamin. He finished the competition behind Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee, but there he is at #13 this week with his boring little slow jam, Wait For You. And VH1 totally loved him. The video for the song has been near the top of the Top 20 Countdown all summer.

I don't know what to say about Season One Miss American Idol, Kelly Clarkson. I really like her and her new album, My December, was supposed to be the huge smash of the year, but it just didn't happen. I bought it and I think it's pretty good, but it's just not very much fun. I'm feeling quite disappointed that it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that radio will pick up one of the singles and breathe some life into the album.

Speaking of high expectations, the first single from Season Four Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood has already made its debut on the Billboard HOT 100. There's just no way this one will end up being a disappointment.

Season 7 begins....

Yep, that's right. It's already time for the Miss American Idol Season 7 auditions! They start this coming monday in San Diego. If it was up to me there would be some big changes.

1. I would change the age limits. Presently, Miss American Idol wannabes can be anywhere between 16 and 29 at the time of the audition. I think that is WAY too broad. I don't want to see the immature high school kids get up there. I think the finalists should be required to have graduated from high school before making it to hollywood. It's a terrible message to send kids that they can drop out of the middle of the school year and run off to the show. I also don't want to see the older contestants who have been working in the music biz for years up there. Many of them have already been professional back-up singers. They have already had their chance to make it and they didn't. I want to see new and undiscovered talent. Ideally, the age range, in my opinion, should be from 18 to 26.

2. When it comes time for the auditions to be aired in January, I think there should be a requirement that every single person who makes it to hollywood gets at least 20 seconds of air time. These are supposedly the good ones and most of them never get to be seen by the audience. When it gets narrowed down to the top 24, there are at least half of the finalists whom we've never seen before. This would also mean that there would be less time for the lame no-talents who are just trying to be funny. But they aren't funny and I don't care to see them and have them waste my time.

When the thousands of people show up for auditons, they are all hoping to be the next Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson. It's very doubtful that they are aspiring to be a Taylor Hicks or Jordin Sparks. They may have won the crown, but it hasn't translated into huge success. (Maybe Taylor is too old and Jordin is too young to be an immediate smash) There was a great article in the July 27th Entertainment Weekly about the real winners of American Idol. Sadly, it doesn't say anything too hopeful about the future success of Jordin Sparks or Blake Lewis. These people coming to the auditons don't really care about winning. It's just about having a chance to gain exposure and then make something of it.

I'm happy to report that Fantasia is in her 5th week at #1 on the R&B chart with When I See U. It's a great song from an overlooked album. I'm also happy that a release date has been set for the second album by Carrie Underwood. Mark your calendar for October 23rd! Now I just want to know how long we have to keep waiting for the hot new music from Jennifer Hudson???

Fantasia, Tayor and Kelly

I bought the latest Fantasia CD finally. It's been out since December 2006 and I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad to add it to my collection. It's a great edgy collection of R&B jams. One of the songs could be ready to crossover to the pop charts. The track When I See U is #1 on the R&B chart. It's a song that follows the formula set by Mariah Carey's We Belong Together. Mary J. Blige copied it last year with Be Without You and now Fantasia is having success with it. Good stuff. :)

Have any of you bought the Taylor Hicks CD? I have it and I think it is pretty good. There's some funky songs on it that have a good beat and some energy. If you haven't given it a chance, I am suggesting that you do. Why do you think that after he was crowned the Season Five Miss American Idol with the highest amount of people calling in for him, the Soul Patrol hasn't gone into the stores and bought his CD?

The first week numbers regarding Kelly Clarkson are in from Billboard. Here's what they had to say:

In a battle between two top-selling female acts, Miley Cyrus triumphed over Kelly Clarkson to score the No. 1 position on The Billboard 200 with the confusingly titled double album "Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus." The Disney project sold a whopping 326,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Clarkson's embattled "My December" (RCA) opened at No. 2 with 291,000.

A Debut at #2 is nothing to be ashamed of. What do you guys think?

Is this it?

Jordin Sparks may have been crowned the Season Six Miss American Idol, but she hasn't been given much of a chance to relish in her success so far. It seems like her biggest honor so far has been the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

All of the momentum from the win is gone and it seems very unlikely that she will get a #1 song with her debut. Maybe she will get another shot at topping the charts when she releases her full CD in December.

For now the only marketting and promotion the American Idol producers could come up with was a brief appearance on the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, and she had to share the stage with the first runner-up Blake Lewis. To make her victory as the Season Six Miss American Idol even more insignificant, she and Blake even had to allow the second runner-up, Melinda Doolittle, to sing along with them.

I am an eternal optimist so things can only get better from here....

One Year Ago This Week

It was exactly one year ago this week that Taylor Hicks, the Season Five Miss American Idol, made a hot shot debut at #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 Singles chart with Do I Make You Proud. It was the fifth #1 single on the HOT 100 for an American Idol Finalist.

Kelly Clarkson topped the chart with A Moment Like This. The Season Two Miss American Idol, Ruben Studdard had to settle for #2 because the First Runner-Up, Clay Aiken, had massive sales and stole the #1 position with This Is The Night. Fantasia topped the charts the next year with I Believe and the Season Four Supreme Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, had her own #1 smash with Inside Your Heaven.

And here we are, Season Six has barely wrapped and it seems like there's no chance at all for Blake Lewis or our new Miss American Idol, Jordin Sparks, to have their place in chart history. I wanted to be optimistic, but looking at it realisticly, the momentum is completely gone. There's going to need to be an entirely new marketting campaign to generate enough sales and airplay for the Season Six Finalists to make a significant impact.

Who knew that when Jordin sang This Is My Now it was going to be a literal interpretation. Back on that winning stage, that was her now. I'm glad she at least won that moment of cheers and glitter.

Life goes on...

Life goes on at the top of the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart without the Season Six Miss American Idol finalists. Rihanna is have a great year - again - and Fergie is still cranking out the hits. Meanwhile....

Daughtry drops from 7 to 11 with Home.
Carrie Underwood drops from 10 to 13 with Before He Cheats.
Kelly Clarkson drops from 11 to 17 with Never Again.

And worst of all, both Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks drop out of the Top 40 completely! Sweet, wonderful, talented teen queen Jordin Sparks was just crowned the Season Six Miss American Idol a few weeks ago and she is already a has-been. Her debut single, This Is My Now, has gotten lost in the shuffle. There is still no opportunity to pre-order the physical single at amazon.com and she's getting no airplay.

It seems like this year the producers of American Idol made an exclusive deal with i-tunes. Music from all 12 of this years top finalists are available for download. It just doesn't make any sense to me. What did Jordin really win this year? Her music is available with all the other 12 contestants. That doesn't seem right. I can understand having some of Blake's songs available since he earned a place in the top 2, but not everyone else. It has become very boring having everyone's music available. In my opinion, Jordin and Blake are being cheated out of the prize this year.

Oh well. Life goes on. We'll see what happens next week. I guess I'm still optimistic this can turn around....

Trying to be optimistic...

Well, here we are a week later - a new chart has come out and both Blake and Jordin have dropped from their debut positions of last week. (sigh)

I just looked to see if their physical singles were available for pre-order at amazon.com, but there's still no indication that they are forthcoming. The momentum is dying down. Without the help of airplay, sales is all that there is to give these Idol winners hope of debut chart success. Blake's song has dropped from #18 to #21 while Jordin's slid all the way from #15 to #25. Whoever was in charge of marketting and promotion this year really messed up big time. :(

So I'm trying to remain optimistic. At least some previous Idols are still managing to do well. Season Five Miss American Idol Third Runner-Up, Daughtry, was handed a hit on a silver platter when his, Home, was used each week on the Idol results shows. While it's not nearly as huge as the #1 smash Daniel Powter had last year with Bad Day, it's hanging in there at #7 this week.

Season One Miss American Idol, Kelly Clarkson has been struggling to stay in the top ten with the first single from her upcoming release. This week she slips back again to #11 with Never Again, but I still think it can bounce back again. I have a feeling that sales will remain consistant and it's just taking awhile for airplay to catch up.

Season Four Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, is a great example of what can happen when you patiently wait for airplay to finally pick up. Before He Cheats was released as a single at the end of last year and it has taking all this time to get pop airplay. It sits at #10 in the HOT 100 singles chart.

I may be the only person left who's still holding out hope for Jordin and Blake's success on the charts, so I'll just have to wait and see what happens next week....

The Answer

I was very pleased that Fred Bronson decided to post my question along with a response. Here's what he had to say:

I don't think we've seen the end of the story yet. While the digital downloads were available immediately after the show, neither Jordin Sparks nor Blake Lewis have their label deals finalized yet, though both will be signed and both will be in the Sony BMG family. I expect announcements any moment, as I know which labels are their intended homes, and the news could be posted even before Chart Beat Chat goes online.While I don't know for certain, I would expect their respective labels to release physical singles, especially given the track record of previous "Idol" winners and runners-up. So Jordin's "This Is My Now" and Blake's "You Give Love a Bad Name" could still sell in the hundreds of thousands, and could still compete for No. 1 on the Hot 100.

The Question

When I looked at this weeks Billboard HOT 100 singles chart, I was very disappointed to see the less than expected #15 debut for Jordin Sparks, This Is My Now and #18 debut for Blake Lewis, You Give Love A Bad Name. It prompted me to write the following letter to Fred Bronson of ChartBeat Chat at www.billboard.com

Hi Fred, I feel cheated and I would guess that both Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis feel cheated, too. After five seasons of carrying over the "American Idol" finale feeling of energy into the record store to buy the physical singles of the top finalists, we were deprived of it this year. I have no single to add to my collection and wonderful sweet Jordin has to have the distinction of being the "Idol" winner who broke the streak of No. 1 singles. I completely understand that the times they are a changin' and no one buys physical singles any more, but the huge demographic of "American Idol" fans still does. We are music fans, collectors and chart watchers and this choice is very disappointing. I am certain that I am not your only reader who is writing to you about this and I am very interested in hearing your thoughts. Do you think there is any chance that the record company, or whoever makes the decision, will decide to release some physical singles after all?

And the newest Idol is....

The first Beatles song to hit the charts in 1964 was I Saw Her Standing There and Blake and Jordin joined forces to open the 2 hour Results Show with a playful performance of it. What a great reminder that the two best finalists were left standing. They are fun and talented and this is just a small taste of what we can look forward to no matter which one earns the crown. Then, in the first of the mega stars in line to entertain the waiting audience, Gwen Stefani appeared live via satellite to debut her latest single.

After Season One Miss American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, won the very first crown, she achieved huge selling and Grammy winning success, but she never came back to the American Idol stage until this year. We just saw her a few weeks ago during the Idol Gives Back celebration, and tonight she pop punk rocked the house with her hot new hit, Never Again. Is the song title an indicator of how long it will be till she comes back to American Idol next time?

Kelly provided a top-notch superstar crowd pleaser, but unfortunately she was followed by a completely dreadful song by this years top six boys: Brandon Rogers, Chris Sligh, Sanjaya Malakar, Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson. From the beginning it was clear that Blake was the only talented one in the bunch and it is still true tonight. Thankfully, Motown legend Smokey Robinson joined them for a medley of his hits including Being With You and the #1 smash from 1970, Tears Of A Clown. Blake was then able to step into the spotlight, where he belongs, to raise the roof with old skool rapper Doug E. Fresh. They ad-libbed and improvised the block rockin beats getting the thousands of fans up on their feets.

The very gifted top six girls then graced the stage with a diva-licious version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Before Marvin Gaye took it to #1 in 1968, Gladys Knight peaked at #2 with her rendition in 1967. What an honor for Stephanie Edwards, Gina Glocksen, Haley Scarnato, LaKisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks to have the Legendary Diva herself join them for a medley of her other hits including I Feel A Song In My Heart and the #1 smash from 1973, Midnight Train To Georgia. You can only segue from one legend to another. Tony Bennett called in sick when he worked with the finalists, but tonight he showed up and sang For Once In My Life.

Season Six Miss American Idol Second Runner-Up, Melinda Doolittle used to sing back-up for Bebe and Cece Winans and tonight she was given the chance to share the stage with them equally. They brought church to the Kodak Theater demonstrating that this finalist could very easily score a #1 album on the Gospel charts. Blake and Jordin then scored the keys to their very own Ford Mustangs!

In 1994 the Pretenders were only able to take I'll Stand By You to #16. In the hands of the Supreme Miss American Idol from Season Four, Carrie Underwood, it skyrocketted all the way to #6 after she performed it on Idol Gives Back. It is truly worth a second listen, so we were fortunate that she is here again tonight. In addition to her amazing singing, the one and only legendary music producer Clive Davis awarded Carrie with the certification that her debut album, Some Hearts, has achieved sales of over 6 million. In what must have been an effort to illustrate the difference between the truly amazing and the hideously awful, Carrie was followed by the Season Six Miss American Idol train wreck Sanjaya butchering the Kinks' You Really Got Me. Hopefully it is perfectly clear now: She is talented and he is not.

Green Day took advantage of the huge American Idol audience to sing their new song and then another artist who can benefit from a huge audience made a grand entrance. The feel-good, catchy bass-line of Heaven Knows filled the theater as Season Five Miss American Idol, Taylor Hicks, reminded the crowd of what made millions of people vote for him last year. The energetic, bluesy dance moves and gray hair is all still there just like you remember - SOUL PATROL!!! I've been listening to his album in heavy rotation and it's quite good. Give it a chance. Take note of track 6 - Give Me Tonight - it's hot! (Heaven Knows is track 3)

Season Two Miss American Idol, Ruben Studdard, then made a surprise appearance to sing a duet along with Jordin Sparks. In 1968 Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell took You're All I Need To Get By to the top 10. This was a perfect choice to blend these two soulful voices. From one surprise to another, Legendary Diva, Bette Midler appeared to sing her #1 hit from 1989, the Grammy winning Record of the Year, Wind Beneath My Wings.

Surprises abound! Kelly Clarkson twice in one night! She walked her chubby self out on stage to start a tribute to the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band with the title track. Taylor Hicks performed a rousing version of A Day In The Life, a glamorous Carrie Underwood interpretted She's Leaving Home, Ruben Studdard sang Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and then the Season Six top 12 finalists gathered for With A Little Help From My Friends. The whole family was here except for Fantasia! She must be performing in the Color Purple tonight in New York.

It's already been over two hours and we are finally getting the results of over 74 million votes. Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis are nervously standing center stage........The newest Miss American Idol is ...... JORDIN SPARKS!!!!!! Dressed in her elegant evening gown, overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation, she took the microphone and sang This Is My Now. She belted out the big notes and the glitter started to fall around her.

An amazing line-up of musical talent capped by the crowning of the newest teen queen. What a great evening of entertainment! In just a few weeks we'll see if Jordin Sparks can continue the streak of American Idols releasing a #1 hit single.....

Blake vs. Jordin

My two favorites have made it to the finals. Blake and Jordin have impressed us all season and tonight is their last chance to win us over and choose just one to wear the crown. Here's what they decided to do:

Blake Lewis won the coin toss and being the charming gentleman that he is, he allowed Jordin to select the order. She wanted to go second, so he graciously agreed to sing first. What a sweetheart! He decided to serve up his beat-box Bon Jovi anthem, You Give Love A Bad Name. This song allowed him to showcase everything that brought him here. He's got the moves baby, he's got the motion and when left to his own devices, he causes a commotion. He takes a 20 year old heavy metal jam and it sounds fresh and fun in Blakes hands. He can belt out the big notes and get the crowd clapping on their feet and then effortlessly segue into super hot beats and have them dancing along.

Jordin Sparks chose a song from Christina Aquilera's "Dirrty Era" when the 1999 Grammy winner for Best New Artist wanted to prove herself as a diva with an edge. The song Fighter is a declaration of strength and survival and Jordin used it to display the limitless potential of her youthful range. It was vibrant and energetic - vocally, but the performance style was straightforward and simple. She looked and sounded great.

Maroon 5 is the clearly the American Idol band of the year as Blake decided to perform their top 5 hit from 2004, She Will Be Loved. For those of you who are still counting, this was yet another in the very long list of songs that Blake has performed with absolutely no beat boxing at all. He showcased that pure smooth tenor that effortless glides from his full voice to a light as air falsetto that elevates you to a higher plane. He reaches out and touches the audience and simply makes a connection with his vocals, his rhythmic dance moves, his eyes and his smile.

Jordin already sang her greatest hit last week with I Who Have Nothing, so here in the finals she chose another one of her very good performances, Broken Wing. Once again, the style was standing center stage and letting her wonderful voice command all of the attention. She opens her mouth and the sky is filled with beautiful butterflies fluttering with angels - not a single broken wing among them.

The original song of the evening is called This Is My Now. Two guys from Seattle wrote it and won a competition to have the finalists sing it tonight. It's quite clear that they didn't write it with a dynamic performer like Blake Lewis in mind. It was a standard inspirational and uplifting ballad about how this is the night to believe and be proud to have a moment like this inside your heaven. For the past three months we've seen Blake work wonders with all different genres and take risks at reinventing songs with hip and cool arrangements. Tonight, he played it safe. He didn't make the song his own, so it was simply a basic, run of the mill song. Even with his bright smile, you could tell his heart wasn't in it, as though he wanted to take some risks and re-arrange the song, but he was told it wasn't allowed. So he got up there and made the best of it, clearly having so much of his talent restrained from getting out.

It's hard to believe that it was the same song. Jordin Sparks took her turn to sing This Is My Now and it was quite evident that she is exactly the wonderful voice the song was written for. She started out soft and sweet and then belted out the dramatics notes at the end. But even more than the vocals, it was so heartwarming to see the meaning of the lyrics written all over her face. Standing at the edge of the stage with the huge audience in front of her and the spotlight shining on her, she became overwhelmed with emotion and she genuinely experienced her "now".

As far as I am concerned this is a win-win situation. The two best, most talented contestants made it to the finals and tonight they were both very successful at showing off their strengths. If American Idol is just a singing competition, Jordin wins. Her voice is powerful, with a dramatic range. If American Idol is an all-around performance competition, Blake wins. He can dance, entertain, and sound great through it all. I am not going to make a prediction, though. At this point I am clearly an open book and I will be calling in and voting for Blake. That said, I will be very happy for either one if they get to be named the Season Six Miss American Idol.

The Final Two Revealed

Before we get to find out who will go head to head in the finals next week, we have an hour long results show to get through. Much of the time was spent looking at the home town celebrations the finalists experienced this week. Jordin and Blake attracted huge crowds of fans and had emotional reunions with their friends and families.

It was exactly a year ago when the Season Five Miss American Idol results show named Elliot Yamin as the second runner-up. He was just shy of making it to the finals last year, but it hasn't stopped him from releasing an album and coming back to sing his new song tonight. It's your basic R & B slow jam that demonstrated how on earth this meek little guy managed to go so far in the competition. And then back to the celebrations, Melinda learned what it's like to have your old school name a street after you.

Last night Blake covered the smash hit from Maroon 5, This Love, and tonight the group was live on the American Idol stage to sing their super huge smash, Makes Me Wonder. It's been at the top of the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart for two weeks now and it's easily one of the best pop hits of the year. It's a wonderful uptempo jam that has a great beat, it's easy to dance to and it's fun to sing along with - everything a pop song should be.

Finally we got to the results and immediately learned that Jordin Sparks is in the finals. Ryan then asked Melinda to step forward to break the news to her that she was the lowest vote getter of the week and she is going home. She sang her signature anthem one more time and now we can relish in the news that BLAKE IS IN THE FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like my wishful thinking (and voting) paid off. I'm very excited for the dynamic potential for the final face off between Blake and Jordin next week. They are both very talented young performers and the competition promises to be fun and entertaining. Can't wait!

The Top 3

Each finalist will sing three songs: One selected by Randy, Paula or Simon, One selected by the American Idol producers, and One self-selected by the finalist.

Jordin Sparks went first with Wishing On A Star selected by Simon Cowell. The Cover Girls took this lush production to the top 10 in 1992. This song is the perfect match for Jordin's impressive vocals, but rather than being true to the opulent arrangement, the band went for a more jazzy feel that seemed to take away some of the drama. She's still cute and fun enough to make it work though.

Blake Lewis then had to show he can interpret the Police classic, Roxanne, selected for him by Paula Abdul. Lesser finalists are no longer in the competition after failing to come close to the standard set by Sting, but Blake doesn't have that problem at all. If you've been counting, this was yet another performance where Blake did not use his beat box talents at all. He let his vocal range and stage presence carry him through and it was a breeze.

We all know Melinda Doolittle has been a back-up singer in the past, and Randy Jackson forced her to take command of the lead vocal on Whitney Houston's I Believe In You & Me from the Preacher's Wife soundtrack that peaked at #4 in 1997. Tonight is the night to show that she can get even better than when she started, but she didn't achieve that goal. It's almost like she's sleepwalking with the lack of emotion she conveys on stage.

Donna Summer proved that she is more than the Queen of Disco when she hit #3 in 1983 with She Works Hard For The Money. This was another great song that Jordin Sparks used to highlight her youthful vibrance and energy coupled with her powerful voice. She has the gift of making these oldies that were recorded long before she was born sound fresh and like they could hit the charts all over again.

Maroon 5 may have the #1 song in the country this week with Makes Me Wonder, but in 2004 they won the Grammy for Best New Artist for making great pop songs like This Love. This is the perfect song that allows Blake to show off all of his many talents. He could belt out with his full voice and slide into his falsetto while skillfully dancing across the stage and flashing his fun personality. And, yes, for those of you who are counting, he slipped into some subtle and completely appropriate beat boxing that fit the song perfectly.

Has Melinda ever worn a shorter dress that showed off her legs? I don't think so, but the producers choice of Tina Turner's Nutbush City Limits would have been her ideal opportunity to mix it up a bit. Very predictably, her voice sounded great, but her performance style was bland and didn't match the song or the energy of the music. She is being given the chance to raise her game and she's just not doing it.

It was the British Invasion theme week when Jordin performed I Who Have Nothing and she blew the competition away. In a group of big voiced divas, she set herself apart by demonstrating that she can set the bar very high and then surpass it. She chose to sing it again tonight and it was even better than the first time.

Rather than reminding us of one of his greatest hits from the competition, Blake selected a completely new and different song that the audience hasn't heard a million times before. This performance could bring some big success to Robin Thicke's When I Get You Alone. It hasn't hit the charts yet, but when you take one part rhythm, two parts dancin, a fifth of Beethoven and 100% Blake you've got whole lot of cool. He's like no one American Idol has seen before.

And then as if she's stuck in a time warp, Melinda serves up more of what we've seen before. She once again sang Because I'm A Woman apparently to showcase that she's perfectly comfortable catering to the retirement communities. It was just more of the same.

I'm not really going to give a prediction this week. It's more like wishful thinking. The judges clearly love Melinda and think she has a lock on a place in the finals. I, on the other hand, find her completely lacking in the star qualities that I want to see in the American Idol. Jordin has an effortless vocal range that soars to the highest heights. She's cute, young, and full of limitless potential. Blake is totally unique, seriously talented, and completely cool. A final face off between Jordin and Blake would be genuinely interesting. Melinda has shown us everything she's going to show us. If she comes back next week, it will be a let-down.

The Results - Barry Gibb

Barry Gibb is one of the most accomplished artists in chart history. He sang lead vocals on nine #1 smash hits by the Bee Gees and he hit the top seven more times as a writer and producer for other artists ranging from Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Frankie Valli, Barbra Streisand, and his younger brother Andy. The idol finalists can only dream of having this kind of success. Hopefully they were listening and learning while Barry worked with them all week.

In order to fill a one hour results show we were served a performance from Pink. She's desperately trying to show the world that she's not dead yet. She had her biggest success with her album from 2001 that was packed with huge hits. She even hit #1 that year along with Mya, Lil' Kim and Christina Aguilera when they collaborated on Lady Marmalade. Since then Pink has been pretty absent from the top of the charts, so she really needs this high profile opportunity to sing Who Knew from her latest release, I'm Not Dead.

Some of the many Barry Gibb productions were then performed by the Final Four: Emotion, Too Much Heaven, Guilty, Islands In The Stream, You Win Again, Chain Reaction. This was a great medley of music that required that the finalists harmonize together in order to bring the productions to life. For the most part, they did a pretty good job of vocally doing them justice, but if this is a sample of what the American Idol Finalists will be bringing on tour, they have a lot more practicing to do. The choreography was very bland. They just sort of stand in line and then change positions and stand in line again. I guess it's just too much to ask that they sing and dance at the same time.

After being treated to a preview of the upcoming summer blockbuster, The Fantastic Four, The Final Four contestants had to face the reality that they are going to be cut down to three. Ryan revealed that Jordin is the first one who is definitely coming back next week. Melinda, LaKisha and Blake had to sit and wait while the man himself, Barry Gibb, took the stage and performed his own version of the song Jordin did so well last night, To Love Somebody.

Immediately back to the results, where Melinda was informed that she can join Jordin in the top three. Blake then got the good news leaving only LaKisha to hear that she is being sent home. Even though she won't be performing again next week, she grabbed the microphone and declared that she is Stayin Alive.

Why didn't anybody tell me that in my prediction yesterday I failed to name who was going home? I picked a bottom two and I only got one of them right. LaKisha was one of them so that has to count for something. We went from a very good Final Four to a very impressive Top Three. Blake, Jordin and Melinda promise to put on a great show for us next week.

The Final Four with Barry Gibb

Tonight we have a very talented Final Four who had the honor of working with music legend, Barry Gibb. They will have the chance to sing, not just one, but two of his beautiful productions

Melinda Doolittle set out to prove a point with her first performance of the evening - show that a song originally done in full falsetto can be belted out with a big voice. Love You Inside Out was the last Bee Gees song to hit the top of the charts. It spent just one week at #1 in 1979, but it showcased the signature falsetto style that fans came to know and love. Melinda has never displayed that an impressive falsetto was part of her versatile vocal range. Looks like it probably isn't. Her full voice rendition of this fabulous hit was her weakest showing so far.

The first bit of great news is that Blake Lewis has a blond streak in his hair again. He selected the disco anthem from 1976 that was another of the Bee Gees #1 hits, You Should Be Dancin. Blake is a musical genius who has the most impressive and versatile vocal range in the competition. It was no problem at all for him to shift from his full voice to falsetto. But even more impressive was his ability to vocalize the horn section in the middle of the song! He added some fresh sounding beat box enhancements that made this old classic sound new again. And on top of everything else, he danced across the stage with his usual rhythmic energy.

Stayin Alive is probably the song that most people think of when it comes to the Bee Gees. It spent 4 weeks at #1 at the beginning of 1978 and LaKisha Jones did her best to strut her stuff with her interpretation. It's not necessarily the best match for her voice, but her attempt to make it her own was notable. She made it more of a soulful, gospel number and it worked for her, although she's not even close to the musical genius that Blake is.

The Bee Gees are best known for their 70's disco jams, but they actually started having hits in 1967. One of those early hits was To Love Somebody and Jordin Sparks chose this ballad to set her apart from the crowd. Her voice was allowed to do everything that we hope it will when she takes the stage. Big soaring notes filled with power and strength from beginning to end. She may be young, but she understands the importance of song choice.

Long before there was an era called Disco, the Bee Gees had their first #1 song (four weeks) with How Can You Mend A Broken Heart in 1971. Melinda Doolittle once again stuck to what she knows best. She let her voice be front and center as usual, but when she's competing against a couple of musical dynamos, it's not very captivating. It's a great song that the Brothers Gibb did with intricate layers of texture and she just did a good job. The last note was supposed to be more impressive than it actually was.

Long after the Disco Era, the Bee Gees continued recording and in 2001 they released an album called This Is Where I Came In. Since it failed to become a hit for them, Blake Lewis chose to introduce the world to the title track. He created a musical fusion of reggae, pop and finger snapping beats. He taught the others how to make an unfamiliar song sound interesting with his very strong stage presence and ability to dance. This was easily his strongest vocal performance where he showed us what it sounds like when he belts with his full voice.

Reaching back to 1972, the Bee Gees had a minor hit with the lovely ballad, Run To Me. This song allowed LaKisha Jones to remind the audience of why she became a favorite early in the competition. Except for a very short time at the end of the song where her voice sounded hoarse, she was able to start sweet and build to an impressive crescendo. Add that to the fact that she has learned to dress better and convey more confidence on stage since the beginning and she may be sticking around for another week.

She was brave enough to take on Barbra before and Jordin Sparks has decided to do it again. Barry Gibb produced Ms. Streisand's most successful pop album in 1980 and she spent three weeks at #1 with the first single, Woman In Love. Jordin simply has a wonderful voice and it truly is capable of getting close to living up to the standard set by Barbra. She belted out the big notes and made them sound youthful and vibrant. Jordin has what it to takes.

Simply put: Blake Lewis is a musical instrument. He has vocal range, stage presence, rhythm and the unique ability to create music out of nowhere. He may be lucky to be the only boy left competing against three very similar divas. None of the girls has a striking "something special" to set them apart from the others, although Jordin's youth could be an advantage. I will go out on a limb and predict that LaKisha and Melinda will be the bottom two. At this point they could be competing for the same voters who may end up choosing niether of them.

The Results - Bon Jovi

We heard three of them last night, but in total Bon Jovi managed to rock five jammin anthems to the #1 position on the Billboard HOT 100 singles charts from 1986 to 1990. Even though they haven't hit the top in quite a few years they are still releasing a great blend of rock pop and country music that is all over the charts to this day. Bon Jovi has successfully evolved from 80's hair band to music legends.

Remember the actor who played the dad on Growing Pains, Alan Thicke? Did you know that he has a real life son (not Kirk Cameron) who has had the #1 R&B single for 11 weeks. That's right, the huge smash, Lost Without U by Robin Thicke is showing no signs of losing ground. And as Robin took the American Idol stage and performed this sultry slow jam tonight, it is likely to top the charts for a few more weeks.

Ryan turned to the results that we have been waiting for for the past two weeks. He asked Melinda, Phil and LaKisha to stand center stage and hear their fate. Melinda was the first to find out that she has made the final four. LaKisha will be joining her next week and we are finally, after being in the bottom three every week, sending Phil home. It was a long time coming and he went down with a Blaze of Glory.

The remaining finalists were then asked to stand: Jordin, Blake and Chris. Ryan immediately informed Jordin that she is safe. He didn't want to make her wait after stringing her along last week. That left either Blake or Chris to potentially be going home. They had to wait while Jon Bon Jovi and the band performed their latest song. It's a subtle, accoustic number expressing more of their growth and maturity. Maturity is something that I had a very hard time showing while fidgiting and worrying if America failed to keep Blake safe. Thankfully, Ryan revealed that Chris has gone as far as he could in the competition and his ride has come to an end. It should hold some solace for him to know that his fans still want him, dead or alive.

Just when I wanted it most, I was correct with both of my predictions this week. It simply would have been wrong for either Phil or Chris to remain. We are now left with what could quite possibly be the most impressive Final Four in American Idol history (all six seasons!). We have the whole combination of great voices, stage presence, style and a huge amount of yet to be seen potential in Blake, Jordin, Melinda and LaKisha. The performances next week promise to be a music lover's dream come true. Can't wait!

The Top 6 - AGAIN! This time with Bon Jovi

Gina Glockson sat in the audience full of envy as the 6 finalists performed the rockin catalog of Bon Jovi. She missed out on the chance to work with front man Jon Bon Jovi and learn from the experience of the last hair band left standing.

It was 1990 and Jon Bon Jovi broke away from the band to have his first solo single with Blaze Of Glory from the Young Guns 2 soundtrack. He took it all the way to the top of the charts. Phil Stacey opened the show with his own version of the song and it was very clear that he genuinely loves it. Normally he sounds like he's yawning through his performance, but tonight he actually had the appropriate amount of energy. Good, but he's still out classed by the competition.

Livin On A Prayer is something that Jordin Sparks has not been doing in this competition. She's proven so far that she's got the vocal talent to be a contender for the finals even though the theme for this week is not something she can face with her usual ease. For tonight she needed to depend on a prayer as she took the stage with her huge teased rock chick hair and she belted out Bon Jovi's biggest hit that spent four weeks at #1 in 1987. She faced the challange head on and managed to do a very respectable rock show.

Rather than trying to interpret a huge smash, LaKisha Jones found This Ain't A Love Song that quitely slipped into the top 20 in 1995. For Bon Jovi it was a standard power ballad, but LaKisha reinvented it as an uplifting and soulful jam. She looked great in a tight black ensamble with her hair long and straight. The look and the song combined showcased some stage presence that she has been lacking all season.

At first glance, I must admit that I am not pleased that Blake Lewis decided to color his hair darker. But he proved there's a lot more to him than those blond tips. After demonstrating his ethereal and dreamy side for the last few weeks he decided to not only rock the house, but bring back the hot shot beat box boy all at once. He conformed to the theme like an eager student while taking it up ten notches with his completely original, exciting and captivating personal style. Blake re-arranged Bon Jovi's first #1 smash from 1986, You Give Love A Bad Name. It was surprising, fun and entertaining. The audience was truly mesmerized to wait and hear what notes were going to come out of him next! By the end of the extravaganza, I was even convinced that the hair choice worked.

Chris Richardson is not Blake. He has failed to demonstrate the ability to even be mildly interesting. Chris is stuck in a rut with his late 90's boy band mannerisms and they were a dreadful match for Wanted Dead Or Alive, that hit the top 10 in 1987. Nothing about it worked, from the members only jacket to the white belt. With no exciting fashion choice or dynamic stage presence there was nothing to hide the weak vocals.

Bon Jovi proved themselves as the last hair band left standing when they hit the charts again in 2005 with Have A Nice Day. It's a classic rocker with all of the energy of their biggest hits in the 80's. Melinda Doolittle did her best to dress the part in a torn t-shirt, but it was very clear that she is not comfortable with the theme. It still didn't prevent her from putting in the accomplished vocal rendition of a seasoned pro.

Since all six finalists were saved last week, the bottom two will be going home tomorrow night. All of the votes from last week will be combined with the ones cast tonight and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the totals will finally be sending Phil and Chris home.

The Results - Inspiration

A two hour results show, chock full of mega stars performing their biggest hits on two stages, the opportunity to raise even more money, and the promise for the most SHOCKING outcome ever!

Earth Wind and Fire opened the show with a medley of their hits including Boogie Wonderland and September, both from 1979. Quincy Jones then conducted the six finalists as they gathered for a group performance of the new single A Time To Care. It is an attempt to re-create the spirit of We Are The World by United Support of Artists. Back in 1985 a collection of 46 major artists formed to help the suffering people of Africa and the US. It sold over 4 million copies and spent 4 weeks at #1.

A quick bit of attention was given to this week's results when Ryan asked Melinda to stand up so she could hear that she is safe. We were then treated to the four classical voices that come together to form IL Divo. They sang the wonderful love theme from West Side Story, Somewhere. Blake was then asked to stand and hear that he is also safe.

Season Four Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, then demonstrated why she is wearing the crown and Gina Glocksen isn't. Carrie performed a heartwarming rendition of The Pretender's I'll Stand By You for a poverty stricken, yet appreciative audience in Africa. Go download the song and all the proceeds will contribute to the charity. It will make an incredible addition toward completing your Carrie Underwood collection. Rascal Flatts sang something boring afterward that also demonstrated why they aren't wearing the crown either.

For some reason Phil is safe again (maybe the shocking outcome will be Ryan taking it back and sending him home?) Let's just compare for a minute now. Josh Groban performed his poetic anthem You Raise Me Up. Josh has a truly suberb vocal gift and Phil doesn't even come close. I'm just sayin...

Where has Season One Miss American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, been lately. Her second album, Breakaway, had a huge amount of hits on it, but we have to keep waiting til this summer to get her third album. To tide us over while we're waiting she made a very rare return to the American Idol stage to give a rousing interpretation of Up To The Mountain along with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck.

Ryan then asked LaKisha to stand up and hear that she is safe. We were then taken back to 1968 when Elvis had a hit with If I Can Dream. In a bizarre feat of technical video wizardry, it was made to appear that Celine Dion was actually sharing the stage with the King of Rock and roll and performing a duet of this uplifting ballad. It was kinda weird, but it just goes to show that nowadays, anything is possible.

Bridge Over Troubled Water is truly one of the greatest inspirational songs of all time. Simon & Garfunkel took it to #1 for 6 weeks in 1970. That year it won the Grammy for Record of The Year. Season Two Miss American Idol First Runner Up, Clay Aiken stole the show during his final face-off with Ruben with his powerful performance of the song and tonight Annie Lennox did her best to do the song justice.

There are only two finalists left waiting to hear their fate, Chris and Jordin. Ryan revealed that Chris is safe. How could it be that the amazing Jordin is the lowest vote getter and is going home?! Well, she's not. Ryan informed the world that she is safe because no one is going home this week. He explained that all of the votes cast this week will be added to votes cast next week. After the totals from both weeks are added together next week, the lowest TWO (2) vote getters will be going home!

Is that really shocking? No, I don't think so, but the thought of getting rid of both Phil and Chris at the same time next week is kind of invigorating. It will be extra special fun to vote for Blake, Jordin, Melinda and LaKisha next week. :)

The Top 6 with Inspiration

The night that American Idol Gives Back is finally here. Ryan has talked about it for weeks when every call you make to vote for your favorite finalist will turn into a donation to fight poverty world wide. To go along with the charitable theme of the evening, the top 6 were instructed to pick an inspirational song to perform tonight.

Chris Richardson decided to sing the song that swept the Grammy Awards in 1996, Eric Clapton's Change The World. It won both Record and Song of The Year and hit the top 5 on the charts. This is an understated ballad with wonderful lyrics. Eric Clapton conveyed the power of the song with the kind of subtlety and style that comes with maturity and life experience. We learned last week that Chris is not a storyteller who can grasp the substance in every word. He tried too hard with this attempt and went for power instead of inspiration. Sadly, his voice isn't good for power either.

It looks like Melinda Doolittle decided to take the week off. She has already proven herself as an extremely talented vocal dynamo and last week she freshened up her look with a fun and sassy hair-do. Apparently, she feels she's already won the Miss American Idol crown so she can just phone it in from now on. She chose a minor hit from 2001, Faith Hill's There Will Come A Day. Melinda knows she has a better voice than Faith, so improving on the original was an easy task. She didn't even try to raise the stakes beyond that.

Week after week Blake Lewis has shown us that he is a very talented young man. His voice is a wonderfully smooth tenor. He has the look and the vibe that is hip and cool. He glides across the stage with confidence dancing perfectly to the rhythm. In fact, he has so much rhythm that it can't be contained so it bursts out of him in the form of syncopated beat box percussion. But tonight, Blake sat center stage and let the song and the inspirational lyrics take all the focus. Every fluid syllable was filled with the sincere integrity that only a true story teller can communicate. It brought tears to your eyes to absorb Imagine (John Lennon #3 in 1971) as it resonated from Blake's lips.

Season Three Miss American Idol, Fantasia, took I Believe to #1 in 2004. Last week LaKisha Jones performed a song made famous by another Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, so her selection of Fantasia is clearly her statement to the world, "ANYTHING THEY CAN DO, I CAN DO BETTER!" LaKisha looked great on stage and I applaud her bold choices. She sounded very good as well. I'm not sure if I'm convinced that she has the undeniable winning star quality that Fantasia and Carrie have, but I'm glad we get to see her try every week.

Phil Stacey has been taking the week off from the beginning. He hasn't proven himself vocally, he hasn't freshened up his look, he's been in the bottom three every week and yet he's still here. He chose a very drab song by Garth Brooks and made it sound even more drab. Even his loud screaming notes sounded drab when he was supposedly going for passionate inspiration.

The only hit version of You'll Never Walk Alone was in 1964 when Patti Labelle took it to #34. It's from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel and Jordin Sparks made it sound hip and cool for a new generation. To do this song right, one must have exceptional vocal abilities and Jordin showed hers off like she could easily take the crown away from anyone who thinks they already have it. She makes it look easy as she simply opens her mouth and the beautiful tones just flutter out on the wings of butterfies. She provided a truly inspirational final performance for the evening.

I said it last week and I've been given no reason not to say it again. It's a no-brainer that Phil and Chris should be the lowest vote getters. It's a tough call regarding who should go home first, since I don't think either one of them is worthy to be in the top 5. If we get a bottom three this week, I fear that LaKisha could be there with the bad boys. It would be a crime for either Blake or Jordin to be low vote getters so I won't even mention the possibility of that happening. My prediction is that LaKisha, Phil and Chris will be the bottom three and Chris will be going home.

The Results - Martina McBride

The Lucky 7 finalists gathered on stage to perform a campfire sing-along that Jo Dee Messina released in 1998. It's called I'm Alright, but we know one of these finalists isn't going to be alright by the end of the hour. Yes, that's right, another hour long results show. Until the decision is revealed, they fumbled their way through this country ditty. Since once again, Blake is the only one who can dance, they sang the whole song while sitting in chairs. It wasn't very interesting.

Fergie was invited to fill some of the hour to perform her latest single. After spending the last five years as the front-woman for the Black Eyed Peas, she released her first solo album in 2006 and made it a huge success. Both London Bridge and Glamorous hit #1 on the chart while Fergalicious stalled at #2. The song she performed tonight is likely to be just as big. This time it was a rare solo vocal performance for her with no rap collaboration. She showed off some unexpected singing talent in honor of being on the American Idol stage, I guess.

Now to the results. Ryan split the finalists into two groups. One is the highest vote-getters and the other is the bottom three.

Group One:

Sanjaya
LaKisha
Blake

Group Two:

Chris
Jordin
Phil

Ryan left Melinda out and told her that she is safe. He then pressured her to choose which group she thought was the top vote getters and go join them. Melinda sat and the floor and refused to make a choice. Ryan gave in and revealed that Group Two is safe. Turns out tonight was the night for the BIG Surprise. Two of the best finalists have ended up in the bottom three. Blake and LaKisha are facing elimination along with Sanjaya.

Martina McBride just released a new album last week and she performed the lovely vocal showcase Anyway. Martina is a very classy and talented artist and she demonstrated that with her subtle and tasteful interpretation. While her voice is wonderful and soothing, it was still hard to sit through the song while my stomach was tied in knots worried about Blake and LaKisha, though.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Ryan allowed Blake to go back to safety. Then there was poor LaKisha stuck standing next to Sanjaya waiting for Ryan to reveal the news. And it was GREAT news! LaKisha is coming back next week and Sanjaya is FINALLY going home. He weeped a few tears from his allegedly beautiful eyes and butchered Something To Talk About for the last time. He tried to be funny and changed the lyrics to "let's talk about something other than hair", but we were too busy rejoicing to see the humor.

This week the bottom three should have been a no-brainer, but music fans have to pick up the phone and actually vote. I only got one of my predictions right. Thankfully it was the most important one. I correctly predicted that Sanjaya would be in the bottom three and that he would be going home. I have no idea why people are still calling in for Phil and Chris. Both of them have stumbled through the competition so far and have failed to impress. So this week must be a wake-up call and motivate people to keep Blake and LaKisha in the running. I think this could be one of the best final four American Idol has ever produced if we are left with Blake, LaKisha, Jordin and Melinda. Can't wait to see what happens next....

Martina McBride and the top 7

Season Four Miss American Idol, Carrie Underwood, was the big winner at the CMT Awards this week. Carrie would have been the perfect mentor for the finalists as they face the challange of singing Country music tonight. Apparently, she wasn't available, but the alternative, Martina McBride, is also a perfectly accomplished artist to work with them and give competant guidance.

Phil Stacey started out the evening with Keith Urban's Where The Blacktop Ends. This song has a good beat and even when it is paired with Phil's droning voice, the performance managed to keep the audience awake. He ran around the stage a lot more than usual, so there was more energy, but it didn't necessarily showcase enough vibrant stage presence which he is still sorely lacking.

Martina really has one of the best sets of vocal pipes in the industry, so if someone is going to cover one of her songs, she had better be good. We have already seen in the past few weeks that Jordin Sparks is much more than just good. She is a gifted young lady who is bright shining light, so it is no surprise that her interpretation of McBride's Broken Wings was simply stellar.

Bonnie Raitt had her only top 5 hit with Something To Talk About in 1991. Sanjaya Malakar's vocals were absolutely nothing to talk about. They are usually a scratchy whisper and his big notes are wretched screams. This boy knows the only thing we are talking about is his hair, so he tied up his poofy curls in a big red bandana, but there was no distracting from the weak voice this time around.

LaKisha Jones made a wonderful selection in what could have been a very difficult genre for her. Carrie Underwood released Jesus Take The Wheel as her first single in 2005 and she has since become a superstar. It's a song with a special lyrical connection for a single mom, and LaKisha was able to tell the story and sound sincere and powerful.

Great country artists are accomplished story tellers who connect emotionally with the audience. There is no chance that Chris Richardson is going to be a great country artist. He sang Rascal Flatts' Mayberry with his unimpressive voice and he couldn't rely on any attempts to connect through his usual tactics. There was no room for late 90's boy band dance moves, so he was just out of luck.

First of all, Melinda Doolittle, has never looked better that she did tonight. She wore her hair long and relaxed and it made her look more youthful than she has in the entire competition. On top of looking fabulous, she also selected the perfect toe tapper to compliment her great voice. Julie Reeves had a minor hit in 1999 with Trouble Is A Woman, and Melinda could rejuninate this song and bring it all the way to the top of the charts.

Tim McGraw is one of my favorite artists and in 2006 he had a hit with When The Stars Go Blue. Tonight we found out what happens when one of Tim's songs goes Blake. It gives me chills in a totally good way! Blake Lewis stays true to himself while perfectly adapting to the theme each week. He sang this tender ballad and effortlessly hit every note shifting seamlessly from his smooth tenor to a thoroughly dreamy falsetto. You could close your eyes and let yourself drift away, but then you'd be cheating yourself from seeing Blake float across the stage. When the stars go blue, Blake becomes a STAR!

My prediction for the bottom three seems like a total no-brainer this week. How could it not be Phil, Sanjaya and Chris? The other four finalists are exceptionally good, while they are blatantly not in their league. Watch this apparent no-brainer turn into the week of the big SURPRISE elimination! I hope I am right when I predict that this is the week America decides that they are finally ready for Sanjaya to go home.

The Results - J-Lo

From 1999 to 2003 Jennifer Lopez managed to hit #1 four times with these recordings: If You Had My Love, I'm Real, Ain't It Funny and All I Have. These were all pop/R&B hits with rap collaborations. What's funny is that the folks at American Idol thought that J-Lo would be able to mentor the finalists regarding la musica latina even though she's never had a latin hit. For the first time in her career Jennifer has released a Spanish-language album just last week so apparently she's here this week to establish her credibility as a Latin artist.

Unlike J-Lo, Enrique Iglesias has had numerous latin hits and latin-flavored pop hits including Bailamos, that spent 2 weeks at #1 in 1999. All 8 finalists gathered on stage to perform esta cancion, but for the most part, they still haven't mastered this style of music. With Blake being the only contestant with any rhythm to speak of, the group as a whole looked rather stiff and clumsy as they attempted to sing a song about dancing.

With a full hour to fill there was plenty of time for more performances including Akon and his song that is currently #1 for it's second week, Don't Matter. Akon was actually on the results show a couple of weeks ago when he performed Sweet Escape with Gwen Stefani. As a result of that high profile performance the song leaped all the way back up to #2 on the charts. So 2007 is turning out to be the year of Akon as he is holding the #1 and #2 positions on the charts.

Finally it came time for the results. Once again, Phil was called center stage in the bottom three. LaKisha, Jordin and Melinda were all safe. Haley was the first to join Phil center stage. Blake was also safe leaving Sanjaya and Chris to potentially be one of the lowest vote getters. Turns out the bottom three is Phil, Haley and Chris. But he wasn't there for long as Chris was immediately informed that he can go back to safety.

Phil and Haley had to wait while Jennifer Lopez performed her latest single, Que Hiciste. What can I say? It was a blatant attempt at Latina credibility. Hopefully this promotional appearance will do its job and ignite some life into this energetic spanish language dance song. One thing is for sure, it won't happen based on her vocal abilities alone.

Once again, Phil has taken up space in the bottom three and once again he has survived to come back for another week. Although she is sweet, sincere and genuine, Haley Scarnato just didn't have enough to garner any more votes. She performed Turn The Beat Around one more time with all the enthusiasm and energy we have come to expect.

This week I correctly predicted all three of the bottom three. Thankfully there were none of the surprises that I feared, but LaKisha and Melinda will hopefully not become complacent. The only thing I couldn't predict correctly was how many lives Phil Stacey has. Week after week he yawns his way through the show and the people still keep voting for him. Will being in the final 7 continue his lucky streak?

The top 8 and J-Lo

Tonight the finalists had to stick to the theme of La Musica Latina. Unfortunately, they only guidance they got was from non-singer, Jennifer Lopez. Yes, she is a hit-making recording artist, but that doesn't mean she's a singer. So, in reality, left to their own devices, here's how it played out:

Melinda Doolittle had a tough challange ahead of her tonight. Every week she has proven her ability to sing better than the rest, but she has not been able to showcase any youthful energy. She styled her hair differently and wore a slinky off the shoulder number, but she couldn't hide that it was still her same old self. The latin rhythms barely got a shimmy out of her. Melinda sounds great - her recordings will be in high demand. Her live performances - not so much.

Conga introduced the pop world to Gloria Estefan and their first taste of the Miami Sound Machine in 1985. LaKisha Jones has been in the same zone as Melinda for the whole competition - Great voice, bland showmanship. This latin-flavored dance jam was a step in the right direction for LaKisha, but her discomfort was clear from the start. She did her best to dance and take command of the stage, but it fell somewhat flat. And vocally, this song didn't really allow her to do what she does best.

Santana had a huge comeback in 1999 when he teamed with Rob Thomas on the Grammy Award winning Record Of The Year, Smooth. The song spent an amazing 12 weeks at #1 and it is way too much for Chris Richardson to handle. The only thing this kid has going for him is his cute boy band charisma, but he just doesn't have enough to make any significant impact. His vocals were weaker than usual and his moves were not impressive.

No little black dress tonight. Instead, Haley Scarnato wore little black hot pants as she strutted her stuff through Turn The Beat Around. In 1976 Vickie Sue Robinson heated up dance floors with this syncopated disco anthem. Gloria Estefan loved it so much she made a hit out of it again in 1994. I am going to continue to give Haley an A for effort as she has more showmanship than Melinda, LaKisha and Phil combined. She works the crowd joyously as she moves comfortably around the stage in high heels. She also rose to the challange of this lyrically difficult song very well.

Santana continued his huge comeback through 2000 by spending 10 weeks at #1 with Maria Maria. This is a throwaway song that should not have been such a big hit. While Santana had the momentum of multiple Grammy wins to catapult the song to success, Phil Stacey has only one bland performance after another. He had nothing to give his boring rendition a push. It was just the same old Phil failing to captivate.

Yet another selection from the Gloria Estefan catalog was performed by Jordin Sparks. This time it was the top 5 jam Rhythm Is Gonna Get You. Jordin has once again demonstarted that she is the top female vocalist remaining in the Idol competition. She eased her way around every inch of the stage while projecting her sensational vocals to each member of the audience. She also interpretted the song with a fresh arrangement and completely appropriate ad-libs that thoroughly entertained.

And then we come to the top male vocalist remaining, Blake Lewis. Tonight was a breeze for him as he is the only finalist gifted with any natural sense of rhythm. He selected the huge hit from Marc Anthony (current husband of Ms. Lopez) I Need To Know that hit #3 in 1999. Blake's voice is simply a refreshing breath of fresh air and it is only made better as he combines it with his fabulous fancy footwork. He floated above all the others with this exceptional improvement on Marc's original version.

Tonight the only gimmick was the fact that he decided not to shave for a week. Sanjaya Malakar sat center stage and softly "sang" Besame Mucho with a narrow little caterpiller resting on his upper lip. His hair was permed and looking a little shorter than last week. He gazed into the camera in his blatant attempt to beg for sympathy votes. His voice is still the paper thin whisper it has been since day one. Nothing to write home about.

This week many of the finalists were taken out of their comfort zone and it could lead to quite a shake-up as the bottom three are called center stage. Blake and Jordin should once again be able to comfortably sit in safety, but the fate of everyone else is up in the air. Melinda and LaKisha showed their weaknesses, while Chris and Phil showed they are not capable of getting any better. I'm hoping that their weaknesses are not enough to put them in the bottom three, so my prediction is that Phil, Chris and Haley will be called center stage and Phil will finally get sent home.

The Results - Tony Bennett

There was no special performance by Tony Bennett. The final 9 did not do a fun medley of great songs. It was all about the results. Ryan separated the contestants into three groups of three.

Group 1.

Melinda
LaKisha
Jordin

Group 2.

Blake
Chris
Sanjaya

Group 3.

Haley
Gina
Phil

Turns out both groups 1 and 2 were safe and in the clear, while one of group 3 - Haley, Gina or Phil - will be going home. They weren't going to hear their fate until Ryan explained why Tony wasn't here to sing for the fans. He was scheduled to croon a hip tune, but he ended up coming down with the flu. In his place, the young man who is successfully keeping Tony's classic style of music alive and well for music buyers, Michael Buble performed a song from his new album coming out next month.

Phil then found out, after being one of the lowest vote getters 3 out of 4 weeks, that he is once again safe and coming back to bore us again. That left Gina and Haley wondering. Of course, it wasn't for long - Haley will get to pull out her next little dress of a different color when she performs and shows off her legs next week. Gina, meanwhile, has shown us her last fashion disaster.

Once again, I was only able to correctly predict 2 out of 3. I knew it was going to be close between Phil and Gina, but ended up tipping the scales in the wrong direction. Can't wait to see what next week brings us....

Tony Bennett mentors the Top 9

Who is 80 years old and still releasing multi-platinum #1 albums? It can only be Tony Bennett. This legendary crooner worked with each finalist all week as they selected music from the Great American Songbook.

Blake Lewis chose to interpret the greatest of the great. In 1959 Bobby Darin spent 9 jazzy weeks at the top of the charts with Mack The Knife and Blake did what he does best. He breezed across the stage in a snappy coat and tie and he introduced this classic to a new generation. This is a very challanging song lyrically, but young Mr. Lewis sang every last syllable to perfection. He is an all-around performer who glides across the stage and completely shines in the spotlight.

As if he wasn't boring enough last week, Phil Stacey attempted to lower the bar even further with his vocally drab rendition of the Cole Porter gem, Night and Day. Phil always manages to sound like he's yawning in the middle of everything he sings. He simply brings no personality to his performances and that's what happened again tonight.

George and Ira Gershwin wrote I Got Rhythm in 1930 for the musical Girl Crazy starring Ginger Rogers. Melinda Doolittle selected this timeless classic and, as usual, she gave us a flawless vocalization. I will forgive her this week for conforming to the theme and appearing years older than she is. There was no need for her to freshen things up this week, but I will be overjoyed if in the coming weeks she can find her youthful vibe from within.

He must have walked right out of Justin Timberlake's closet and stole one of his outfits. The problem for Chris Richardson is that he can copy the boy band looks and moves all he wants, but he's just not good enough all around. His vocals are kinda weak and his dance moves are kinda bland. He brought nothing special to his version of Don't Get Around Much Anymore.

The first female finalist of the season to attempt a Barbra Streisand song is the youngest - Jordin Sparks. Barbra has the best vocal instrument in the history of music and Jordin was a natural with her fluid interpretation of On A Clear Day. Ms Sparks made it look easy and I would bet that even Ms. Sreisand would have been impressed. This young lady is raising the bar each week and continuing to get better and better.

The image overhaul from rocker chick to classy songstress was a failure for Gina Glocksen. While the look was a mess, she's lucky that the vocals were pretty good. Charlie Chaplin's Smile has been recorded by numerous artists and her rendition was mostly forgettable. Being pretty good just isn't good enough.

In another feeble attempt at being classy, Sanjaya Malakar abandoned the mohawk and styled his hair in the most flat and tame look he possibly could. It was parted on the side and tucked neatly behind his ears. He claimed he wanted to show the audience that he can really sing, but all he served us was a thin whisper throughout Dancing Cheek to Cheek. He has no confidence in his vocal talent so all he provides is gimmicks.

Haley Scarnato traded in the little black dress from last week for a little green sequined number this week. She played the full-fledged vamping vixen as she showed off her shapely legs for the camera. The vocals in her sultry version of Ain't Misbehavin' were quite capable showing she's more than just a pretty face. Once again, an honest attempt to show that she's the whole package.

There should be no Stormy Weather in the near future for LaKisha Jones. She stood center stage in a glamorous long gown and belted out this dramatic little number with ease. She look confident and sounded great. With LaKisha, it's all about the voice. She doesn't have the moves or the age-defying style and so far in the competition she hasn't needed it. The voice should carry her pretty far...

At this point in the competition we are starting to see which finalists are truly capable of rising to the occasion. Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks have clearly risen to the top. Melinda and LaKisha started out great and are, unfortunately, stagnating. Haley didn't start out as a front-runner, but she is genuinely working hard each week. My prediction for this week's bottom three includes the finalists who weren't that good from the beginning and aren't getting any better: Phil Stacey, Gina Glocksen and Chris Richardson. It was a neck and neck race between Phil and Gina for who could be the sleepiest singer and I think this will be the final snooze that will send Phil home.

The Results - Gwen Stefani

Ryan proved that this season is all about Sanjaya's hair when he walked on stage wearing a wacky mohawk wig. Whatever.

He took off the wig and started the roll call. Blake and LaKisha were the first to be named safe. Then Phil was the first to be called center stage in the bottom three. Melinda, Chris Richardson, Jordin, and, believe it or not, Sanjaya are all safe and coming back next week. Haley was then asked to join Phil center stage. That just leaves Chris Sligh and Gina waiting and wondering their fate.

Unlike the previous legendary recording artists who guided and coached the finalists, Gwen Stefani is a current hit making chart topper. It's already a shoo-in for one of the top ten best singles from this year, and Gwen performed this hit The Sweet Escape. It's still in the top 10 this week after peaking at #3 just a few weeks ago. She showed the crowd a sample of what she will be doing on tour this spring and summer. And even though she's in her late 30's (much older than all of the finalists) she showed them how to appear fresh and contemporary on stage.

Turns out Chris Sligh was asked to join Phil and Haley. But Phil wasn't there for long as he was sent back to safety. That left Haley and Chris Sligh to wonder what the future holds. Haley gets to come back next week and Chris got one last chance to make some magic on the American Idol stage. Too bad he had to perform Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and just like last night, it wasn't.

So this week I got two out of three of my predictions right. Chris Richardson's fan club came through and saved him from being in the bottom again. I guess Chris Sligh should have tried to do something different with his own clown wig every week. Who knows, it could have kept him in the game longer....

The top 10 with Gwen

In 1996 No Doubt had their first impact on the charts. Lead singer, Gwen Stefani and the boys brought a fresh sound of musical fusion to the airwaves. They were influenced by punk, reggae, pop and dance music. All week the top 10 finalists were challanged by the experienced input from Gwen and her ecclectic point of view.

LaKisha Jones reached back to the disco/dance influence in No Doubt and selected the Oscar winner from 1978 for Best Original Song, Last Dance by Donna Summer. It peaked at #3 on the charts and this was a perfect match for her look, sound and style. LaKisha has a long career ahead of her as a dance diva if she wants it. It was energetic, fun and got the show off to a great start.

It was 1981 when The Police also peaked at #3 with Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. With Chris Sligh trying to handle lead vocals instead of Sting, his voice had better shine. Unfortunately for him, the vocals were not magic. Niether his voice nor his looks are as captivating as Sting's and it was a lost cause from the start. Every little thing he did was wrong, especially the complete lack of rhythm.

The last chart success for The Pretenders came in 1994 when they hit the top 20 with I'll Stand By You. This week Gina Glocksen wisely chose this song which allowed her to actually sing some lyrics and show she can carry a tune. She's very lucky she had this opportunity to come back after the mess she made last week. She even picked a cute goth ensamble that made her into the complete package - --- - for a change.

Mockery. That's what Sanjaya Malakar is making of this season. He's thoroughly embraced his role as a cartoon character, at least when it comes to his appearance. People tune in to see what he's gonna do with his long locks and he did not disappoint - it was a train wreck of pony-tails along the top of his head creating the look of a mohawk. Who cares what he sings or even if he sings. Clearly he paid more attention to his appearance than his tepid effort at the obscure album track Bath Water by No Doubt. He was too busy mugging for the camera to actually provide a worthy vocal.

Haley Scarnato, on the other hand, is really trying hard to prove that this is a singing competition and that she belongs here. While she still has a back-up plan by wearing a little black dress that shows off her other assets, she selected Cyndi Lauper's second #1 smash from 1986, True Colors. It's a tender, emotional ballad that is quite simple, but just in case you were missing the point, Haley belted out a few big notes to wake you up. It ended up being a little over the top and unnecessary, but it was a sincere effort.

If you're not Sting, it should just be a rule of thumb that you should not try to sing a Police song. Every Breath You Take was a huge mega hit in 1983 spending 8 weeks at #1. The reality is that this is one of the most boring songs of all time and it was only a hit because of Sting and his charisma. Phil Stacey has absolutely none of that dynamic charisma. His rendition was simply boring.

Look out LaKisha! Melinda Doolittle has her eyes on the queen of disco dance diva crown too. Melinda selected the #4 dance floor jam from 1979, Heaven Knows, that is also by Donna Summer. We already know Melinda has the wonderful voice that can belt out all the big notes with drama and power. That's exactly what she did, but even this uptempo anthem didn't help her appear any younger or more contemporary.

Throughout the 80's, The Cure were always considered the perfect alternative act and then they blew their image by having a huge chart smash in 1989 that peaked at #2 with Love Song. And it was exactly the song to make us love Blake Lewis even more. There was no injection of the beat box this time around. Just a dreamy, fluid vocalization that wrapped around the audience as it hypnotized and entranced. (sigh)

Jordin Sparks has raised her own bar each week with stunning vocal performances. Tonight she decided to lighten up a bit and perform a song that No Doubt took to #5 in 2002, Hey Baby. It's easily one of the best pop songs from that year, but it is definitely not a vocal showcase. Jordin had to let the back-up singers perform the hook while she just danced around like a 17 year old. The good thing for her is that it worked.

No Doubt had the biggest radio airplay smash hit of 1996 with Don't Speak. Chris Richardson had to hope that the familiarity that audience has with this song was going to keep him alive in the competition. Gwen Stefani has a unique personal style that she exudes while performing and Chris simply doesn't come close. Also, no one ever said that Gwen has the best voice in the world, but she sure sounds better than what Chris did to the song. His boy band vocal effort was a wreck.

Predicting the bottom three this season might as well be like dropping a quarter in a slot machine. Who knows who's actually calling in and voting. Hopefully the talented performers are getting votes and finalists like Chris Sligh, Chris Richardson, Sanjaya Malakar and Phil Stacey are failing to connect with viewers. All four of them were seriously lacking tonight. But since only three will be in the bottom, I predict it will be Chris, Chris and Phil. Chris Richardson will be going home and people just can't wait to see what Sanjaya is gonna do with his hair next week.