Thoughts on American Idol: Who's Your Daddy?

What's your name? Who's your daddy?

There are only a few shows that I get to watch religiously these days, given my studies and my work, both of which take so much of my entertainment time. "Few," in fact, would already be a vast exaggeration, as I fervently watch only 2: American Idol 6 and The Amazing Race All-Stars. These two programs have me in their grip. I cannot miss an episode, I cannot wait days to watch the replay, and most especially, I CANNOT BE SPOILERED. So if you guys are planning to send me a text message that contains who got booted out or who eventually won the race, please don't. If you do, I will personally reach into your gut and pull out your colon.


*fans hands towards face* HUH. Now that that's out of the way, here are my thoughts on this year's remaining contestants on American Idol. (Order matters, by the way. Personal faves are on top; hellraisers, bottom.)

1. Blake. My man Blake is my bet to win it all. While he may not be the best vocally, he is the person to beat in terms of charisma and style. He is such an appealing singer. He delivers something new week after week after week. After seasons of having winners that looked like they came from the same cookie jar (Fantasia excluded, but God, I really didn't like her), I'm now ready to root for someone different, someone preppy, someone contemporary. Blake, do me proud!

2. Melinda. Vocals: Unique. Controlled. Flawless. Technically, she is perfect in every way. The good thing about it is that she's not holding back; she really lets it loose during crunch time. This is truly an American Idol in the making. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I want a big-voiced black girl to win this one. I guess I'm just waiting for that one jawdropping performance from her (think Katharine McPhee's Somewhere Over the Rainbow). In any case, my bet among all the females.

3. Jordin. Amazing. After all that talk about not being able to like this girl, I'm placing her in third place. I guess, among all the others, she's the next best thing after Blake and Melinda. She's young and she's not old-fashioned. There's also something very refreshing about her when she sings. But then again, she's a big-voiced black girl. I'm really getting tired of all the belting. I know that you tough girls can sing... but what else? I wish she'd do something similar to her Hey Baby performance, but one without the awkward copycatting.

4. Chris R. It's funny how I'm basing my ranking on how different the singer is as compared to the previous American Idol winners. Uniqueness is not everything (vocals also matter, Sanjaya), but it is a big something. Take, for instance, Chris R. While I've grown increasingly irritated by the way his singing sounds when he's picking the wrong type of song, I know that, given the proper song choices, he's going to make it big. He can easily be packaged as a pop star, for one, and with the Justin Timberlake resemblance, it's definitely hard to miss.

5. Haley. Give me naughty, baby! =) With this girl, it's definitely all about the packaging. If she keeps up with the Britney-esque moves and the better-than-Britney-esque vocals, I might just root for her more than Chris R!

6. Lakisha. Among the three big-voiced black girls remaining in the competition, she's the one that least appeals to me. There's nothing quite special about her, except that she has excellent range and almost-perfect vocals. After that fact... eh. Nothing else. I mean, why can't we have a big-voiced white girl in the show for once, someone like Christina Aguilera? Or a small-voiced black girl, someone like Beyonce?

7. Phil. He lacks charisma. He has very good vocals, better than Blake even, but in this show, good vocals are just not good enough. You have to be sellable and unique. Unfortunately, Phil is neither of these two.

8. Sanjaya. I'm not yet at the point where I'm throwing furniture at my television just because he's still there. Why? Because I saw Clay's season. In that season, there is a girl named Carmen Rasmussen who is even worse off in singing than Sanjaya. She's like a goat, for crying out loud, and she made it all the way to Top 6. So basically, she's my benchmark for singers who shouldn't be in the Top 12 in the first place. Once Sanjaya breaches the Top 6 mark, the computer chair will be the first to go.

That's it for now. Thoughts on The Amazing Race, next!