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My name is Annie Hundley and I'm the editor here at valleynews.com. My blog will range from what's up with the site to life for a newbie in LA.

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Idol contestants make it or break it with country

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Contributed by: Annie Hundley / valleynews.com on 4/17/2007

American Idol's seven remaining contestants tackled country music this week, with surprisingly listenable results. The coach/mentor/star this week was Martina McBride.

Several contestants who always stand out - like Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis - continued to do so in country week. But for others the demands of country - both vocally and lyrically - revealed cracks in the weaker contestants.

But for one, country revealed a diamond in the rough.

That was Phil Stacey, who kicked off the show singing Where the Blacktop Ends by Keith Urban. Phil has been really struggling in recent weeks. His vocals have fallen behind the growth of the other contestants and Simon once accused him of resembling a funeral singer for his drawn, emotionless performances. But Phil came alive with country. After the song, Randy Jackson told Phil he'd found his niche, saying that as a record producer he'd sign him for a country album. "That's what I want to do," Phil said with a big smile.

Jordin Sparks was phenomenal singing the Martina McBride song Broken Wing. Jordin's vocals were flawless and, considering the song's message, she showed an impressive level of understanding and maturity at age 17. Simon rendered Jordin speechless with this comment: "This is the first time since we met, based on a performance, that I believe you can win American Idol."

Sanjaya Malakar continued the stinkfest that is his reign in American Idol by torturing the Bonnie Rait song Let's Give Them Somethin' to Talk About. Sanjaya was obviously giving a nod to the fact that he and his hair have become the show's most talked about features. But Randy had to keep it real. "Vocally, it wasn't good at all. What are we doing here?" Simon was even more blunt, calling the performance "utterly horrendous. It was as bad as anything we see at the beginning of American Idol."

LaKisha Jones sang a song by a former Idol, Carrie Underwood. LaKisha said she picked Jesus Take the Wheel because she connected with the sentiment based on her life as a single mom. But something didn't quite translate and LaKisha has suffered from the same problem she's had for too many weeks now - not coming across powerfully onstage. Simon said it was "like eating a hamburger for breakfast. It doesn't go together." He pleaded with LaKisha to go back to that place where she was making jaws drop, like she did early in the season singing a Jennifer Holiday song, And I Am Telling You.

Chris Richardson's performance of Mayberry by Rascal Flats was a little, ahem, flat this week. But Chris is from Virginia and I imagine with what happened at Virginia Tech the day before he was going through a lot emotionally. Simon was a bit harsher than he should have been considering the circumstances, calling the performance "tinny, nasally and nondescript. It was completely and utterly insignificant." Ouch.

Melinda rocked (again) singing the song Trouble is a Woman by Julie Reeves. The song was fun and really showed off Melinda's skills as a true performer. All the judges loved it, and Simon said the sassiness revealed a little bit of Tina Turner from Melinda.

Blake Lewis closed the show with When the Stars Go Blue by Tim McGraw. I recognized the song from a recording where Bono from U2 does the vocals, which made it a great vocal match for Blake. All the judges praised Blake, and Randy said, "I love that you know who you are."

So who will go home this week? Can we hope, dare we hope, that Sanjaya will actually get sent home this week? Heck, I'd be thrilled if he ended up in the bottom three. But if my dream won't come true, I'm afraid Phil could find himself in danger unless he just gained a whole lot of country fan votes. Besides that, it could be Chris who finds himself in danger.

For the record, I voted for Jordin and Blake.

Stay tuned...

< Previous: 'Farewell, Haley “Legs”...' | Next: 'Farewell Sanjaya' >

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Showing 1 of 1 comments

Submitted By: Robin Nolet

posted on 4/18/2007 @ 1:56:09 PM

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Did we ever know that Phil WANTED to be a country singer? I missed that info, but I agree, it's a great niche for him. I think country fans might even go for him without a hat, however, a black Stetson might be just the look Phil is searching for. I have fingers crossed that we'll be "talking about" Sanjaya finally going home! Great blog, Annie! http://denver.yourhub.com/My-Stuff.aspx?TabIndex=3

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Annie Hundley

Woodland Hills , CALIFORNIA

Annie Hundley has posted 65 blog entries and 19 comments since joining on 7/24/2006. Annie Hundley's average blog rating is 4.87.

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