Tonight’s American Idol will have Gwen Stefani serving as coach/inspiration for the remaining 10 hopefuls. But a thread on I Love Everything found a rumor from the Idol boards claiming that Sanjaya Malakar’s desire to sing a No Doubt song almost sent the whole thing off the rails:
“Sanjaya Malakar - He wanted to sing “Spoiler”. She tried to get him to sing some 80’s song. He said he was a big fan and he really wanted to do one of her songs. Gwen was upfront with him and told him she didn’t think he could pull it off but gave him the benefit of the doubt. Today after seeing how rehearsals were going, she didnt’ see any progress. She went to Nigel immediately and told him she does not want Sanjaya singing one of her songs whatsoever. Sanjaya didn’t have many options at that point. He kind of got stuck with “Spoiler”. This caused a big scene at the studio and was the talk all afternoon.”
In case you were racking your brain about which No Doubt B-side “Spoiler” might be, don’t–the Idol boards don’t post forthcoming song titles. But if you want to find out just how, exactly, Gwen’s going to be tortured this evening, after the jump, we have what reality rant claims is a partial list of songs for tonight. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t click.
Blake Lewis - “Love Song” by the Cure
Chris Richardson - “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt
Chris Sligh - “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by the Police
Gina Glocksen - Pretenders ballad
Haley Scarnato - “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper
Jordin Sparks - “Hey Baby” by No Doubt
Lakisha Jones - Donna Summers song
Melinda Doolittle - Donna Summers song
Phil Stacey - “Every Breath You Take” by the Police
Sanjaya Malakar - “Bathwater” by No Doubt
Well, at least Gwen can take heart in the fact that “Bathwater” probably won’t be the worst performance of the evening. After all, it’s pretty obvious that Blake is going to beatbox and mug his way through the 311 version of the Cure song, thus making us want to beatbox and mug our way out the nearest window.
UPDATE: Dlisted has a slightly different song order:
Blake Lewis - “Love Song” by the Cure
Chris Richardson - “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt
Chris Sligh - “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by the Police
Gina Glocksen - “Just Like a Pill” by Pink
Haley Scarnato - “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper
Jordin Sparks - “Hey Baby” by No Doubt
Lakisha Jones - “Love Has a Mind of Its Own” by Donna Summer
Melinda Doolittle - “Sunset People” by Donna Summer
Phil Stacey - “Every Breath You Take” by the Police
Sanjaya Malakar - “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5
Poor Maroon 5–after they got all that love today, this is the thanks they get?
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Looks like that Dlisted list is off–Lakisha did “Last Dance,” and Gina sang the rumored Pretenders ballad. But Sanjaya is up next! The plot thickens!
THE FINAL UPDATE: Oh, man.
Simon Cowell, the bloody awful teenage rebel: an American Idol 6 thread [I Love Everything]
american midol [reality rant]
So when people like Gwen perform/appear on Idol, they’re forced by their label, right? Or are they actually doing this because they want to?
as much as I hate Blake, I’m going to predict that Jordin Sparks (if she does perform Hey Baby) will be an absolute trainwreck.
Oh, and I guess Sanjaya singing “Just a Girl” would have been too obvious.
The Police, The Pretenders, a 311-ified Cure cover…apparently they couldn’t do a whole night of No Doubt songs, so the theme is now vaguely reggae-ish rock songs?
Uhm. Yeah. I’m totally watching tonight. Pretenders, Donna Summers and Cyndi Lauper? Can you imagine if Lakisha/Melinda does “I Feel Love”? Holy shit. Holy shit.
If this holds up and is actually true, I think Gina will B-O-M-B! She doesn’t have Chrissie Hynde’s vibrato, or anything even close to it.
And BMNW is right. Is “Hey Baby” the kind of song that even shows off any vocal ability at all?
And why do Melinda and KiKi have to sing Donna Summer songs? Know your voice and pick the right song, sure… I get it. But they’re going to have to sing outside of their comfort zones eventually.
I may actually mute my tv when Phil sings “Every Breath You Take” too. I’ll have to rely on someone else to tell me how awful it was, because I don’t think I can stomach hearing it.
@brasstax: that was exactly my thinking on Jordin. From my recollection of the song, most of it is little more than talking, and I think she’ll throw some runs in there somewhere trying to show off the uncalled for vocal range. I will respond by cringing so hard I pull a muscle
didnt gina already sing a pretenders song? that’s a bit “precious” (HAR!), don’t you think?
god could not make the new no doubt album come fast enough.
I’d think “Spiderwebs” or “Underneath It All” would be more vocal-friendly than “Bathwater” or “Hey Baby.” And you’re right. I’m listening to “Hey Baby” right now and she barely sings.
Wow! I hope MY second solo record doesn’t bomb…
^ DING DING DING!
@katie_a_princess: Nah that was the awkward dog walker. I’m kind of shocked that Gwen wasn’t more inspired by Love is a Battlefield.
I’ve been hearing that Gwen didn’t want him to sing Bathwater.
I hadn’t payed that much attention to the photo, but someone needs to help Gina with her posture, and Sanjaya’s kind of a dick for standing in front of Melinda and Lakisha like that.
You know, lost in all the Sanjaya shuffle was this terrifying question: How is the smoothed-out voice of Haley going to white out “True Colors”? That song is all about Cyndi Lauper’s vocal cragginess (for lack of a better word). Blech.
Probably the same way Roddy Frame did it when Aztec Camera covered True Colors. It didn’t turn out too bad.
I think Jordin singing “Hey Baby” is the tip-off that this list is fake. She’s been good about picking tunes that show off her vocal chops, and I don’t think “Hey Baby” even technically qualifies as a “song”.
Also, Gina’s smarter than to take on another ballad, and “Every Little Thing…” lacks the pseudo-religious subtext Sligh requires of his song choices.
But maybe Sligh reads Idolator!
does “She’s Not There” have a pseudo-religious subtext?
Also, Chris definitely reads the blogs, or has someone reading them for him. Chris, if you’re out there, say hello sometime!
She may not be there, but Christ always will be!
@Big Money, No Whammies: When those other Idol wannabes have 12-year-old girls crying over them, then they can bitch about photo placement.
@janine:
ugh, you’re right. i’m getting my rocker chicks mixed up. hey, do you remember when gwen was a rocker chick?
@maura:
“Ah cee yur truuuu [hack, cough, cough]
colors [squeak, hack] shining through! Ah cee [voice drops, cough] yur truuu [repeat...]…”
I have to say … I’ve kinda hated Gina so far, but that was surprisingly listenable.