Idolator

That sound you just heard was Clive Davis's minions breathing a huge sigh of relief.

I must confess I dropped to my knees in shock.

This honestly blew me away. I thought for sure Sparks would be saying goodbye given her lukewarm performances last night.

So funny - I was just telling my girlfriend that I wished Melinda would get Mark Ronson and the Dap-Kings on the phone RIGHT NOW!

I was initially flabbergasted, but now I am actually pretty happy. She'll be able to record something rather good instead of something completely disappointing.

conspiracy theory time - Idol show producers knew this was a weak talent pool based on weak audtions so they planted/ picked a too-old ringer to prop up the talent (when will Melinda's real age be known? when will the Idol votes ever be made public?) ... she was just along for the ride still very surprising she's out

i felt gutted. i don't think i can be bothered to watch next weeks finale. blake jut drives me insane with his tonality and blander than bland presentation, which apparently most find "inspired". i don't dislike the guy by any means, but seriously whenever he is on, all i can think about is changing the channel and watching something else like re-runs of chappelle show on comedy central or commercials on spike tv. jordin is ok, but needs a lot of work. i suppose that is what people want, a star they can mold and then dispose of when she has some inevitable moment of public drama.

it must be said that simon's expression was priceless. he looked as if someone had killed his child. personally, i think the votes swayed to blake and jordin for a reason... they knew he favored her and what better way to get at him than to vote his favorite off.

Did anyone notice at one point when going to commercial break Ryan said, "And later in the show, Maroon 5, and Melinda goes home." A more proper wording would've probably been "We travel to Melinda's hometown." The look on Melinda's face was priceless. Absolute shock and confusion. She took it the same way I did on first listen.

Oh wah, wah, wah...Melinda has a very nice voice and professional technique but she's boring as dirt, neither young nor old, neither beautiful nor ugly. In a week she'll be recording smooth jazz-backed gospel and no one who reads Idolator will ever hear about her again. At least Blake and Jordan are fun, and you can love them or hate them.

@On the Spot: OTM; I can't say I'm disappointed (read my over the top anti-Melinda comment in yesterday's Idol recap. No matter how many times Simon says this is a singing competition, and the best singer should win, that's not true. It's a pop star search. Blake and Jordin make better pop stars. End of story.

Ironic that Melinda was voted off on the week that "Shrek 3" is opening in theaters.

ever since sanjaya was eliminated, howard 100 news(howard stern's sirius news team) has been investigating american idol and it's shady voting procedures. this is what they wrote yesterday:

The Howard 100 News investigation into American Idol continues. FOX Television finally responds to mounting claims that American Idol could be fixed. After days of exclusive information reported from inside the hit show as part of an ongoing Howard 100 News investigation, a FOX TV spokesperson called reporter Steve Langford. After a few minutes of questioning from Howard 100 News, the reporter declined to speak further on the subject of American Idol. Plus, as part of the probe into Idol, Howard 100 News speaks to a telecommunications professional who says he helped develop the show's phone voting system. This expert claims American Idol decided to use cheap technology that allows producers to eliminate multiple votes coming from the same phone number. Our source claims that if these results were audited, they would not stand up to independent inspection. Also, another source inside Idol claims that it's already a done deal that the stars of the film Dreamgirls will reunite on the American Idol finale to sing live with expected winner Jordin Sparks.

i don't agree that melinda would have been a boring star. i feel she needed to bare herself a bit more. i mean really, if all the white trash parading around in the charts these days can be declared pop idols, she certainly has the potential to rise way above them. she needed to be nurtured in a chaka khan ala rufus or "i feel for you" period, or a shara nelson "safe from harm" "unfinished sympathy" period... maybe even a nicolette circa shut up and dance or veba with rae and christian. short sightedness is why there are less folks to idolize that are truly interesting and why what remains is bland one note vacuousness.

all of you who find melinda boring have obviously never seen amy winehouse live.

@maura:
Zing! I'd much rather watch (or listen to) Melinda than Winey.

That said, if Melinda had sung "Rehab" on the show, I would have been very happy.

It's not that shocking. It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to see that Tuesday's show left everyone thinking Melinda was safe, prompting them to focus their votes on Blake and Jordin. I don't think the fault is with the counting per se. The only way to get a more sensible result is to have people vote for the person they want removed, then you'd see the worst of them offed more quickly. You also wouldn't see better people going home because it's assumed that they're safe.

@spazandmojo: I'm not sure pastiche is the the best choice for Melinda. In terms of longevity. She has an unusual amount of control over her voice why not use it to do unusual things? Like what? I don't know, I'd never have predicted the stuff Bjork did with her voice until I had heard it. She could be the John Petrucci of pop singing (I'm being serious here).

@janine: agreed. i was just presenting some ideas really.

she actually made me think of chaka a lot for some reason, but with too much control. chaka just brings it, full on, where melinda just reigns it in too much. she should bring it diamanda/liz fraser style, in a totally uninihibited manner with sly intense control lurking just below.

@spazandmojo: As Randy would say, "That idea is hot, dog!"

@maura: I don't understand that logic. Just because someone else (not on the show and thus exempt from the vote) may be more boring doesn't make Melinda any more compelling. I don't even think it's about the performance, per se. She's just a dull personality.

@janine: LOL.

I suspect "heartthrob" Blake has thousands upon thousands of text-messaging 12-year-old girls to thank for his win.

So are we going to start making predictions? Not that I want to - I must say, I find the final incredibly hard to call now.

I've waxed and waned in my admiration/scorn for Blake and Jordin over the last few weeks, and in fact I'd say that my affection for one has been inversely proportional to that for the other. In short, when one's up, generally, the other one's down. I also see both talent and shortcomings in both of them - as singers, as song-judgers, as stage presences - in roughly equal measure.

Honestly, I think it's going to come down to who has the stronger night next week.

Which, by the way, is music to the ears of Fox. The elimination of Melinda - the preanointed frontrunner - gives the finale a major shot of ratings juice. Not that, y'know, the #1 show in the free world needs it...

Melinda was awful, awful television. I am thrilled that she is gone. I hate Blake, and don't really want him to win, but his victory might hopefully convince the producers that they need to introduce more modern, non-big-voice-diva sounding singers next year. Viva Blake, for now.

first of all, I'm just shocked to see a John Petrucci comment here! Secondly, I think melinda will have a solid R&B career and is too "pro" to be molded and paraded around as an idol puppet. I think blake is just waking up and pinching himself asking the same question asked by the Wonders; "how did we get here, man?".

I'm thinking Blake FTW, but I really think it's too close to call.

Nodding in agreement at the "Winehouse wishes she had the pipes, gravitas and soul of Melinda Doolittle" comments. She's Chaka, Aretha and Etta mixed with Peggy Lee. Which equals me actually buying her CDs and following her career.

Also with the eventuality of Jordin "Screeching Melisma" Sparks as the winner they'll try to mold into a Kelly or a Carrie for those of you wishing for a new empty-headed harpie to over-sing her way onto TRL.

Blake? He has Vote for the Worst to thank, along with those drooling pre-teens. Survey says: debut CD will flounder and he will greet Justin Guarini in Obsoletionville.