Over 16,528,366 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
The Semifinals - Simon Picks- A Fight
Jordin Sparks emerged Tuesday as a true contender for the "American Idol" top prize, turning in three solid performances during the show in which each contestant sang one song picked by one of the judges, one song chosen by the producers, and one number of the singer's choice.
In a night when most of the judges' comments were positive, Simon Cowell was even more of a boor than usual when it came to Sparks. He criticized her performance of Rose Royce's "Wishing on a Star," even though he picked that song for her!
And after Sparks' third number, a powerful rendition of the Lieber/Stoller classic "I (Who Have Nothing)," Cowell groused that he hated the fact that a 17-year old was singing "a 60-year old song."
First of all, the song isn't that old. "I (Who Have Nothing)" written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, was originally recorded by Ben E. King in 1963, and has been notably covered by Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Petula Clark and many others.
Second, it's patently unfair for Cowell to use Sparks' youth against her, again. He did the same thing last week, when he said Sparks was too young to sing "Woman in Love," the Barry Gibb tune made famous by Barbra Streisand. In both cases, the strength of Sparks' performances and the reactions of the audience and fellow judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson argue against Cowell's position.
Donny Osmond was 13 when he hit the top of the charts with his 1971 cover of "Go Away Little Girl." Was it silly for him to sing that song? Absolutely. But you can't argue with success. Osmond succeeded then, and Jordin Sparks is succeeding now.
The biggest hurdle (heck, the only hurdle) Sparks has to clear is Melinda Doolittle. To this observer, her performance of "I Believe in You and Me, " picked for her by Randy Jackson, was uncharacteristically restrained. The song was made famous like Whitney Houston, who shares Doolittle's gospel background and powerful pipes.. Still, Jackson said Doolittle "blew it out of the box," and the other judges agreed.
Doolittle rocked the house with a version of "Nutbush City Limits" that would do Tina Turner proud. For her own pick, like Sparks, Doolittle reprised a number she did in the Lieber/Stoller show: "I'm a Woman," to great effect.
As for Blake Lewis: Oh, my...
I'm sure we'll be hearing more from this young man in the future, but he just annoys me. The only criticism the judges gave his rendition of "Roxanne" was that Lewis didn't live up to Sting's standard. To me, he was simply singing in a different key than the band was playing.
Lewis' take on Maroon 5's "This Love" was more his style, and I liked it better. But when he started his beat-box scat routine to "When I Get You Alone" - Robin Thicke's hip-hop vocal based on the disco abomination "A Fifth of Beethoven" - it was a cultural meltdown.
The judges loved it. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
