Tomorrow night brings us week three of the American Idol finals, with Gwen Stefani (pictured) coaching the contestants as they perform pop songs. Based on Jessica Shaw’s exit interview with recently booted contestant Stephanie Edwards, the show’s producers are allowing for a pretty broad range of "pop" tunes; Stephanie was trying to choose among "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Prince (as recorded by Sinéad O’Connor), and "MacArthur Park" by Jimmy Webb (as recorded by Donna Summer).
Which has me wondering, if you were advising the contestants this week, which songs would you choose for them? Whitney Pastorek and I are dishing this topic on tomorrow morning’s Idolatry webcast, but I thought it was worth discussing on PopWatch as well. I’ll get the ball rolling, and you put your requests in the comments section below. LaKisha, are you listening?
Phil Stacey: Collective Soul’s "Shine"
Jordin Sparks: Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ "Maps"
Blake Lewis: George Michael’s "Freedom 90"
Melinda Doolittle: Tina Turner’s "River Deep, Mountain High"
Chris Richardson: Tom Petty’s "The Waiting"
LaKisha Jones: Britney Spears’ "Toxic"
Chris Sligh: the Bangles’ "If She Knew What She Wants"
Haley Scarnato: Bananarama’s "I Heard a Rumor"
Sanjaya Malakar: the Scorpions’ "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
Gina Glocksen: 4 Non Blondes’ "What’s Up"
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They should all sing songs by Fergie, K-Fed, Paris Hilton, and the Pussycat Dolls. It’s all the same crap anyway.
Did he just compare Fergie to the Pussycat Dolls. Oh dear – I smell a fight!
What you smell is probably your upper lip. Either that, or your complete lack of manhood.
All of the “artists” (using the word artist loosely there) that I listed above SUCK. They are all complete wastes of the airwaves, and American Idol does nothing but pump more sewage into that river.
But, no, I’m not looking for a fight. Just calling it as I see it, bro.
So this is what I wish I could see on Tuesday.
Phil Stacey: “Adam’s Song”- Blink 182
Jordin Sparks: “Goodbye to you” – Michelle Branch.
Blake Lewis: “Hung Up” by Madonna or he could do “American Life” with the rap.
Melinda Doolittle: “My lovin’ you aint never gonna get it” EnVogue. really something from the EnVogue catalogue… “Free your Mind” anyone?
Chris Richardson: “Take on Me” by A-HA.
LaKisha Jones: I want her lying down on a chaise singing… “sweet dreams” by The Eurhythmics
Chris Sligh: “99 Red Balloons” by Nena
Haley Scarnato: “Blue” by Joni Mitchell. cause songs are like tatoos.
Sanjaya Malakar: “Candy” by Mandy Moore.
Gina Glocksen: “Sunny Came Home” by Shawn Colvin.
Chris R: Burn (Usher)
Chris S: I Drove All Night (Roy Orbison)
Haley: I Will Love Again (Lara Fabian)
Sanjaya: Brown Skin (India Arie)
Gina: Fighter (Christina Aguilera)
Phil: If You Go (Jon Secada)
Jordin: I’m Not A Girl (Britney Spears)
Blake: Cry Me A River (Justin Timberlake)
Melinda: Vision Of Love (Mariah)
Lakisha: Let Her Cry (Hootie & Blowfish)
oh my god, that’s the funniset thing ever. sanjaya doing “brown skin”
And yet, RwC, you read the AI blog, post on the AI message board…even if you follow the show just to hate on it, that’s fine with them. That’s a victory for AI.
Just calling like I see it.
Bro.
Melinda Doolittle needs to dip into the Macy Gray songbook and sing either “I Try” or “Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak” (let’s try and see that one get by the censors).
Sure, I do. It’s fun watching the overly sensitive, effeminate men and bored, overweight secretaries get all riled up over something like bash their favorite show and contestant. They act like I did something REALLY bad like bunch their Mothers in the face or something. Comedy.
Look, I wish American Idol would go away. It won’t. It’s a juggernaut. So, to me, this is the next best thing. So, yay, victory for American Idol…like they needed it!
And, trust me, you don’t need to actually follow the show to make the junior high comments that I make…fatty.
Oops, sorry for the terrible grammar in that last post. I revised and then forgot to proof read. My English professors would be so disappointed…oh, dread!
I think what everyone REALLY wants to see is Sanjaya singing Prince’s “Erotic City”.
Or maybe LaKisha singing anything by David Allan Coe. Now THAT would be a hoot!
And Chris Sligh should sing “Grace Kelly” by Mika.
Slezak, are you going to list “Toxic” every year until someone sings it? (Though, I completely agreed about Daughtry singing it!)
First, AI needs to do a blanket ban on the following artists: Celene Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, George Michael. The citeria is just “singers who have been done to death on the show, and rarely very well.”
Some of your choices I would agree with…
Jordin Sparks: “Goodbye to you” – Michelle Branch.
Chris Richardson: “Take on Me” by A-HA.
LaKisha Jones: “Sweet Dreams” by The Eurhythmics.
My pics:
Phil Stacey: “Down on the Corner”- CCR. I liked his “Tobacco Road.”
Blake Lewis: “Rock It” by Herbie Hancock… all beatboxing, all the time.
Melinda Doolittle: “Starchild” by Teena Marie. Anything to break her from her comfort zone.
Chris Sligh: “Oh Sherry” by Steve Perry. Randy would love or hate it.
Haley Scarnato: “Say What You Want” by Texas.
Sanjaya Malakar: “It’s No Fun (Bein an Illegal Ali-un)” by Genesis. Not at all PC now, & Phil Collins should probably be on my list, but c’mon, it would be comedy gold.
Gina Glocksen: “Special” by Garbage.
What an idiot…..Attitudes like that are what it ruining this country. What makes you even think that he’s close to being an illegal alien. We know that his mother is a WHITE US born national. That should be enough for a redneck like you.
Oh, come on! Rick was JOKING! Jesus, you PC-types are SO uptight. Except, of course, when someone is making fun of white people. It’s not racist then.
And a moment of levity, people, what male redneck would actually watch American Idol? I hardly think Rick is a redneck.
Lighten up, people.
It’s a novelty song…. I did not call him anything, wasn’t inplying anything, just said I thought it would be funny if he sung that song.
Thanks Royale.. glad someone here has a sense of humor. The rest of the list was well thought out, and I SAID it wasn’t PC, but yeh, I thought it was funny.
And no, I am very much a fan of Sanjaya’s sister, and heck, even his mom is a hottie. I just don’t take him that seriously.
I whole-heartedly support Sanjaya singing the Genesis song on one condition:
He must be accompanied by a mariachi band and Ravi Shankar.
“It doesn’t count, man, it ain’t written in ink…”
Here’s my wish-list for tomorrow night… hopefully they will make smart decisions when it comes to finding the right song.
ChrisS – King of Wishful Thinking (Go West)
ChrisR – If You’re Not the One (Daniel Bedingfield)
Haley – These Dreams (Heart)
Jordan – I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me (Expose)
Gina – Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)
Sanjaya – Everyday is Winding Road (Sheryl Crow)
Lakisha – What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Tina Turner)
Melinda – From a Distance (Bette Midler
Blake – Dirty POP (N*SYNC)
Phil – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (WHAM!)
Phil- “The Stroke”, Billy Squire
Blake- “Stop me (if you think you’ve heard this one before)”- The Smiths
Gina-”Joey”- Concrete Blonde or “What’s up”- Four Non- Blondes” “Gloria (Patti Smith’s version)”- Van Morisson
Jordin- “Joey”-Concrete Blonde, “Mickey”-Toni Bazil
Chris S.- “So Happy Together”- Turtles, “I’m a Man”- Spencer Davis Group
Chris R.- “You and I Both Loved” Jason Mraz,
LaKisha- “Aint Nobody”-Rufus
Since she looks like a pint sized Donna Summer…Melinda- “Dim all the lights”
Haley- “These are the days”, or “Trouble me”- 10,000 Maniacs
Sanjaya- “Na, na, hey, hey, kiss him goodbye”-Steam
Is Gwen going to teach them how to use product placement in their videos? Because Sanjaya has such pearly whites, he should definitely hock Glisten.
Rick, you are too funny. lol!
Please, anything but “MacArthur Park”
slezak, I love Mountain High, River Deep, but I think Jordin would ROCK it. and I would love to see her TEAR IT UP!
Unless Sanjaya wants to sing it… That would be goo.
Sorry. I meant good. It would be good if Sanjaya sang “MacArthur Park”. Sheesh. I’ll stop now.
“Brown skin, you know I love your brown skin. You make me want to Hershey kiss your licorice” – Golden for Sanjaya!
LOVE IT!
Phil NEEDS to sing BROKEN WINGS and Melinda NEEDS to sing I’LL BE YOUR SHELTER!
And if Lakisha sings Whitney – I’m voting her OUT!
LaKisha needs to sing “I’m Fat” by Weird Al or “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” by the Charlie Daniels Band.
This show is gonna be a real mixed bag, I think. I love Gwen but they should have had “Madonna Night” instead. She’s the real Queen of Pop, after all.
And think how good the show would be.Lakisha doing Secret? Gina doing Frozen? Jordin singing Dress You Up? Blake doing a beat box version of Into the Groove. Even Phil Stacy could do a decent Take A Bow. And surely, Sanjaya’s butchering of Hung Up would finally get him kicked off.