I love American Idol as ferociously as a mother loves her child. But just like it’s a mother’s job to be brutally honest — "Yes, honey you could stand to lose 10 pounds. It’s all about portion control!" "Um, thanks, Mom." — I can’t help fear this week’s Latin music theme is going to be ¡muy horrendous! Why so gloomy, you ask? Well, in her recent interview with EW’s Jessica Shaw, Gina Glocksen shared that, before she got booted last week, she’d been planning to sing — drumroll please — "Everlasting Love." Yes, the thoroughly un-Latin Carl Carlton/Love Affair number that got covered in thoroughly un-Latin fashion by Gloria Estefan back in the mid-’90s — and has also been flogged by Scott Savol (uff da!), Jasmine Trias (yikes!), and Clay Aiken in past Idol seasons. In other words, Idol’s definition of "Latin music" appears to be any song ever recorded by a person of Hispanic descent. So let’s put some quotation marks around "Latin night," and perhaps around "vocal coach" Jennifer Lopez (pictured), too, and then suggest some song choices that could make the evening a little less painful. And please, for the love of all that’s holy, no calls for Christina Aguilera’s "Reflection"; once per season is enough.
Melinda Doolittle, Gloria Estefan’s "Oye Mi Canto"
Blake Lewis, Santana’s "Evil Ways"
Jordin Sparks, Lumidee’s "Never Leave You"
Chris Richardson, Santana and Rob Thomas’ "Smooth"
Haley Scarnato, Jennifer Lopez’s "Play"
Phil Stacey, Marc Anthony’s "I Need to Know"
LaKisha Jones, Nuyorican Soul’s "Runaway" (If you’re not familiar with this one, ch-ch-check it out on YouTube!)
Sanjaya Malakar, Ricky Martin’s "She Bangs"
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Love your picks for Blake and Chris.
Most of those are just regular pop songs without any Latin instrumentation. Surely there will be something more distinctive performed this week, otherwise it’s going to be a bland night of Adult contemporary ballads and mid-tempo pop snoozers. Don’t we get that enough? And please, please, please, no She Bangs. Even Sanjaya doesn’t deserve a William Hung comparison.
What, no Shakira?
As I wrote into Idolatry this morning, if Sanjaya doesn’t sing “Come on baby do the Conga,” I will be so upset. It has everything he should look for in a song: there really aren’t that many notes to sing, there are so many words for him to mess up, and he can use his hula dancing skills to distract us all. Besides, I see a spicy hot side pony tail really working for him in this number.
In other predictions, I think Chris Richardson could take on Marc Anthony’s “You Sang To Me” and do a pretty good job with it. And Phil Stacy could try the “rocker” thing with Santana & Rob Thomas’ “Smooth” (that’s Latin, right? Probably a stretch…). My girl Jordin Sparks could kick ass with some “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” (although part of me thinks she’ll sing Selena’s “Dreaming of You.”). And I would like to hear Blake sing Enrique Iglesias’ “Escape,” just because that song has an odd place in my heart (listen to it – it’s truly enjoyable!).
i see sanjaya doing “livin la vida loca”. i don’t like sanjaya that much, but i think he should do that. i have no other opinions.
I like everything but the choice for Chris. “Smooth” is a great song, but it’s not really what I would call “Latin”. I’m sure someone, however, will be all over “Everlasting Love”, and guaranteed someone will snag the GE cover of “Turn the Beat Around”, it’s happened every other Latin night Idol has had, why stop now.
sanjaya doing the song that william hung made famous. hilarious.
brilliant choice for lakisha – love me some la india
Slezak: Your blog article is like the blind leading the blind. Other than Gloria Estefan’s “Oye Mi Canto”, those are all English pop tunes. Even Marc Antony’s “I need to know” and Santana’s “Smooth” (which the have latin sound instrumentations) have more of a pop and rock aesthetic than “latin” sound. I am not an American Idol fans by any means, but I am tempted to watch this Tuesday if only to see what AI’s producers consider latin music. Although choosing J.Lo as a Latin artist is NOT a good start. I would suggest the Idol constestants stretch their wings and try different genres of latin music while still being contemporary:
Tejano – anything by Selena
Ranchero – Alejandro Fernandez’s “Si Tu No Vuelves”
Rock En Espanol – Cafe Tacvba’s “No Controles”
Spanish Flamenco – Alejandro Sanz’s “Corazon Partio’”
Latin Pop – Thalia’s “Tu y Yo”
Oh, love the “She Bangs” for Sanjaya, but ONLY if he performs it a la William Hung!
Someone neeeeeeeds to do “Rico Suave”.. I nominate Blake.
Mindy Doo — Gloria Estefan’s “Mi Tierra”; w/our luck, she’ll do “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas,” which is beautiful, but old fashioned. But how hot would it be if she pulled out, “Beautiful Liar!” (since all we need is someone Latina/o to sing the original!).
Jordin Sparks — I’ll bet money on Selena’s “I Could Fall in Love” (she seems to enjoy the big, cheesy ballad). She’ll knock it out of the park, too.
Phil Stacey — I’d rather see him sing Enrique Iglesias’ “Bailamos”. . .
Chris Richardson — . . . thus paving the way for Chris to sing Marc Anthony’s, “I Need to Know”
Your pick for Blake is perfect.
Haley Scarnato — J. Lo, “Love Don’t Cost a Thing”
Lakisha Jones — No clue.
Sanjaya — Come on, now. You know you want him to “Shake (His) Bon Bon!” Or maybe he could do, “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story.
I wish they got Marc Anthony instead. I never really liked him until very recently, when I discovered his salsa music is 10 million times better than his English work.
Songs I would like to see performed:
“Underneath Your Clothes” – Shakira
“La Isla Bonita” – Madonna
“She’s All I Ever Had” – Ricky Martin
“I’m Not Giving You Up” – Gloria Estefan (someone may end up doing “Reach”)
Songs I don’t want: “Hero”, “She Bangs”, “Everlasting Love” (retire it already!)
Jennifer Lopez on American Idol – ahhhh!
I wonder who’s going to have a melt down in front of her while she listens? Remember Gina G. melted in front of Gwen, I voted for her because of that.
I think it’s going to be Sans-Gyna…he is going to fan himself with straight fingers, drying the tears.