This is it y’all. Tonight is the last night we’ll see Blake perform on the American Idol stage. What a long strange trip it’s been from “Somewhere Only We Know” to the “This is My Now.” I’ve rewatched last night’s performances and what strikes me every time is Blake’s obvious joy at being on stage. When his eyes scan the audience and look into the balconies of cheering fans, my tear ducts go into overdrive. It doesn’t help when I see Chris R, Phil and Sligh cheering him on with such pride and passion on their faces.
I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t crazy about Blake’s audition, but he won me over week after week as he effortlessly oozed charisma, originality, style, charm and talent just by being himself. I looked forward to his performances every Tuesday, learning not to fret over his song choices or his ability to handle a particular genre or theme. I recognized him not only as a musician who understands himself as an artist, but also as a kick ass producer.
Will Blake Lewis win American Idol? I don’t know, but we’ll find out tonight. I do know this: Blake Lewis has won me as a fan and I‘m greedily anticipating an album of original music. Win or lose this competition, Blake’s future is so bright he better wear shades.
Thanks to everyone who voted for Blake last night. His stellar performances proved he’s in it to win and motivated me to vote him into the finale. Tune in tonight to find out if our votes were enough. DialIdol doesn’t know. Does Uncle Nigel? He suggests in his TV Week interview that the girls may have split some votes. Is he merely speculating or is this a positive sign for our homeskillet? He also called “Blake the best across the board, for his level of talent” and mentioned that Blake called Maroon 5 himself to get “This Love” cleared. Did Blake also arrange for Maroon 5 to perform on tonight’s result show? Cuz they are, along with last year’s final three finalist Elliott Yamin.
Here’s the spot for your discussion of the top 4 results!
Blake had his first real misstep of the competition with Bee Gee’s week, but still has several factors working in his favor - being the last male standing, still riding the high of a showstopping performance last week, and receiving criticism from the judges for his second performance that some deemed “too harsh.” Did those factors help him get the votes he needs to avoid bottom 2 and elimination?
Dialidol seems to think so - they have him perched very safely on the top of their rankings. As pointed out in prior weeks, dialidol has been much more accurate in predicting who is safe than who is going home, if you look at the actual ordering of the final rankings. Some weeks early on, every contestant except one or two has been within the margin of error for elimination. So, I’m thinking that if they have him predicted as safe this week, he should be safe. Zabasearch also has him predicted as safe. They have also been very accurate with results.
So, will this week be a “shocker” like seasons 1 (Tamyra Gray leaving), 3 (LaToya London leaving), and 5 (Chris Daughtry leaving), with Melinda possibly leaving? Or will it follow the pattern of seasons 2 and 4, with the weakest or most disappointing/inconsistent performer left of the bunch leaving - possibly Lakisha going home? Will we finally see a diva vote-splitting scenario?
What do you think? Who is your prediction to go home this week?
Last night Blake and Chris stood on stage together facing elimination. Reminiscent of Chris and Ace last year, the show exploited highlighted their friendship for the sake of good tee vee. I have to admit… it was cute.
Last week we sat through a two hour results show to learn that everyone was… SAFE! It seems TPTB thought it would be mean to send an Idol home during the Idol Gives Back charity telethon and we all know TPTB are never mean. Ahem. Over $60 million has already been raised for Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF) and its various charity beneficiaries. Not too shabby!
However, this development complicates tonight’s results show since not one, but two contestants will get the heave-ho. Idol extended its voting window to four hours and two phone lines again last night, and the two contestants with the fewest votes from last week and this week combined will be eliminated. It will be interesting to compare the vote totals from last week (when votes helped raise money for charity) and this week when they did not. Last week, over 70 million votes were cast. I’d bet money that the total will be much lower this week.
Thanks to everyone who voted for Blake last night after his incredible performance of “You Give Love a Bad Name.” Was it enough to Save the Beatboxer and Save the World? DialIdol thinks so. They have Jordin and Blake as they only safe ones this week. All standard disclaimers regarding DialIdol apply.
Blake landed in the bottom three last night with Lakisha Jones and Sanjaya Malakar, but was the first one sent from the seal to the couch.
Lakisha and Sanjaya shared the bottom two, with Sanjaya being sent home. Let’s hope the press isn’t too harsh on him in his upcoming interviews. I don’t understand all the Sanjaya hate. He’s just a kid on a reality television show. Remember what Diana Ross said, “Sanjaya is Love.”
Note to producers: change the age requirements to 18-30, mmm kay?
Back to Blake, last night he delivered one of the most touching moments of this season when he wiped away Lakisha’s tears. Aww, could headstrong, bad boy Blake have a sensitive side?
Special thanks to Jenlar for the excellent screen caps.
ETA: I just found this new screen cap from the Ford Music Video. No, I don’t believe the video forecasted the evening’s bottom three. After all, it’s filmed prior to the live performance show. I just think Blake looks good in the trench.
Gah! DialIdol is one hot mess. Blake is second to the bottom on the DialIdol score and third to the bottom by busy percentages. Like I mentioned last week, DialIdol is better at predicting the safe ones than the potential bootees. This week, Phil Stacey is the only safe contestant according to their stats.
I think AI opened more phone lines this year to thwart DialIdol. Last year at this point, I voted non-stop to save Ace and barely got through. I’m not saying that Ace didn’t get the least amount of votes, but I am saying that it seems like there are fewer busies across the board. I also noted that I got WAY more busies with the cell phone than the vonage phone last night. I think the busies might reflect the local carrier rather than AI’s open lines. IF that’s the case, it really renders DialIdol useless. But who knows?
I felt confident last week going into the results show. Tonight, I will be more than a little nervous. Will they break them into two groups and force some poor sap to pick the top three? Who will be that poor sap? How will he/she handle it? Will it be scripted? Will Blake be in the bottom three? Would a trip to the bottom three energize Blake’s fanbase?
I’m guessing Phil will be that poor sap. That’s my only prediction.
The always astute Ninergrl6 from aceyoung.net had the good fortune to attend last Wednesday’s results show. She was kind enough to allow me to post some of her observations here.
Blake and Chris are totally adorable together. They sang along with Akon (who wasn’t there, it was pre-recorded) and had a secret handshake.
Blake definitely had the most signs in the audience, although I think Mandisa had a sign for Melinda.
I think Jordin hates Sanjaya. She was obviously annoyed with him.
Sanjaya physically attacked Ryan after the whole “stand up, sit down” thing.
J Lo got make up on Ryan’s suit when they hugged.
The judges kept leaving during the commercial breaks. Odd. One time Paula had to literally run back to her chair and sat down at the very last second.
Simon and Ryan both chatted with Sharon Osborne in the audience.
After the show, Pink recorded a performance that will be shown on a later broadcast. She’s awesome.
Simon winked at me. It was weird.
On the Sanjaya/Ryan “attack”:
In jest, I’m sure. I only caught the aftermath, really, since at that moment I was fixated on Blake and Chris’ reaction to Chris being in the bottom 3. But then I noticed Ryan kind of stumble sideways and saw Sanjaya walking away with a grin on his face…. like he had gone over and pushed Ryan for torturing him with the results.
On Jordin and Sanjaya:
About the Sanjaya/Jordin thing, during the breaks the contestants just chilled on the couches getting their make up redone for the most part. Sanjaya and Jordin were seated next to each other, and at one point I noticed Sanjaya blowing in Jordin’s face. He wouldn’t stop and she looked really annoyed. Then she snapped at him, “Stop it! You’re so weird!” and turned to face the opposite direction. Rawr.
On Simon’s winking:
Simon was winking A LOT that night. In fact, when I watched my tape back, I noticed him do it on camera at least once, and I saw him do it off camera a couple of other times. I guess that’s his thing, to wink at people? (like Howie from BSB! lol) He smiled a lot too, surprisingly. Everyone seemed to be in a particularly great mood.
On the judges:
There was a man in a wheelchair sitting next to me, and he had a dog to assist him. We were on the far right aisle near where the contestants sit on the couches to hear whether or not they’re safe. During almost every commercial break, the judges would walk down our aisle to go backstage…. to do lord knows what. They all stopped to chat with the man in the wheelchair and pet the dog. Simon actually stopped two or three times and was totally playing with the dog as if it were his own. It was surreal — Simon Cowell standing about 3 feet away from me smiling from ear to ear and being all happy and cute with a dog. Definitely not your typical image of Mr. Cowell!
On Pink:
I was thinking that Pink’s pre-recorded performance was going to be for the 2 hour “Idol Gives Back” special in a couple of weeks. However, I do remember them saying that it could be for IGB or for some other show. So maybe they don’t even know? Or maybe they were purposely being vague? The song she performed isn’t the same song that’s on the AI “hit list” site. Marc Anthony also recorded a little something (not a performance) for the IGB special that apparently will also feature Johnny Depp.
Here is a clip of the screams Blake received from the audience last night!
Here’s the stuff we didn’t see.
EW.com: There was the occasional Blake to Chris jab, usually as a result of some fawning comment made about one of them, Haley had to adjust her shirt and pants a lot, Jordin giggled upon hearing the phrase “muy caliente.” Undoubtedly, Phil looked nervous, but I liked that he bowed when his name was called. The guy’s a class act. Blake, on the other hand, looked cool and calm, even having fun with his friends in the audience by making them stand up for a quick photo that he took from the stage. And during Akon’s performance, which was taped a couple weeks back, Blake was grooving like there was no tomorrow.
People: There is so much love for Blake Lewis in the Idol house. During one break, a fan held up a sign that read “You Make Me Ache Blake.” When Corey (the warm-up man) asked Blake how he felt about that, he said: “Is that a good thing?” The adoring fan shouted. “YES!!!”
This is what Ricky Minor had to say about Blake: “People like LaKisha and Blake,” he continues “they have ideas already, ‘I’d like to start at the bridge with just strings,’ they might say.”
“Somewhere Only We Know” to the “This is My Now.” I’ve rewatched last night’s performances and what strikes me every time is Blake’s obvious joy at being on stage. When his eyes scan the audience and look into the balconies of cheering fans, my tear ducts go into overdrive. It doesn’t help when I see Chris R, Phil and Sligh cheering him on with such pride and passion on their faces.
Thanks to everyone who voted for Blake last night. His stellar performances proved he’s in it to win and motivated me to vote him into the finale. Tune in tonight to find out if our votes were enough. 
However, this development complicates tonight’s results show since not one, but two contestants will get the heave-ho. Idol extended its voting window to four hours and two phone lines again last night, and the two contestants with the fewest votes from last week and this week combined will be eliminated. It will be interesting to compare the vote totals from last week (when votes helped raise money for charity) and this week when they did not. Last week, over 70 million votes were cast. I’d bet money that the total will be much lower this week. 
I think AI opened more phone lines this year to thwart DialIdol. Last year at this point, I voted non-stop to save Ace and barely got through. I’m not saying that Ace didn’t get the least amount of votes, but I am saying that it seems like there are fewer busies across the board. I also noted that I got WAY more busies with the cell phone than the vonage phone last night. I think the busies might reflect the local carrier rather than AI’s open lines. IF that’s the case, it really renders DialIdol useless. But who knows?
