Who's Your Idol?

This season of American Idol initially didn't get me going all gah gah over the contestants. Actually, it didn't even get me worshiping routinely following the show week after week. Probably because neither the contestants' performances, the theme choice nor the guest artist didn't quite appeal to me. What more with the presence of Sanjaya Malakar, the undeserving contestant and at the same time, the underdog who was able to raise the eyebrows of millions of skeptics worldwide towards the credibility of the show. It was quite a turn-off, not to mention a torture, to actually sit-through an entire hour of the show, just to skew up my face in disgust to watch Sanjaya perform and week after week, continued in the show while other better contestants get voted off the show (Chris Sligh, for instance!). Even performances from stronger contestants like LaKisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle didn't make the cut for me. Of course, I still got updated about the who's-in and who's-out of the show through the occasional small talks among friends in school and the weekly newspaper column dedicated for American Idol, usually, coming close to cussing after reading that Sanjaya still remains.

Well, not until last week that I found myself getting hung up with the show - again. After dad called out to me from the living room telling me that American Idol is on, I walked out obligingly to take a peek but got oddly attracted to the show when a feeling of familiarity swept all over me. Before I know it, I was sitting on the floor, as dad was occupying the whole couch, facing the TV with my heads tilted a little upwards and the remote, gripped firmly in my hands. Seriously, I had no idea what had gotten into me then but I just got glued for the next hour. Yes, even with Sanjaya's performance (which I took the liberty of muting). Surprisingly this time, I was swept away by performances from an unexpected contestant, Chris Richardson and Blake Lewis, and of course, the all-time professional Melinda Doolittle. I do agree with the judges that last week's performances weren't their greatest or strongest but I've never realized how the two guys can really sing. I've always disregarded Blake as the jukeboxer (or whatever you call them these days) and have never seen him as the type who's able to sing an actual song while Chris has always been overshadowed by the likes of Jordin and LaKisha.

Blake Lewis, looking smart.

You go girl, Melinda!

I guess if you spend sometime actually listening, rather than judging, you'll actually find that American Idol still has hopes! Then again, you might think that my judgement are biased towards the theme of the week. Just so you know, I'm not a big fan of country music. Yes, I do listen to the likes of Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood occasionally, but that's just to fulfill certain cravings of my ear. I don't even have their full albums - except for Carrie Underwood as I do like more than a few songs from her album. You might even think I'm supporting Chris after his post-performance speech to express his sympathy and condolences towards the victims of the VA Tech mass murder, after last week's performance. Well, no. I do think that both Chris and Blake have very nice voices, not powerful, but still nice. Doubt that either of them could make it to the top (looking forward to Melinda, hey!) though, with other contestants of more powerful vocals.

Personal fave, Chris Richardson! Man, I feel sorry too.

I did, somehow, obtain the studio recordings of last week's performance, with Chris doing Mayberry (by Rascal Flatts) and Blake doing When The Stars Go Blue (by Tim McGraw). Lucky for them, I happen to be the kind of person who thinks that people like them are already winners when they could make someone connect to the song - even better, love the song (I've been playing Mayberry for the whole day!). I'm also feeling the lyrics to Mayberry! to So, yeah, they're both winners to me. I 'm still looking forward to seeing the deserving Season 6 Idol, Melinda, reach the top! C'mon, I'm just being real. No one can deny that she's awesome!

So tell me, who's your Idol?