American Idol 6, May 8: How Deep Is Your Love?

Welcome to another week of American Idol! We’re down to the top four, with three women and just one guy. Ryan implores us, as always, to vote for our favorites. He quickly introduces the judges. Each contestant will sing two songs tonight, all courtesy of Barry Gibb. We see a quick bio of Barry Gibb, including his many hits with the Bee Gees. He has also worked as a song writer and producer with Diana Ross, Celine Dion, and Barbra Streissand. Barry harmonizes on “How Deep Is Your Love” with the top four, and they sound great. Barry says he’s worked with women a lot, so he was happy with the three women in the group. He suggests that the four of them form a group together. It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard! Barry says it’s a huge compliment to hear other people sing his songs.

Melinda begins. She’ll do “Love You Inside and Out.” Barry isn’t sure how she’ll do with the falsetto. She explains that her goal is to make this song, written for a group, work for an individual. Barry says she pulls it off.

Melinda’s vocals are, as always, impeccable. She brings a real soulful vibe to the song – it sounds almost more gospel than disco. She is also becoming a better performer every week, infusing each song with passion and confidence. A great start.

Randy: He’s looking tonight to see who’s in it to win it. It was a solid performance, but not exciting.

Paula: It’s hard to critique her because her vocals are always spot-on. She’s looking for something that will make them say wow – maybe styling? Maybe song choice?

Simon: He thinks Paula wasn’t that impressed. He expects incredible, and this was more of a backing vocalist’s performance. She’s better than that, and he looks forward to her next song.

Ryan asks Paula if that was really what she was saying. Paula says that it’s a good thing she’s short and succinct, or they’d go over every night. Note that she doesn’t say that Simon had it wrong.

Blake Lewis chose “You Should Be Dancing.” Barry says it’s a dance anthem. Blake enthuses that it’s been an amazing week, a cool chance to meet one of the pioneers of dance music. Barry thinks Blake’s beat boxing really suits the song. He says Blake’s the only one who could do it.

I think it would be really hard for a guy to sing a Bee Gees song, because Barry’s falsetto was so fierce. Blake manages to handle the high notes just fine. His beat boxing and other vocalizations come across as really cool. In the middle, he totally works it out with some vocal scratching. The song sounds modern again, and the performance is a lot of fun.

Randy: Sometimes the beat boxing works, but tonight it didn’t. He thought it was corny. Randy compares it to a “weird discotech in some foreign country.” Hey, Randy’s stealing Simon’s lines!

Paula: Paula thinks it started shaky and that his pitch was off. His beat boxing showed true musicianship. He proved that he’s unique.

Simon: He agrees with unique, but he hated it. The music cuts off Simon yet again. Simon looks cranky.

LaKisha has chosen “Stayin’ Alive,” which Barry says is a tough song to sing. He says that it’s hard for a girl to sing a song that was originally done by a guy in falsetto. Barry sings it for her, and she loves it. He likes the slower version she’s going to do.

LaKisha full on struts onto the stage and proceeds to completely work out the song. Can she nail the money note? Well, in the first pass, she lets it drop and the backup singers handle it. Hopefully she’s saving it for the end. The arrangement of this song is really unique and it suits LaKisha. But where was that money note? We’ve heard LaKisha sing for weeks now, and I’d think she could do it. I’m disappointed. It’s like when you’re watching figure skating, hoping the athlete will go for the triple. You know they’ve nailed it in rehearsals, so you’re ready to see something amazing. But they play it safe and just do a double. That’s kind of what LaKisha did here.

Randy: He’s glad she has two songs. He doesn’t think she should have changed up the melody - she tried to do too much.

Paula: The audience was on their feet. Simon jokes that they were heading for the exits. Paula says that’s not what she was saying, but that the slower tempo brought the mood down.

Simon: “No kiss tonight, baby.” He thinks she was shouting and that she was “verging on scary in parts.” He tells her to bring it back on the second song.

Ryan notes that Simon is “not the kind that calls back after a first date.”

Jordin is ready for her boring question. What has she learned about herself? Jordin says she can handle a lot more than she thought she could. It’s a lot of work, plus she has to work in three hours of school. She says her grades are good. She’s singing “To Love Somebody.” Barry says it’s hard to imagine a woman singing it, but when he hears Jordin, she’s impressed. Jordin says that she was determined to show the feeling she got from it. Barry thinks that although lots of people have done the song, he hasn’t heard a greater version than Jordin’s.

Jordin does a great job, but I guess the opinions of the judges are infecting me. It’s good, but it’s not amazing. There’s no wow in this performance, and we all know Jordin’s capable of a wow. Maybe because the competition is so stiff at this point, we really have high expectations.

Randy: It was the best vocal of the night. He compares her to Mariah and Aretha. He says that so far, she’s winning.

Paula: She looks beautiful, and no doubt, it was the best vocal.

Simon: Simon agrees. “We’re back in the competition.”

Melinda has the next question, and it’s actually an interesting one. What was the first tape or CD she ever bought. She is slightly embarrassed to admit it was Michael Jackson’s Bad, though her mom renamed it Good. Melinda is going to sing “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” Melinda admits that she took the word “loser” out of the song. She doesn’t want to curse herself, and I don’t blame her one bit, especially after Phil got shot down in a blaze of glory and Gina had to smile, though her heart was breaking.