News / Entertainment
Down to the Final Night on ‘American Idol,’ is it Jordin Sparks or Blake Lewis
It all comes down to tonight on ‘American Idol’ as Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis will stand center stage while an ungodly amount of viewers sit glued to their television waiting to see if their favorite ‘Idol’ earned top billing in season six.
Tuesday night proved once again that Jordin Sparks holds the upper hand on vocals while Blake Lewis has the advantage in crowd pleasing performances. For Sparks, Tuesday night was the first time in the competition her voice went unchallenged. Every other night her singing would be overshadowed by Melinda Doolittle or LaKisha Jones but not on Tuesday. Being overshadowed by the more polished singers, Sparks’ voice fell in with the other ‘Idol’ hopefuls and there really was no difference between the way she sounded and somebody like Blake or Haley. Not having to share the stage with a singer gave Sparks the opportunity to shine and she had no problem showing the glaring difference between her and Lewis.
While Sparks wasn’t breath-taking in her first performance she managed to deliver a solid performance with the Christina Aguilera song “Fighter.” She followed that up with the Martina McBride hit “Broken Wing” in which she really impressed Simon, Paula and Randy and then closed the show with the song “This Is My Now,” the tune that was selected by viewers from the online songwriting competition. After Jordin set the microphone down for the last time it was obvious who the judges were favoring as Randy Jackson told Sparks "You were the best singer tonight. You deserve it all, baby!" and Simon Cowell added "You just wiped the floor with Blake.”
As for Blake the night wasn’t awful but he had nothing new to really offer. Opening the night with the Bon Jovi song “You Give Love a Bad Name,” Lewis really got the crowd involved but the tune was played out. When he originally performed his rendition of the song a few weeks back it really set him apart form the other competitors whereas Tuesday night’s performance was more like, its been done before try something new. He followed it with the Maroon 5 hit “She Will Be Loved” and did little to make the song his own. Having reached this far in the competition based on his ability to interpret songs in his own way it seemed a little odd that he wouldn’t add any twists or beats to the track. Lewis then stumbled bad with the final tune “This Is My Now” and in fairness to Blake the song is all cheese and had no business winning a songwriting competition. There was little he could do with a sappy ballad and he paid the price.
Tuesday didn’t offer any new insight into who should win the competition. For the first time in any ‘American Idol’ season the final two are almost complete opposites. In previous seasons it would come down to who was the better singer but this year the question is a little different. Do you want an ‘Idol’ who can sing or do you want an ‘Idol’ to entertain. Chances are Sparks can develop into a strong entertainer, she is only 17-years-old, but Blake will never really develop into a singer.
So it comes down to tonight and sometime after 8:00 p.m. EST the winner of ‘American Idol’ season six will be announced on Fox.
