American Idol - Top 8 - No Win Situation

So Jennifer Lopez is the guest mentor this week. Wow! Has she sunk so low or has America Idol gotten that big? Still, I confess that I've always liked movie star Jennifer Lopez (The Wedding Planner is pure joy much like a good French brie is) but I could have done without music J. Lo but her infectious laugh and her bubbly good girl persona always drew me right in.

Melinda goes first with "Sway", and while I may not use the word sexy to describe her or her latin sultry performance, there is just no way you can hate this girl. Seriously, if that whole "Gosh-darnit" is an act, she deserves the Oscar more than J. Hud.

Lakisha takes on Miami Sound Machine with "Conga" and finally Paula has a somewhat negative comment and Simon and I actually agree with her. Lakisha hits all the right notes but I felt it should have been funner and bouncier.

Chris Richardson does "Smooth" and looks good doing it, though I don't know if it was my favorite performance of his, but he has enough charm to pull through.

Haley "Turn The Beat Around". Whatever. She wore the short shorts again. Does it matter how she sang? Even I want to vote for her, almost (although was it me or that cougar top make her look frumpy?). HA! Simon called her on the hoochie wear!

Phil sings "Maria Maria" and like every other week, his vocals are actually far better than I remember him being, since I sort of block it all out because he just looks kinda funny with the hats and the bug-eyes. I know. I'm cruel but it's a harsh world.

Jordin sings "The Rhythm is Gonna Get You" and like the other dueling divas tonight, the vocals are accomplished but it doesn't seem as fun as it should. Still, like Melinda, Jordin has a HUGE likeablity factor (but WHAT? She was born in Dec '89? Oh god...) at least unlike LaKisha who seems like she's about to club anyone in her way from supporting her child with the riches of stardom, we want Melinda and Jordin to succeed.

Blake: "I Need to Know". No, I NEED to KNOW! But lose the hat. It didn't work as well while singing as it did while he was waiting in the wings and he looked like he was about to go on a safari. I want the dyed blonde spiky hair back!

Sanjaya sings some spanish song (I didn't catch the name), and again, Simon said it pretty correctly: didn't understand it but it wasn't horrible. There have been far worse in Idol history (hello AJ!).

So shockingly, the Worst of the night wasn't the typical Sanjaya, so I don't have to say the worst of the night (not counting Sanjaya) is, and instead, can give the whole honour to solely to Haley.

Best of the night: Blake (even with the bad safari look, see! I'm not just seduced by the look, if I were, it would be Chris R. tonight).


So at this point, is it best for Melinda to win it? Then receive the backlash for having the always original Blake lose? Or Jordin to pull through? I mean, we've now had some pretty horrible winners (Taylor, Ruben, Fantasia) and as Chris Daughtry, Josh Gracin or Canadian Idol losers Rex Goudie and Jacob Hoggard, or Pop Idol's Darius Danesh proven, there's better life after Idol than the winners sometimes. If Blake wins, people will say it's because it's a white boy thing (despite none ever winning (Taylor doesn't count)) and people will feel bad for Melinda and Jordin. If Chris R. wins, then it'll be totally called out for his looks alone, and the backlash from Melinda, Jordin AND Blake fans will progress. Maybe we should let Sanjaya win it just so we can make fun of it all while we secretly buy the losers albums? Then we get to keep our schadenfreude and eat our cake too!