American Idol: Jordin vs Blake in the final

In one of the most shocking results in any American Idol season, the odds-on favourite Melinda Doolittle got voted out. After moments of anguish, PHILIP LIM regains his composure and talks about what happened on Wednesday night.

ALL three contestants, Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis sang their hearts out. In my book, Blake was the weakest of the trio. A major part of the Idol watchers population thought it was going to be a Melinda-Jordin final, and Melinda was way, way out in front.

But by early Thursday morning, news filtered through that Melinda got the boot. A minor pandemonium broke out in parts of America and in some offices in Malaysia. What can this be? Melinda was easily the best. Simon believed so himself, so did I and millions of others standing in her corner.

I just have to say it: America, what were you thinking? Journalists, bloggers and even betting syndicates were all rooting for Melinda. The word out on the street was Melinda’s the one to beat in the final. And now this. This piece of shocking news is almost like a tsunami coming in unexpectedly at the break of dawn.

Now that the force of Melinda’s dramatic exit has dropped to Category One, let’s talk about what happened on the night when all three gave it their best shot.

Each of the three remaining contestants had to sing three songs. The first was chosen by one of three judges: Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell. The second song was picked by the producers and the third was the contestant’s own choice. Jordin was the first on stage and Simon picked Wishing On A Star for her. If anyone had expected Jordin to falter at this stage, they were disappointed.

Her vocals rose to the occasion and impressed all her fans, family and friends in the audience. I, for one, keep on forgetting that she’s just 17 years old. At this late stage of the competition, it’s good to be reminded that she’s the youngest of the trio.

Her splendid rendition of the song justified all the singing trophies she had won over the years.

This time, she clearly went for broke. Randy, not one for superlatives, remarked “that was a very good vocal”.

Kind-hearted Paula made Jordin break into a smile with “you did a beautiful job”. Even Simon had to give credit to a brilliant performance. However, he said he didn’t like the musical arrangement.

Since Wednesday night was the semi-finals, I suspect the three judges had agreed beforehand not to be too harsh with the contestants.

Thus when Blake sang his first song Roxanne, picked by Paula, I thought he sounded quite unspectacular. This is the American Idol after all, and I had expected nothing less than great from everyone.

Paula chickened out and refused to commit herself, thereby earning a verbal swipe from Simon — “cop-out!”

Simon didn’t hide his feelings at all — “I want to see my girl Melinda in the final!” My instant reaction was “me, too!”

So now the showdown will be between Jordin and Blake, right down the wire. It could go either way. Jordin has a lot of young fans her age. Blake also has a lot of young fans, mostly girls. It should be fairly interesting but minus the oomph, now that Melinda’s not around.

I am going out now to calm down my nerves with a big bowl of wantan noodles and a glass of hot Chinese tea.