We all knew it was going to happen – that Sanjaya Malakar would finally be voted off the “American Idol” competition. But while we waited we saw several good talents fall by the wayside – talented people who had far more credibility and broader range than Sanjaya would ever have. While we waited for Sanjaya to sing his last song and shed his last tear on the show, my blood pressure rose, my hair fell out, and my bowels plugged up.
Sanjaya is a very nice looking young man. Great teeth and eyes. He has nice hair too, but I personally think that he would be much better looking if he had a reasonably good hair cut. I’ve noticed that East Indian and Pakistani men who let their hair grow out (we’re not including Sikhs in this discussion) tend to look like ragamuffins and poverty stricken. Where as men of that ethnicity that have educational, government or management jobs that get a “dress for success” hair cut, seem to look very professional, credible and often handsome.
Sanjaya would like to be the Indian-American “Frank Sinatra.” A proper hair cut might just do it for him. We know that he can’t sing country-western, hard rock or blues – so middle of the road pop is probably the only style really right for him. You know, kind of an East Indian version of Harry Connick, Jr. But he’s got to stop looking directly into the camera and following it the entire time he is on the stage. He has an audience there that he should be singing to – not to me!
There are still a couple of contestants on the “Idol” show that don’t really fit the right mold. Lakisha is very talented as a singer, and when she is at her best she can blow everyone away. But she really doesn’t offer anything more than dozens of more talented heavy set African-American singers already offer. If she wins it is likely that she will fade shortly after her initial concert and recording contract expires – much like Rueben Stoddard has done.
Melinda was my early favorite. But like Simon, I’ve gotten tired of her overwhelming humility. I really do think it is sincere, but she is a grown woman and that is something that 12 and 13 year old girls do. She needs to just say “Thank you” after her performances and leave it at that. She’s very talented and professional, but she definitely needs to find a clothier and hair stylist that can dress her in a way to make her look like she has a neck.
The three fellows that are in the competition are fair singers, but they all seem to be clones of some other pop-rock singers. I think it is odd that Simon and Randy both predicted that the girls would rule the contest, but before Sanjaya was booted there were four males and three females in the final seven. I still think that it will end up with two gals competing for the winning position, but only because none of the guys is really unique like Clay Aiken and Taylor Hicks were.
My guess is that Jordin Sparks will be one of the last two contestants. She is pretty, very talented, and quite memorable as well. As long as she chooses her songs well (and on this show that is a very big “if”), she should be fighting Melinda for the prize. But Jordin has a neck and a reasonably good figure, so on the basis of looks alone she should take it. Head to head for talent, though, I’d have to give the nod to Melinda.
I guess my one negative comment about Jordin is that she is so big. She dwarfs Ryan Seacrest when she is next to him. My guess is that she is at least 6 feet tall. Tall girls tend to have short careers unless they stick just to recording and touring. Moving over into Broadway or movies as a career is not likely to be successful because she would tower over most of her leading men.
So now we’re down to six weeks. Then I can go back to something far more productive like watching reruns of King of the Hill or The Simpsons – or something really entertaining like Larry King.
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