"Stayin' Alive" was not LaKisha Jones' forte this week.
The 27-year-old Michigan resident was eliminated from American Idol Wednesday night after the songs of Barry Gibb proved to be the soulful chanteuse's kryptonite.
"No kiss tonight, baby," Simon Cowell, who was so willing to plant a smooch on her last week, told Jones after her off-pitch rendition of the Bee Gees hit Stayin' Alive. Even Randy Jackson called her performance "weird" and Paula Abdul said it "lacked energy."
Jones' take on the '70s-era hit-makers' "Run to Me" didn't do much for the peanut gallery, either, with Cowell saying her overall showing had left her "vulnerable" heading into elimination night.
Even before she heard the bad news, Jones was fidgety and looked to be doing a bit of talking to herself, as helpfully pointed out by Ryan Seacrest.
"If I go home, hopefully I remember the words, and I don’t want to cry," Jones responded, when asked what she was quietly telling herself during the commercial break.
When Seacrest asked why she looked nervous last night, as well, she had an easy explanation: "I was thinking and overanalyzing everything, and hoping Simon would kiss me again."
To be fair, it would be difficult to successfully interpret any tune made famous by the Bee Gees' and their truly unique sound, but Tuesday night was an especially tough one for the remaining Idol contestants.
Blake Lewis was more or less written off yesterday, as well, with Cowell calling his second tune, the more obscure "This Is Where I Came In," a "bizarre choice of song."
"I don't think you've had a good night tonight," the competition's go-to harbinger of doom said. Lewis, 25, also sang "You Should Be Dancing," otherwise known as the song John Travolta first busted a move to on the big screen in 1977's Saturday Night Fever.
Salvaging the night somewhat were Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks, each of whom put in at least one great performance.
Doolittle underwhelmed with her first choice, "Love You Inside Out," but redeemed herself with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" which reminded Randy Jackson that the 29-year-old former backup singer has "got it going on."
"The second half of that song has put you into the semifinals," Cowell informed her.
Jordin Sparks, unfortunately, did not save the best for last. While the "throwback vibe" she tossed into her performance of "To Love Somebody" turned the night around for the better, the 17-year-old's pitchy version of "A Woman In Love," written by Gibb and sung so memorably by Barbra Streisand, ended the night with a whimper.
Luckily, Gibb was on hand to sing the music of Gibb tonight, and he also showed the crowd how "To Love Somebody."
Pink, who had been scheduled to appear on the Idol Gives Back charity special but got booted due to time constraints, finally had her moment on the Idol stage, singing the bittersweet single "Who Knew" off of her latest album I'm Not Dead.
Next week, the final three will be pressed to perform a hat trick, singing one song that they choose themselves, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by Arista founder Clive Davis, who should be playing a big part in Lewis, Doolitte and Sparks' professional future soon enough, once they've inked that inevitable deal with one RCA Records Group's myriad labels.
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BELLE....thanks for standing up for me!! That FAKE littllekat is a loser! FAKE has 2L's because they can't think of their own name so it has to steel someone else's name. Pathetic! littlekat on 05/10/2007 13:38PM Report abuse