With it being finale week on Idol I thought I’d take today to look back at some of my observations on Blake and Jordin through the 20 or so Idol Thoughts blogs I’ve done. Of course I will only highlight all the times I was right about them, leaving those many incorrect assessments buried in history. Feel free to type up a counter post with all the wrong things I said and predicted, the abundance of which make that endeavor much easier. I like a challenge though, so I’ll try to make my observations look good.
With the final 2 being pretty evenly matched, it’s also a nice opportunity to look back and compare how their overall seasons stack up against each other and who might walk away the winner.
Let’s start with their overall grades:
Blake:
Blake Lewis – “Somewhere Only We Know” (B)
Blake Lewis – “Virtual Insanity.” (A)
Blake Lewis – “All Mixed Up.” (A)
Blake Lewis – “Set Me Free” (B)
Blake Lewis – “Time of the Season” (A)
Blake Lewis – “Love Song” (B+)
Blake Lewis – “Mack the Knife” (B+)
Blake Lewis – “I Need to Know” (A-)
Blake Lewis – “When the Stars Go Blue” (B) [Andy’s Guest Rating]
Blake Lewis – “You Give Love a Bad Name” (A++)
Blake Lewis – “This Is Where I Came In” (B-)
Blake Lewis – “You Should Be Dancing” (B+)
Blake Lewis – “When I Get You Alone” (A-)
Blake Lewis – “This Love (A)
Blake Lewis – “Roxanne” (A)
Average Grade: 91.2%
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Jordin:
Jordin Sparks – “Give Me One Reason” (A-)
Jordin Sparks – “Reflection.” (B-)
Jordin Sparks – “Heartbreaker.” (A-)
Jordin Sparks – “If We Hold On Together” (B+)
Jordin Sparks – “I Who Have Nothing” (A-)
Jordin Sparks – “Hey Baby” (C-)
Jordin Sparks – “On a Clear Day” (B)
Jordin Sparks – “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You” (B)
Jordin Sparks – “Broken Wing” (A+) [Andy’s Guest Rating]
Jordin Sparks – “Livin‘ On a Prayer” (C-)
Jordin Sparks – “Woman In Love” (B-)
Jordin Sparks – “To Love Somebody” (A-)
Jordin Sparks – “I Who Have Nothing” (A-)
Jordin Sparks – “She Works Hard For The Money” (A)
Jordin Sparks – “Wishing On A Star” (A-)
Average Grade: 87.2%
Onto my overall personal rankings:
Blake:
24 – 2nd (out of guys)
20 – 7th
16 – 5th
12 – 5th
11 – 2nd
10 – 2nd
9 – 2nd
8- 2nd
7 – none [Andy’s Guest Week]
6 – 1st
4 – 1st
3 – 1st
Average Rank: 2.8
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Jordin:
24 – 4th (out of gals)
20 – 8th
16 – 4th
12 – 3rd
11 – 4th
10 – 6th
9 – 5th
8- 4th
7 – none [Andy’s Guest Week]
6 – 5th
4 – 3rd
3 – 3rd
Average Rank: 4.5
Some interesting Quotes through the season:
“I think I’m rooting for Blake just for the novelty of it all.”
-Round of 24-
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“Jordin is good, a strong third to the power two”
-Top 12-
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“I still think the big shock elimination this year will be either Lakisha or Melinda at the final four, and as the guys start to drop Blake will get stronger and stronger. It could be an interesting season after all.”
-Top 12 results-
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“Ladies and Gentlemen, your runner-up.”
-about Blake, Top 11-
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“Another quality performance from the Blakester. If he gains momentum at just the right moment we might actually have a battle on our hands for this title.”
-Top 9-
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“Do you think Jordin and Lakisha know that they are fighting for their life this week? The thing is, the winner of that battle may just shock the world and go to the finale with Blake instead of Melinda.”
-Top 4-
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“Here’s the interesting thing. I think most would say that Jordin is probably the one who should go home, and that is still a very likely scenario. However, (and I even mentioned this last week) I’m picking Melinda to go home this week for three reasons:
1) We haven’t had our real SHOCKER vote yet.
2) Blake and Jordin’s fan-bases will be super motivated, and Melinda’s may be looking ahead to next week.
3) Lakisha’s votes are more likely to head to Jordin than Melinda. (This is based on the theory that underdog votes stay with underdogs when all else is equal.)
Melinda and Blake may be the final 2 everyone expects, but Jordin and Blake may be the final we get. At which point it’s anybody’s game.”
-Top 3-
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So what does it all mean for this week’s finale? Not much. If you go by the overall season it’s clear that I think Blake should win this thing. I picked up pretty early on that he could be the spoiler to what appeared to be an inevitably female dominated season. Jordin on the other hand, just never fully hit my radar until I knew Melinda was in trouble. I’ve also said in the past that the final week’s performances mean little to nothing for the overall voting. So with that in mind, I’m making my pick here and now. I’ll still throw up some opinions on tonight’s show tomorrow, but there is no reason to delay the inevitable. Jordin Sparks will win American Idol 2007.
“What?! I thought you liked Blake. I thought you said he was “more consistent” and such?”
Indeed. I will be rooting for him and I think he deserves it, but he has a couple things going against him. First, almost every last one of those Melinda votes will be heading to his opponent. Second, Jordin’s got the momentum, she’s peaking, whereas Blake peaked a couple weeks ago. This is enough to send any “undecideds” towards Sparky, which in turn will be enough to give her the win. Third, she has Michael W. Smith’s vote, and no one wants to make “Mikey W.” angry (you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry, or was that Edward Norton? Anyhow…) Barring any horrendous performances tonight, it’s in the bag for JS.
Congrats Jordin, you seem like a nice gal. Tell Michael I said “Hi”.