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Lea Salonga, the Philippines Pride and Joy who starred as the first Kim in Miss Saigon and Eponine of Les Miserables years ago... and this year's Fantine of Les Miserables, admitted that she watches American Idol and she voted for Blake's "little sister" Jordin Sparks.
-oOo-
We're watching American Idol... why am I generally underwhelmed this season? With the exception of Melinda Doolittle, none of the other Idol hopefuls really got to me. Having said that, I vote for Jordin Sparks to win over Blake "Beatbox" Lewis. Then again, it's all about the votes.
Sorry it took me a while to get back to all of you.I got back from LA yesterday morning and went straight to work.Keep in mind that I went straight from the AI after party to the airport so I had no sleep! JIt was all worth it though.Being at the shows this week was absolutely incredible and I'm so glad I was able to go.I even ran into a few Blaker Girls in the audience!It was so great to see Blake perform "You Give Love A Bad Name" live. After the show some woman thought I was Jordin and told me I did a great job! Haha.Blake's mom was quick to correct her and let her know that I was a Blaker Girl!!On Wednesday, I got to walk the red carpet with his parents on Wednesday and was even interviewed!Who would've thought I'd be on the red carpet?A bunch of former Idol contestants were on the red carpet, too.It was fun catching up with Idol contestants from this season who I haven't seen in a while (Chris Sligh, Rudy Cardenas, etc.).The finale show was so fun and I loved seeing all of the guest performers.Blake and Doug E Fresh were definitely my favorite!After the show we headed over to the after party.It was completely packed with the judges, contestants, former Idols, and random celebrities.Pictures from my trip will be up later this weekend, so keep an eye out.
Now for the part you care about – Blake! JEvery time I saw him this week he was so calm and not nervous at all.I think the rest of us were way more nervous for him. There have been some rumors going around that Blake threw the finale because he didn't want to win.That is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE.Blake gave it all he had and performed to the best of his ability.Blake said he would be happy no matter what the outcome was.If he won that would be great.If he didn't win that meant his very good friend (and someone he considers to be a little sister) would win.He knew that he had amazing fans who would continue to support him whether he won or not and to him that was just as good.Blake is not upset or bitter or anything like that.He had an amazing time on Idol.Initially, he was just hoping to get to the top 10 and considered anything after that a bonus.The most important thing to him is to connect with people through his music and get his music out there.I'd say he more than succeeded in that.Blake is beyond happy right now and I know for all of you that is the most important thing.
He will be working on an album and is hoping to release it sometime this Fall/Winter.The Blaker Girls will be around LONG after Idol and we'll constantly keep you updated on what he's doing.
You have all been so incredibly amazing and I feel so fortunate to have gotten to know you through this experience.Thank you all for supporting Blake on Idol and I can't wait for all that we'll see from Blake over the coming years.
Catching up with Blake Lewis, post-finale: Though he calls ''Idol'' a ''blessing'' overall, the runner-up admits of the contest-winning ballad, ''That track would never be on my album''
Blake Lewis didn't win American Idol, but don't worry about his future: He's already talking about collaborations with folks like Nick Hexum from 311, whose ''All Mixed Up'' he covered early in the season (''As soon as we met, it was like we were homies already,'' reports Blake). In Mr. Lewis' immediate future, though? Pizza. We caught up with the 25-year-old backstage as he scarfed down a few slices after the big finale.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you deal with having to perform ''This Is My Now''? It seemed so... not you. BLAKE LEWIS: [When I first heard it] I was like, really? All right. I gotta sing this song, shake hands with it, make friends with it. And hopefully perform it well. It's definitely not my style. That track would never be on my album.
Did you think about rearranging it? They wouldn't let me do that, because it was the song that won the contest. If it had been a song for me and a song for Jordin, I think that would've been a lot different. They could've picked two songwriters.
Did you want to speak out? I don't care — it is what it is. You have your good, your bad, and your in-between.
Moving on to the songs that you were allowed to rearrange: How did you decide to remix ''You Give Love a Bad Name''? They say ''make it your own,'' so from a producer's standpoint I just remixed a song if I felt like the piece needed it. I'd do that with my own songs, whether I was on Idol or not. After you've been singing for a couple years, you want to revamp them and make them fresh. So I just tried to be true to myself and let my creativity take hold.
Do you think that taking those chances mostly helped you or hurt you during the competition? I honestly never looked at it that way. I did what they told me. They told me to make a song my own, and that's all I tried to do. So I don't think it was taking a chance. See, they contradict themselves a lot, the judges. With ''You Keep Me Hanging On'' [during Diana Ross week], I totally revamped it and kept the main ingredients of the song, but they gave me some criticism about that. So you never know — you can't win, you can't lose.
So what's next for you? I did some work with Nick already — a song I had written and another that he and Kevin Griffin from Better Than Ezra put together for me and I improvised over — which is like a dream come true. [Producer] BT is my other main inspiration. If we could get together and create a song, I'd be like a kid in a candy store.
One of the highlights of the finale was watching you and Doug E. Fresh together on stage... Hip-hop on American Idol, you can't beat that! The experience has been so amazing, I can't even explain in words. It's bittersweet right now, because it's over. Two seconds before I got on stage, it was like, ''It's done — this is the last time I'll step on the Idol stage.'' The journey was truly a blessing.
In the last performance show of season 6 of ''American Idol,'' Jordin may have clinched her victory over Blake with her version of a cheesy custom-made song, ''This Is My Now''
Blake was kicked around by the judges tonight, but on the other hand, he underperformed. Jordin got overhyped, but a year or two from now, she's probably going to be giving Kelly and Carrie a run for their record sales. And I still kind of miss Melinda — but not nearly as much as I do Elliott.
If all that sounds a little conflicted and contradictory, well, that's because those two words sum up exactly how I'm feeling at the end of a final performance night — and, indeed, an entire Idol season — that's continuously tested my allegiances, alternately enraged me, bored me, and thrilled me, and left me never quite certain where I stood. On most matters, that is.
Thankfully, there are at least three subjects where I'm willing to throw down a definitive opinion:
For starters, this wasn't (as some media pundits have suggested) the worst group of Idol finalists ever; it's just that they suffered by comparison with the extraordinary folks of season 5, and from the producers' decision to devote way too much airtime to guest mentors, man-on-the-street interviews, and so much other hooey that had nothing to do with the actual contestants. I'd argue that every one of this season's top six was a stronger performer than at least one corresponding finisher from season 4 (Scott Savol and Constantine Maroulis), season 3 (Jasmine Trias and John Stevens), season 2 (Carmen Rasmusen), and season 1 (Nikki McKibbin).
Second, and with all due respect to Simon and Randy, if Idol really and truly is a singing competition, then the winner went home last week.
And finally, if the best song that America's aspiring tunesmiths can come up with is ''This Is My Now,'' then bring back the people who gave us ''Do I Make You Proud.''
I mean, if the goal here is to produce a viable hit single, then why not let Blake release ''Time of the Season'' and Jordin go with ''I (Who Have Nothing).'' Because no radio station I know (or want to know, anyway) is going to play a record with a chorus that goes, ''My fears behind me/Gone are the shadows and doubt/That was then/This is my now,'' especially when it's paired with a melody that tastes like a fondue made of melted Smarties, Skittles, and Jujyfruits.
Why not just drop the last ''w'' in the song title and call it ''This Is My No''?
Ugh!
As far as I'm concerned, it would be prudent to toss both Blake and Jordin's renditions of this so-called song directly into the same musical landfill where Katharine McPhee's ''My Destiny,'' Bo Bice's ''Long Long Road,'' and Clay Aiken's ''This Is the Night'' are quietly decomposing.
But since I imagine most voters are considering all six of tonight's performances, I'd have to give the ''This Is My Now'' round to Jordin. Granted, the opening three or four lines of Jordin's performance were almost as rocky as Ryan's failed attempt to score a laugh with that awful ''So the bitch is okay'' joke about Paula's Chihuahua. And of course, none of the judges seemed to feel it was their duty to call Jordin on it. But the last two-thirds of the performance was strong and sure — especially that massive, victory-sealing glory note. Oh, how I wish the kid had ended it there, instead of attempting the ''I'm overcome with emotion'' voice crack on her final two lines. Seriously, I might buy Jordin's first album come the holidays, but I am in no way buying her sob-sister act. On the plus side, though, Jordin's limited acting skills will probably dissuade Nigel Lythgoe from greenlighting From Blake to Jordin.
On the same note, Blake's not much of a thespian, either, seeing that he could barely hide his ennui while wobbling his way through ''This Is My Now.'' Yeah, the song was about as well suited to his style as Jordin's lacy black dress with organza overlay, but I still subscribe to the principle that if you're gonna bring it, you better sing it. Instead, as Blake opened the number seated at the back of the stage, his urge to lean all the way back and welcome a visit from the Lunesta butterfly was palpable, at least until he started that spastic bouncing fit. My guess is that Blake's inner hipster was overcome with the desire to infuse the moribund track with some of that beatboxing all the kids are talking about, while his inner nerd lobbied for a respectful line reading. The result was musical turmoil; it occasionally seemed that Blake was singing in a different key than the backing vocalists, and compared with Jordin's oil tanker of a big note, the spiky-haired underdog's was more of a dinghy.
Lucky for Blake, he defeated his rival in the ''greatest hits'' portion of tonight's battle — which was no small feat considering that Jordin's encore of ''A Broken Wing'' was every bit as strong as her stellar country-night performance of the track. I'd have to dispute Randy's claim that it was ''better than the original,'' but Jordin's emotional connection to the material (not to mention her ability to hit every note) was so impressive that I quickly stopped paying attention to the distracting eagle decal on her navy blue blouse, as well as the lighting and camera angles, which seemed to be signaling that the 17-year-old contestant was a glorious gift from above.
Blake got no such love from the camera crew on ''You Give Love a Bad Name,'' most of which seemed to be shot either through the crook of the drummer's elbow or from somewhere on the left side of row 37 in the Kodak Theater. But who cares? Simon was right that the beatboxer's nifty twist on the creaky Bon Jovi anthem was the performance of the night; I'd say of the entire season. I was worried that a second helping (on only three weeks' rest) would be less invigorating, but boy, was I wrong. Blake's beatboxing was faster and funkier, he seemed more confident and connected with the crowd, and, without the ''Wha?'' factor in play, it was even more obvious how Blake's ''Bad Name'' stands on its own as a modern, chart-worthy pop track, and not just as a gimmicky performance in the confines of a reality TV competition. (And Randy's ''just aiight'' critique merely proved that he's vastly less relevant than Paula — even on her loopiest night.
Speaking of She Who Tripped Over Her Yipper, I'm going to do something really shameful (but honest) and, with the score tied at one-one, declare a dead heat between Jordin and Blake in the last category we're discussing tonight, the ''contestants' choice.'' Because, really, while both were perfectly good, neither performance was so definitively awesome that it's likely to sway voters from their predetermined candidates.
Jordin's choice of Christina Aguilera's ''Fighter'' was certainly the gutsier of the two. All season long, the perky teenager has struggled with up-tempo numbers, and syncopation has not been her strong suit. Indeed, Jordin was just a smidge behind the beat from the very start of ''Fighter,'' fell even further back on the bridge, then missed the words ''so cruel'' and found herself ahead of the music. But all that aside, the kid proved willing to return to the rock-tinged genre where she failed so absolutely on Bon Jovi night. And while she was really just coloring inside Xtina's lines, she did it well enough that it didn't quite smell like karaoke, either.
And, hey, her rival's cover of Maroon 5's ''She Will Be Loved'' wasn't his most innovative performance, either. Granted, Blake's vocal was slightly more laid-back than Adam Levine's original, and I loved the falsetto twist he put on that final ''broken smile,'' but as Simon said, it wasn't exactly the showstopper you'd expect for the finals — especially considering Blake had just covered the same artist exactly seven days ago. I mean, is this a man who dreams of, say, winning a Grammy someday or of fronting a Maroon 5 cover band? I know, I know, a lot of Blake fans have been saying their guy doesn't actually want to win the whole thing, but riddle me this: Four out of the five previous Idol runners-up (Justin, Diana, Bo, and Katharine) have all failed to go platinum, so how will second place benefit Blake? Given the fact that Jordin had a more sizable fan base heading into tonight's show, and seeing that Blake didn't do nearly enough to sway the Sparks-pluggers in his direction, I'm guessing we'll find out. Here's hoping Paula's ''we're all winners!'' mantra extends to the top two or, better still, the top four.
What did you think of tonight's show, and who's going to take home the big prize on Wednesday? What was more of a shock — Blake winning the coin toss and choosing to go first, Randy appearing on national television in that hideous gray jacket with the gold chains, or Paula's un-be-weavable hair? And who was your favorite bizarre celebrity sighting for the night? (My vote goes to Kathy Griffin!)
There was a time I packed my dreams away Living in a shell, hiding from myself
There was a time when I was so afraid Thought I’d reached the end Baby that was then I am made of more than my yesterday’s
[Chorus] This is my now, and I am breathing in the moment But I look around I can’t believe the love I see My fears behind me, gone are the shadows and doubts That was then, this is my now.
And I have the courage like never before, yeah I’ve settled forless now I’m ready for more Ready for more
The Top 2 showdown started with Blake performing You Give Love A Bad Name.. i would have to say, his performance of this song in the Bon Jovi night was one of the best performances this season.. i loved it back then, and i loved it still this time.. however, i felt his voice was a bit flat this time around & i thought his vocals were better previously.. but still, Blake did a great job.. next, Jordin sang Fighter as her song choice.. good song choice & i thought she did ok.. not great though.. she was a bit sharp in chorus hitting the higher registers.. and she doesn't really seem comfortable.. still, the vocals were still good..
Round 1 clearly goes to Blake Lewis
Blake opened round 2 with She Will Be Loved - another Maroon 5 number.. hmm.. Blake is really feeling the Maroon 5 vibe huh..? well, it doesn't matter coz he sounded great..!! Maroon 5's songs does fit Blake's vocals nicely.. he did a nice job altho' Simon doesn't really like it.. this performance simply shows that Blake can really sing, not just a mere beat-boxer.. Jordin was next performing A Broken Wing - one of her favourite performance throughout the show.. she was amazing during the country week, the was amazing again this time.. her powerful vocals were awesome.. excellent vocal control.. agree with Randy, definitely better that orginal..
Round 2 is a tie between Blake & Jordin
The final round with both singing the idol-single - This Is My Now.. Blake gave his rendition 1st.. well, it wasn't a great vocal performance but still, Blake sang ok considering the fact that this is not the type of song that he will record.. but he worked it out nicely.. there were a couple of flat notes, but very minor.. nicely done, Blake.. Jordin rendered her version of the same song next.. her performance was magical.. that really was a winning performance & she sealed her victory already.. the song really suited her wide range vocals.. i pity Blake coz he had to sing a song that is not his forte.. but it's the people out there who voted for the Idol single.. and clearly, the song favours Jordin.. and she did justice to the song..
Round 3 clearly goes to Jordin Sparks
So who will win..? my bet is on Jordin.. the odds are obviously for her to win.. and she did perform very well throughout the season and deserved the title.. as for Blake, he totally deserved the finale spot, but comparing with Jordin on the finale night, i hate to say this but he had to settle for 2nd place.. but all is not lost & there's nothing to worry with Blake.. being a credible artiste & performer that he is, no doubt Blake will be massivley huge after Idol.. i have no worries on that.. BLAKERS are here to stay and support him for a long long time..!!
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Post-Script: Congratulations Jordin Sparks..!! Jordin wins American Idol 6 as the youngest idol ever.. i'm proud of Jordin, and Blake Lewis as well.. i pray that both of them will have an amazing career after idol.. and i believe they will.. so American Idol is officially over now.. i'm going to miss Blake performing on the idol stage and the others as well.. let's pray that Blake will cut an album really really soon.. can't wait for that..!! Go BLAKERS..!!!
