Idol Top 10 Report Card

Gwen Stefani was the musical guest this week and the idolists had to pick her songs from her band, No Doubt, or from those who inspired her.

For the gospel singers, this meant Donna Summer, with Melinda Doolittle pulling it off, but LaKisha Jones not so much.

For two of the guys (Chris Sligh and Phil Stacey), this meant The Police, which reminds me how great of a singer Sting has been. Actually, Phil did pretty well and picked up some fans, as did Gina Glocksen.

Only three attempted No Doubt songs, resulting in the good (Chris Richardson), the bad (Jordin Sparks), and the ugly (Sanjaya Malakhar). Only Chris picked up fans with his effort, I think. Jordin is facing the difficulty of changing directions with her niche, and she may have alienated what fans she had.

The beatboxer Blake Lewis picked "Love Song" from The Cure, which was OK but he should have done some fan service (i.e. beatboxing) to make it interesting. Haley's problem is that she doesn't have a fan base and her rendition of "True Colors" did nothing to build it.

Here, then, is the report card:

1. LaKisha Jones, B
2. Chris Sligh, B
3. Gina Glocksen, A
4. Sanjaya Malakhar, C
5. Haley Scarnato, B
6. Phil Stacey, A
7. Melinda Doolittle, A
8. Blake Lewis, B
9. Jordin Sparks, B
10. Chris Richardson, B

My bottom three would be Sanjaya, Haley, and Jordin. If there's any justice, Sanjaya and his po(ny)-hawk hair finally goes.

RESULTS: 1/3. That's pretty poor. Of the bottom three, I only called Haley. The other two were Phil Stacey and Chris Sligh. Phil was safe and Chris was outta here.

Chris's problem, though he had the nicest of the male voices, was that his lurching from one obscure song to another never managed to define a niche that could build a fan base. When he finally picked a song that people knew, it was the last straw.