LAST EDITED ON 02-25-07 AT 11:54 AM (EST)

I thought she was a bank teller, not an actress.

First of all, I have to say that I LOVED her perfomance.

Here is an interesting bit. On YouTube there is a clip of her performing "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going"at the Gimme the Mike Houston 2005 finals. Check it out if you are interested at this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiOgIdHUrew

I am being totally honest here. She is nowhere as great as JHud.
Ya she sang it good but that's only because she was the only powerful girl voice really there so ya she stood out. Simon is just praising her out of guilt for his critisizm of JHud when she was on AI. Lakisha sounds more like Fantasia all nasally to me.

I have to disagree. Neither Lakisha nor Fantasia are nasal when they're singing.

I
>wonder if the actresses competing
>again Jennifer Hudson for Best
>Actress planted her in the
>competition to show Jennifer up.

Huh? There's no way. And if anything, her singing that song will only remind people of JHud and how good she is.

LAST EDITED ON 02-25-07 AT 09:36 PM (EST)

I agree that Lakisha is a REALLY GOOD singer. She is REALLY GOOD.

However, I'm kinda worried that this is going to turn into a Mandisa situation -- not vocal quality, she seems to be a better singer than Mandisa - BUT,

Singing "I'm telling you" was a very self-indulgent move. I understand that the song has had more general exposure since the film came out, but it really feels wrong to me as an AI song. She shouldn't have chosen it.

After Wednesday, Melinda passed Lakisha on my own personal favorites list.

ETA: I agree with Prosecutor above - good as Lakisha was, she was not as good as Jennifer.

I just learned that Melinda attends the same church a friend of mine attends.

Hi Tamarama -

Please elaborate as to why you feel it was self-indulgent? I don't understand why you would think this? Let me explain...

The judges kept saying all last week - this is the top 24. You should come out here and blow us away at this point. Show us what you got, give us you all.

So Lakisha whipped out what Ryan rightly called a 'show stopper'. This is a song that very few people can sing. She sang it in a big way. Why is that self-indulgent? Why would that song be wrong as an AI song?

geekboy

Thanks for the sig help, Snidget!

I wanted to think long and hard about this before answering. It's a very subjective thing, and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to explain myself -- Plus, I don't want to tick anyone off -- I know she's well loved already. Hell, I think she's amazing too.

I'm sure my feelings on this are a direct result of my musical theater background. I talked to a friend of mine about it - we hadn't discussed it at all, & I asked him what he thought. Without prompting, he said pretty much the same thing I had. So I picked his brain for the best way to put this into words. (yeah, I'm probably way over-thinking this.)

"And I'm Telling You..." is an iconic song - for 25 years it was owned by Jennifer Holliday, and almost no one else would touch it. It's one of the songs that comes up - without fail - when musical theater geeks sit around talking about audition mistakes. Conventional wisdom is Don't Sing It unless a director or producer requests it. Choosing to sing that song would be viewed as arrogant - and stupid. It's too hard to pull it off, and it's too hard dramatically and musically to cut it down to an appropriate audition length. (Another song like this would be "Another Hundred People" - one that I once made an idiot of myself with.)

Fast-forward to now -- with the film, the song is more in the general-public's eye, instead of just geeks.
BUT - now Jennifer Hudson owns the song. The nature of the song hasn't changed, it's just that the baton has been passed. (Though I understand Ms. Holliday is not happy about it.)

Contestants have been criticised in the past for choosing songs that other idols have succeeded with -- either on the show or later (Lisa Tucker singing Kelly last year). Would it be a good idea for anyone to sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Summertime," or "Whipping Post" again?

So I think that it was a bad choice not only because of the song's history in general, but also it's connection to a past Idol.

Yes, the judges have told the contestants to bring it - but there are many, many songs out there that could accomplish that. And yes, it was a show stopper - but even if we're a wee small group, I bet I'm not the only one that thought the choice was a bit...off-putting.

It kinda felt like when Mandisa whipped out that gospel number & got all preachy on us last season.

I hope it amounts to nothing, I think she's WAY talented...but this made me go hmmm.

As much as I love her talent, last night scared me. There were so many other songs/singers which/who were so much more vibrant.

35 minutes after the show, I started voting for a solid hour, and got through each time, that's bad news!!!

Why did I vote so much? I am afraid that people think certain contestants are safe, and I think Lakisha deserves to stay for quite a while.

Has anyone else noticed that just one of her oobs is as big as Ryan's head? Watch it when they stand next to each other - it's pretty funny.

>Has anyone else noticed that just
>one of her oobs is
>as big as Ryan's head?
> Watch it when they
>stand next to each other
>- it's pretty funny.

Now that is something to keep "abreast" of! I also noticed that last night. It made it difficult to look at Ryan without laughing

A snidget original

How can anyone help but notice her DD+ oobs when they're squashed into, and mostly out, of her B cup dresses? Melinda's go big ones, too, but she manages to keep hers covered.

I can't stand Lakisha. I'm sick of her trying to rally votes by mentioning she is a single mother.

LAST EDITED ON 04-12-07 AT 04:47 PM (EST)

LAST EDITED ON 04-12-07 AT 04:47 PM (EST)

There are still those of us who get turned off by the "single mother" angle. It bugged me about Fantasis. And, it bugs me about Lakisha. And, it isn't a racial matter. It would bug me just as badly if they were white. Whatever happened to getting married first?

I just don't happen the think that Lakisha is all that. Yes she has a nice voice and can sing certain types of songs well, but, I thought she flopped big time for Latin night, and I'll be very interested to see what she can come up with for Country night!

ps. bring back Haley

A snidget original

LAST EDITED ON 04-13-07 AT 05:11 PM (EST)

Fantasis affected me the same way. She sang one or two songs really pleasingly. But, "screamed" all the others. Getting on my nerves big time. Lakisha sings certain genres really well. But, Tony and Gloria's music isn't her strong suit. "Conga" was a flop. Singing it, and wearing a dress designed for a svelte B-cupper, really tripped her up.

Lakisha has an amazing voice. I can see her in a Broadway show.

However, some of her original appeal for me has gone down the tubes. It's as if she's become just another singer. Not sure why.

I'm bored by her these days, despite the good vocals.

I still look forward to Lakisha's turn. And Melinda's. But they're both so polished.

Jordin is the one I really enjoy watching week to week. She has grown so much since the first performance, and that's been fun to watch.

Lakisha and Melinda were finished products from week one.

But Jordin just keeps evolving. She feels young to me. Lakisha and Melinda don't.

I'd buy all three of their albums, though.

Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

>>Lakisha has an amazing voice.<<

Agree 100%.

>>I can see her in a Broadway show.<<

I can't. NO WAY.

She can't act. She lacks charisma singing for 2 minutes - would you want to watch her snooze her way through a 2 1/2 hour show?