No more "Mandiva"

At least we won't have to see that clip of her telling Simon she hurt him ever again. Or hear that horrible "Mandiva" nickname. But even though I'm not her biggest fan, it was too early for Mandisa to go. Ace, Bucky, Kellie--all of them are probably inferior singers. But this happens every year at least once on American Idol, and I was glad that of the bottom three, it was Mandisa and not Paris or Elliott, who I belive have more potential.

The problem with Mandisa was that she really could sing only one type of song--a big, over-the-top, belt-it-out song. She didn't do much at all with that Shania Twain song she sang this week, and it was a horrible song choice--Paula suggested that Mandisa show her "vulnerability," which was actually not bad advice and a polite way of saying, "Sing a softer song." There are lots of country songs that qualify. So she picks a gimmicky song that doesn't show vulnerability, and doesn't even show her belting, but just talking a lot. Not a smart choice. But what might have been more damaging to Mandisa was last week's choice. She had six years of songs to pick from (admittedly, not a great crop of songs, but still plenty of songs), and she picks a gospel song that very few people have heard. I can't believe there are very many people who want the American Idol winner to be singing gospel, and showing the country that's what you might do probably isn't a good move. (Yes, Carrie Underwood sings about Jesus taking the wheel on her album, but she didn't do it on the show and it's a country song, not a gospel song, so it doesn't matter that much.) Then there were her comments last week about "lifestyle" last week before her song that some took to be homophobic. I read an article about this, and didn't really understand the controversy--I found her comments pretty cryptic, but you know how the Internet works. And of course some would blame her departure on the fact that America doesn't want to see an overweight woman win. I'm sure that's some kind of factor in all this, but if it was such a big deal, how'd she make it to the final nine?

There was lots more to talk about from tonight's episode--from the revelation of next week's theme of Queen, to an confirmation of who the frontrunners are, to an red alert that the Website DialIdol.com is doing a really good job of predicting the voting. I'll get into all of this in a post very soon, so come back later this week.