Most of the “American Idol” Top 8 got caught in the tangles of the theme Tuesday as they attempted to go Latin.
Even the most favored singers got middling reaction from judges and mentor of the week Jennifer Lopez was left in some cases to coach movement instead of voice.
Song choice was the main problem as was variety with most of the performances filched from Santana’s pop collaborations or an old Gloria Estefan greatest hits collection.
Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey borrowed from the former; LaKisha Jones, leggy Haley Scarnato and Jordin Sparks the latter.
Blake Lewis seemed to attempt the riskiest choice, when he chose a hit of Lopez’ husband Marc Anthony. She even looked skeptically at him as he began to sing “I Need to Know” in rehearsal. But the upbeat Latin number suited his voice well and he got the best marks of the night from judges.
Two singers went for classic Latin pop songs to start and finish the night. Melinda Doolittle started with “Sway” and Sanjaya Malakar ended with “Besame Mucho,” which earned him his best comments from Simon ever: “It wasn’t horrible.”
His hair, of course, was as newsworthy as his delivery: The curls were short, plus he had added facial hair (could he grow that much in a week?).
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