It’s the start of the weekend, let’s have some fun.   Reader Kirsten asks the question:

Is it too early to start talking about what Blake and Jordin should sing next week?

I say, it surely is not!   Let the speculation begin….   You can read Kirsten’s take on what the Final 2 should sing after the jump.

What do YOU think?   Post your thoughts in the comments section.

From Kirsten in the  daily comments section:  

Last year, they had Taylor and Kat re-do two songs and then sing their coronation song. From Nigel’s comments, it sounds like that was what they were told to do, but perhaps they only chose to re-do two songs. Who knows what the rules will be this year since rules seems to be a little different. And who knows what the deal with the coronation songs will be. From the fact it was a voting contest, one would think that there would be only one coronation song, but the contest seemed to have fizzled (even amongst us hardcore AI fans, few admitted to having had listened to the song choices)

Repeating song choices is tough. You will always be compared to your original. It’s hard to recapture the moment of surprise and delight again. And, if you do it too close to the original, it cheapens both performances because it seems to practiced. I think that Diana made a mistake re-doing a song that she had done in the Final 3. It was a memorable performance, but people had just spent 2 hours the previous week voting for that performance. The voters have already paid their dues. And Fantasia had overdone “Summertime” by the end of the season. We’d heard it too many times (at least 3). (BTW, these are just examples to illustrate some of my reasoning for picking songs. Let’s not re-hash previous seasons.).

So, what two songs do you think that they should reprise next week?

For me, Blake’s three best performances are: Somewhere Only We Know (24), Time of the Season (11), You Give Love a Bad Name (6). I think that Blake has to avoid beat-boxing all of his songs because that will annoy some people. One song must be sung through. I also think he needs an up-tempo number because the coronation song is likely to be dull. “You Give Love A Bad Name” is probably his “moment” in the competition, but is it too recent? I think “Time of the Season” was his best, but if he twins it with “Somewhere Only we Know” it will be 3 slow songs. So, I’m stuck.

Okay, I say, start of the show with “You Give Love a Bad Name”, sing “Time of the Season” 2nd and end with the dire coronation song with no beat boxing.

Jordin’s three best songs are “I (Who Have Nothing)” (11), “A Broken Wing” (7), and “To Love Somebody” (4). I think that “A Broken Wing” is a no-brainer. She’s been singing that one for years and it’s a home run. “I (Who Have Nothing)” should not be sung three times. “To Love Somebody” is too recent.

So, I say, start with the dire coronation song (get rid of that thing off the bat). Then, reach back for that long-forgotten Final 24 performance of “Give Me One Reason” (show you too can update an arrangement) and then bring it home with “A Broken Wing”.

What say you?

 
  • colette

    Radname –

    As I said earlier, “At 17″ is a song that demands much more maturity (musically and otherwise) than Jordin now appears to have. It’s a bittersweet look back……She’s in the middle of her youth, and ostensibly not as insecure and wounded as the woman in that song…..

    Funny, tho: today I heard Alice Cooper interviewed, and they played his intense hard rock song about being 18. Now that would reveal a new side of Ms. Sparks!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUgbIv3IxrM

  • Who’sUrDaddy

    If they each redo one song, they should pick a number they performed real early in the competition.
    (Blake can do TOTS and YGLABN during the concert this summer).

    And check out Blake at top 16 week doing 311′s “All Mixed Up.” That is a very good performance, of a song no judge knew.
    Jordin should ‘Give Me One Reason.” Something uptempo.

    Two good performance that many have forgotten and it gives each the opportunity to showcase how they have grown during the season.

  • 3xhcch

    Jovi said:
    If I remember correctly from last season I think that Taylor made some changes to his coronation song that he sang in the Finals. That being said, I would hope if the song sucks (as they usually do) that Blake changes his coronation song up.

    I heard Elliot admit in an interview that “Do I Make You Proud?” was originally assigned for him to record, and indeed he has in fact cut the vocals already on record. However, when he got eliminated, Taylor requested to record “Do I Make You Proud?” instead of what must be a crappier song they originally assigned to him.

    As for my choices:
    Blake should re-do “Time of the Season.”
    Jordin should re-do “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

    These songs best define their personalities throughout this season.

  • givein

    How about Mandy Moore’s 17 for Jordin?

    Livin’ in the moment
    Keepin my heart open
    While I’m only 17

    I’ll learn my lessons
    And I’ll make mistakes
    And if I get burned
    Well it’s my heart to break
    Because it feels right
    And it feels good
    And I’m not gonna do somethin’ stupid
    Just this once I wanna feel like
    I can do what I want

    & ZZ Top’s Beatbox for Blake:

    A nine volt battery from Japan
    It’s got the beat
    A little tape deck in my hand
    It’s so so sweet
    Keeps me rockin’ ’round the clock
    I don’t mind it
    I got the beatbox, the beatbox,
    Just a beatin’ that box
    Beatbox, beatbox

  • PrplDva

    LoveU
    May 18th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
    I would love for Jordin to sing ABBAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Dancing Queenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  because 1) I think she could do smashingly well on the vocal and 2) the line à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“young and sweet, only seventeenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  would cap off her American Idol run very precisely.

    Taylor did Dancing Queen in Seattle-I got all fangirly!- http://www.vimeo.com/clip:189900

    For those that don’t know why- check out the reference link right below the video.

  • Kirsten

    We now have it confirmed that the coronation song will be the same and a ballad (by Simon). That might favour Jordin, though they will both need an uptempo number to counteract the coronation song.

    BTW, Sorry for misunderstanding you earlier Shannon.

  • xoxoyc

    Jordin did say in an interview that she is going to do something younger after Simon’s comments to her last week. So hopefully she will mix it up.

    I know Blake will mix it up- so it should be an entertaining show!

  • http://www.myspace.com/swood1104 Sarah

    The last time Jordin tried to do something “young and modern,” she failed miserably (see Gwen Stefani week). Of course, that was upbeat. Watch her do a Beyonce ballad or something. Yaaaaaawn.

    If they are doing a new song for the 3rd choice, I’m with star. It’s time to break out some Jason Mraz, Blake!!!

  • radname

    The last time Jordin tried to do something à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“young and modern,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  she failed miserably (see Gwen Stefani week).

    Vocally Jordin was great for that song, it’s just a weird song to pick for a singing competition.
    I think Jordin has picked a lot of songs that require a lot of maturity to sing and she seems to take them on pretty well, in fact they’re usually the songs she does best on (To Love Somebody, I Who Have Nothing, Give Me One Reason)

  • http://www.myspace.com/swood1104 Sarah

    Actually, on “Hey Baby” Jordin was screechy and breathless. IMO, it was not a good vocal at all – a “hot mess” if you will – further solidifying that she cannot do uptempo songs very well. I think she’s done maybe one well this whole season.

  • bean99

    I have to agree with Sarah about “Hey Baby”. Awful vocals and worse outfit. I loved her performance of Heartbreaker so she can do the uptempo songs if she picks well.

    I guess Simon thinks Blake should do the Bon Jovi song. I just think it was so recent and won’t be the mouth opener it was.

  • radname

    If Blake changed the beginning and the middle, he could make the song fresh again.

  • xoxoyc

    Jordin did a good performance of Give Me One Reason as has been suggested by others so that might be good.

    I read over at IDF that the producers are expecting a close vote so it could come down to performances- though usually by finale night I don’t think it matters who does the best- America has already decided who they will vote for.

  • TabithaAV

    I’m out of lurker mode to share some news. A tech friend of mine told me that Fox is kind of laughing about all the crazy calls they got from Katherine McPhee fans this week because she’s supposedly not goingto be on the show next week. The funny thing is, she will be — and she’s singing a duet with Blake. The producers wanted to put last year’s runner-up with Blake, who they think stands good chance of being this year’s first runner-up. Blake and Katherine do this sort of this medley thing where Blake starts out singing part of one of his new songs (one of his own compositions, I think), then they segue into a song from Kathrineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album (?). He says the song has a killer beat but kind of weird lyrics, and at the end, Katherine and Blake go AT it, with Blake laying down some serious beatboxing riffs.

  • Margaux

    The Kat-Blake pairing could be very cute.

    If they are pairing “runner-up” and “runner-up”, does that mean they have plans for Taylor and Jordin? Can I hold out hope for Dancing Queen, only 17??

    Do they assume Blake will be second (dangerous.. ) or prefer the male-female pairing?

  • bean99

    I can’t see putting Blake with Taylor which would be a clash of genres or Kat with Jordin which would be twins. :laugh_tb: Thanks for the interesting news, Tabitha.

  • concettaz

    Hello??? :bye_tb:

    People are saying YGLABN is too recent for Blake???
    It was sung 3 weeks ago.

    Kat sang the song she sung the WEEK before, and got rave reviews for it the second time.

    Personally, I think Blake is one of the best song-choosers in the show, so I’m confident he’ll know what to do …..

    :tongue_wink_ee:

  • bean99

    Kat also sang Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and didn’t get good reviews. I thought she did good in it but think it was too soon. If Simon is asking for YGLABN then I’d hope he would be complimentary but Simon is anything but consistent.

  • mjs2570

    Exiting lurker mode for some more info:

    I was flipping through channels yesterday and watched a bit of the TV Guide channel Idol Chat show. They had the two big wigs, Nigel and Ken, and one of them mentioned that for the first time, Beatles tracks had been cleared. So possibly both could be singing a Beatles song tomorrow.

  • freethinker

    Not sure where tabitha is getting her info, but I am personal friend of Kat’s publicist (came here to register to set the record straight) and nothing about Kat singing at the finale is true, unfortunately. She’s not singing with Blake or alone.

  • david90531

    Blake’s song choices are brilliant and I believe he’ll make a good decision on the new song
    and I hope he’ll do Somewhere Only We Knew or Time of the Season
    Now I’m most worried about the new idol single… cuz cheesy songs don’t suit Blake.. hopefully he’ll create a great arrangement with it