American Idol: The bell tolls for John Stevens

At long last, America did the humane thing and put John Stevens out of his misery. Tuesday night’s musical atrocities were committed against Gloria Estefan, who guest judged. All of the contestants were way off their game, painfully proving that Latin music is not as easy as it looks (or sounds).

I have never really been a big fan of Gloria Estefan. I thought most of her songs were overrated and overplayed. It’s partly that I’m not really into that kind of music, but also I didn’t perceive her as extremely talented. I have to say, though, she could run musical circles around any of those contestants when it comes to Latin music.

Remember how I was saying last week that Jennifer kept getting better and better with each passing week? Jasmine has done just the opposite. Every week she seems to get worse and worse. Her performance on Tuesday was downright painful to hear. She should be very thankful that she’s coming back next week. And what a difference a couple of months makes for Fantasia. In the “Final 32″ auditions, Simon couldn’t say enough good things about her. On Tuesday, he told her she sounds like Donald Duck on helium. D’oh! I’m guessing she has a week or two left before she gets voted off. One can only hope…

The dents in George’s armor are starting to show. For the first time in the finals, he was in the bottom three. Incredibly, Jasmine got more votes than he did. Could George be on the way out? Maybe, but this year the voting reminds me of most internet stocks in 1998-1999. Up 20% one day, down 10% the next. LaToya and Fantasia were in the bottom three last week; this week they were in the top three. There’s almost no consistency of any kind in the voting results. For that reason, it’s just downright silly to be predicting a winner, but do you think that’s going to stop me?

I’m still standing by my main man, George, to win this. I think the final showdown will be between him and LaToya. Jasmine and Diana are not talented enough, and Fantasia acts and sounds annoying beyond what mere words can express.

A quick side note about Elton John’s comments about racism in last week’s results: This wasn’t about race. There are two things that matter most to America: personality and singing talent, not always in that order. John Stevens is a cool guy, but he can’t sing, so he had to go. Jennifer is a great singer, but she has an abrasive personality, so she had to go. In a similar vein, I think Fantasia’s days are numbered. She’s a very good singer, but she is one of the most stuck up and obnoxious contestants ever to make it into the finals. Despite what Ryan Seacrest and the judges would have the public believe, it takes more than just singing talent to win.

Brian