Mood: sad
I was very sad to see Melinda Dolittle leave on tonight's program. I didn't think she'd be the next Idol, but I thought she'd be in the final for sure.
Melinda was Simon Cowell's favourite from the start and I think that part of the voting was a reaction against Simon trying to influence the vote in her favor.
Simon has been right many times on who continued and who got voted off. The anti Simon vote could have helped Jordin too because he called the best song of last night (I Who Have Nothing) an old fashioned 60-year relic. Melinda's "I am a woman" is at least 35 years old but Simon never mentioned that one.
It's obvious that Blake Lewis doesn't have the voice to compete with the ladies, but he was singing songs known to a younger crowd. Unfortunately, choice of song can play positively or negatively with an audience.
What really matters is that Melinda has a great career ahead of her irregardless of "An American Idol Outcome". Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry and others have got voted off, but ended up with careers anyway.