Finalists forget lyrics on ‘American Idol’

“American Idol” began the finals by showing what is at stake. Footage of Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia Barrino, and Jennifer Hudson illustrated exactly what can happen to finalists — even if Oscar winner Hudson’s probably annoyed that she’s being used to shill the show when the judges were big meanies to her during her season.

Hyperbole aside, this is indeed the biggest stage a young musician can have these days, and the longer a contestant can stay on, the more opportunities generally await. After all, Daughtry came in fourth last season, and Hudson finished seventh in season three. Both are doing well for themselves anyway, thanks to the “Idol” career boost.

One big key to sticking around is not forgetting the lyrics. But three of the finalists did: Brandon Rogers, Haley Scarnato and Stephanie Edwards. Admittedly, Diana Ross, who served as both mentor and theme for the week, has some songs with intricate vocals. But it’s probably best to either study the words or pick easier songs.

Another key is to stand out from the crowd. In that sense, nothing much changed this week. Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones continued to dominate, while the rest of the competitors lagged far behind.

NBC VIDEO 'Idol' favorites March 14: Access Hollywood's Laura Saltman speaks with MSNBC's Alex Witt about "Idol" front-runners Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones. MSNBC

Brandon Rogers, 28, North Hollywood, Calif.: Rogers sang “You Can’t Hurry Love,” and it might just hurry his exit from the show. The former backup singer continued his habit of undersinging, not really letting his voice explode. He finished stronger than he began, and if that’s what the viewers remember, he may survive. While Paula stressed the things he did right, the other judges weren’t impressed. Plus he committed the cardinal sin of forgetting some of the lyrics.
Grade: D+
Stay or go? “I felt it was going my way … until I forgot the words,” Rogers said after he finished. That’s never a good sign. Nor is it good to have Simon call the performance akin to that of “a background singer to a background singer.” He’s in trouble.

Melinda Doolittle, 29, Brentwood, Tenn .: Doolittle said the hardest thing about the competition was wearing the high heels instead of tennis shoes. Not only did that endear her to all the women in the audience, it also sparked the weekly are-they-or-aren’t-they banter from Simon and Ryan. Singing “Home” from “The Wiz,” she and Paula broke down in tears. Emotions aside, Doolittle did well enough to remind Simon of a young Gladys Knight … not bad praise for Doolittle, who before this competition made a living as one of the music industry’s Pips.
Grade: A+
Stay or go? Of course Melinda’s safe. She’ll be safe until May.

Chris Sligh, 28, Greenville, S.C.: Sligh chose to sing “Endless Love,” and put a modern spin on an older song. He ditched the glasses — which may or may not be an improvement — and again showed he’s more than simply a personality. He came through with a big performance, especially considering he followed Melinda Doolittle’s show-stopper. But the judges didn’t agree. Randy wasn’t crazy about him merging Coldplay with Diana Ross, and Simon called the melody a wreck.
Grade: B+
Stay or go? Wow, the judges once again showed they don’t think much of modern music, since they didn’t like the arrangement. But the voters will probably disagree.

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Gina Glocksen, 22, Naperville, Ill.: Glocksen sang “Love Child,” the closest song in the Ross songbook to her own rock style. It wasn’t her best performance. Though she started well, the performance broke down a little bit in the middle. As Simon said, it wasn’t terrible and it wasn’t fantastic, which isn’t great news at this stage of the game.
Grade: B-
Stay or go? If Glocksen was still just competing against the girls, she’d be in big trouble. She still might end up in the bottom three, but won’t be voted off.

Sanjaya Malakar, 17, Federal Way, Wash.: “It’s like Van Gogh teaching you how to paint,” Malakar said about having Ross as a singing mentor. Her No. 1 hit “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” might have struck a chord because it reminded him of the hurdles he has to go through on “Idol,” but those hurdles only got bigger with this performance. He still stands out as the one finalist who just isn’t good enough to be here. The judges, per usual, hated it. “Thank God for the background singers,” Randy said.
Grade: D+
Stay or go? Malakar is a sweet kid with a nice smile, as Paula said, but he sounds like he’s in a high school musical. He should be going home this week. At this point, he may have to attack Ryan Seacrest with a spork to generate enough ill will to be voted off.

Haley Scarnato, 24, San Antonio: Diana Ross called Scarnato a recording-studio voice rather than one suited to live singing, which might rank as one of the more perceptive guest-judge comments in recent memory. Scarnato picked a nice song in “Missing You,” but again didn’t come through with the big notes and forgot the lyrics in the middle. Even studio singers can’t get away with that. She screwed it up badly enough that the judges took pity on her and weren’t as mean as usual. In fact Simon, perhaps making up for last week’s brutal evaluation, was very complimentary in citing her stage presence and some of her vocals. Plus he remembered her name.
Grade: D+
Stay or go? “I messed up the words — I feel like such a schmuck,” Scarnato said. The judges comments may well save her, but she’s definitely a strong candidate for the bottom three.

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