What the hell was that?  Fantasia performed a very interesting song on American Idol tonight.  She moved it and shaked it and screamed out that song.  It was horrible.

It makes you wonder how she won Idol!  Don’t get me wrong, I think Fantasia can sing, I just think she’s not using her voice to it’s abilities.  

What’s your thought?  Did you like the song?

Idol Gives Back is on tonight. Celebrities from all walks of life will show to help raise money for those who need it around the world. However, Idol Gives Back starts early! 7:30 eastern, 6:30 central!

Scheduled to appear:

• Bono
• Brad Pitt
• Reese Witherspoon
• Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana)
• Mariah Carey
• Eli Manning
• Peyton Manning
• Fergie
• Chris Daughtry
• Carrie Underwood
• Robin Williams
• Celine Dion
• Forest Whitaker
• Billy Crystal
• Dane Cook
• Kiefer Sutherland
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Ashley Tisdale
• Jennifer Connolly
• Elliott Yamin
• Fantasia
• Annie Lennox
• John Legend
• Snoop Dogg
• Maroon 5
• Heart
• Gloria Estefan
• … and many more.

Last year an extraordinary amount of money, over $75 million, was raised and I’m certain we can surpass it this year.

You can donate online or call in (1 877 436 5243). Last year you could donate via iTunes or even just purchase music to support Idol Gives Back! All the ways to donate will be revealed during tonights show.

Congratulations to Jordin Sparks as she won the American Idol Finale last night in Hollywood. She beat out the bet boxing Blake Lewis and definitely deserves the title.

The show, which was just over two hours long, seemed more about American Idol overall than season 6 or Jordan and Blake.

All former Idols where there with the exception of Fantasia who was busy on broadway. Kelly Clarkson kicked off the show with her new single. Tailor also sang his new single. Carrie sang her Idol Gives Back song and Rubin did a duet with Jordin. Then all the Idols came back on stage and did a tribute to Sargent Pepper.

There we also many musical guest stars but everyone was there trying to up their album sales. Pretty soon we’ll have a commercial free American Idol as it’s all turning into advertising anyway.

Carrie Underwood was presented with an award from the American Idol record company for having the biggest selling album. With just over 6 million sales, and tons of awards, she’s well on her way to be the biggest Idol ever. It was also noted that Chris Daughtry, who placed fourth last year, has the biggest selling album so far this year. Not just for American Idol, but for the music industry overall. Taylor has almost half a million album sales, Kathrine is at about a quarter of a million and Chris is at two million. Interesting.

Last night Melinda and Sanjaya also got to share the spotlight as those two Idols got their own spot on the show. Melinda sang with the group she use to sing backup for and they sang an odd song that sounded like something out of an after school special. Sanjaya sang his horrible You Really Got Me Going song with Joe Perry from Areosmith. Even Ashley Ferl was on hand to cry cry cry.

Ohh and lets not forget about the Golden Idol Awards. The awards that promote the worst and continue to tarnish the finale show. I really think these things hurt American Idol’s image as it shows they are not just looking for the best singer, but they reward the horrible, bush baby owl and giant chicken, singers. Come on.

And after all the Idol advertising and artists promoting their albums or shows it was time to get back to why we were all here, oh yea, to crown an American Idol.

609 Million votes were cast this season, 74 just for the finale. And what it all came down to was Jordin Sparks. The 17year old that has been amazing the judges and audience for the past few weeks. She deserves it and has earned it!

The American Idol finale was long, over done and seemed to focus more on everyone else than the two fighting it out for the title. I had to skip the season finale of Lost for this and it true Idol fashion, it was one hell of a show.

In a 2+ hour long show that was more about everyone else, Jordin Sparks took home the win in the end. Everyone was there too. The top 10, all past idol winners except Fantasia and even Melinda and Sanjaya got to sing in the spotlight. It was an odd night that seemed more like Idol advertising than a results show. And the horrid Golden Idol Awards were back. Ohh how I hate those things.

Congrats Jordan and I’ll be back with more insight tomorrow. To much buzz going on now as it is.

It’s Idol Gives Back week and your vote tonight helps raise money for those that need it. Honestly, making one phone call is all you have to do. It’s not that hard. Plus phone lines are open for four hours and that gives plenty of time. The call is free, the vote turns into cash, some kids get a meal. How can it be any better?

To keep in step with the theme, Idol wannabes sang inspirational songs.

Chris did an excellent job on Change the World and Melinda amazed on Faith Hill’s There Will Come a Day. Not many idols can hold a candle to voices like Faith’s but Melinda has no problems.

Blake sang John Lennon’s Imagine which is a beautiful song, but it just didn’t amaze like the others. He’ll most likely be in the bottom three.

Lakisha needs to stop singing previous Idol songs. She sang Fantasia’s I Believe and just couldn’t make it her own. Much like Blake, it was good but not the right choice. Again in the bottom three.

Phil took on Garth Books’ The Change. He did alright, but I didn’t feel like he put enough heart into it. Phil will make up the third in the bottom three.

Then there is Jordin. The 17yr old is almost walking away with the Idol title and making it look like a breeze. She sang Walk On and had everyone on their feet before she was even done. I thought she was going to break out and cry during it but she held strong. She’s simply amazing.

The best part of the night was the announcement that iTunes was going to have an exclusive Carrie Underwood song and Ford music videos on Wednesday! All download profits will benefit Idol Gives Back and I’ll be on there for sure.

What are you waiting for? Call in and vote now to help those that need it here in the US and around the world!

Ok, so it was a bit of a surprise to hear that Sanjaya Malakar was one of the top four guys. I liked Rudy Cardenas performance and didn’t see him going home so soon. Paul Kim, Amy Krebs and Nicole Tranquillo leave also. At this point, there are to many people to really care who gets the boot and who doesn’t. I’m not finding the talent that good or the show that addicting yet this year. Maybe there are still to many people.

And stopping by for a guest spot was Fantasia Barrino. I tuned out during that performance. I think she’s talented, but I’m not a fan. She did announce that she was going to be in a Broadway play though. It’s The Color Purple by Quincy Jones. We would have gotten a bit more info about it but Ryan Seacrest kind of cut Quincy off. Pretty bad too.

The highlight of the evening for me was hearing the ‘goodbye’ song. Last year it was Daniel Powter’s Bad Day and this year it’s none other than Chris Daughtry’s Home!!!! How cool is that? The song fits well and I hope they continue to use it all season long. Plus it’ll be great to see Chris’ guest appearance. You know it’ll happen sooner or later. Both songs by the way are less than a dollar each on iTunes.

What did you think of the show?

Is it to early to predict that a female will be the next American Idol? After tonight’s performances, it’s clear that the girls are outshining the boys by a long shot!

Stephanie Edwards kicked off the show on a high note and set the bar pretty high. The downside to Stephanie is she looks quite similar to Fantasia Barrino. It may be hard for people to see the real her when they keep thinking of Fantasia.

Two of my favorite girls also stole the show by sining their hearts out and brining down the house. Backup singer Melinda Doolittle has forever left the background singers and joined the stars. I found it interesting that last year she was thinking of being a backup singer for American Idol. Now she’s starring in it!

And then there was Lakisha Jones who Simon basically said was the next American Idol. Her performance was miles above anyone else and she impressed all three judges so much, they couldn’t think of anything bad to say. The only downside I saw was she looked a little freaky at times in her performance. She needs to work on stage presence a bit.

I think the thing that makes Melinda and Lakisha stand out is their lack of confidence. Gina Glocksen, who did quite good, may loose out on votes because she’s over confidante. There is to much of a good thing. Melinda and Lakisha seem more real and down to earth and I think that’s an excellent quality to have.

So far, after week one, the girls are kicking butt and Lakisha Jones is shining high above the rest.

As mentioned earlier, we picked up Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol at the store the other day and have been having a blast playing it. Can you handle the pressure? Are you the next American Idol?

In the game, there are two game modes, Karaoke and Idol. Karaoke is much like other versions of Karaoke Revolution where you sing at the beach, Vegas, rooftop or whatever and have a good time. This game really shines when you enter into the American Idol competition.

First off, you create your contestant. Pick your look from your skin tone to your sunglass and then get ready. You’re first stop is the auditions with Simon, Randy and Laura. Laura is who’s taking Paula’s place and looks a bit like Paula. The background is just like you see in Idol auditions and at the end, you are judged. If you sang well, you’ll get good mentions. Pitchy? Well they’ll tell you that too. And, if by chance your singing is horrible, they won’t let you go to Hollywood or Simon will surely tell you to never sing again.

After that you make your rounds from that first round with the basic stage to the final grand finale stage, the sets are represented really well. As you go along in the competition though, you can be cut at any time. Ryan Seacrest also appears in the game, but only as a voice. He comes on when it’s decision time much like on TV. Only in the game, he’s not quite so mean with long pauses and commercial interruptions.

An interesting note, other Idol contestants have names like Kelly, Bo, Rubin, Clay and Carrie. Their picture doesn’t match, but you are competing with the best.

As you rack up points and do well, you’ll unlock Idol video clips. Contestants from every year singing the songs represented in the game. And they are not all good. William Hung appears in a video clip along with a bunch of other horrible Idol auditions. But don’t fear, great clips from Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Fantasia Barrino, Kelly Clarkson and many others are there. Even some Idol faces that you may not quite remember like Justin Guarini.

The only thing really missing from this game is Paula Abdul. She’s been replaced by some Laura character and only shows up in the video clips. However, her Straight Up does appear on the song list for the game.

The only downside to the game is the freaky tongue action. I know that sounds weird, but when the judges are giving feedback, the tongue is really odd. Not sure who forgot to fix that code.

Overall the American Idol game represents the TV show very well and I’d highly recommend it to any fans. Randy says Dawg a lot and Simon will insult you for singing bad but that’s just how it is. I’m not the best singer, and I’ll never be an American Idol, but this is fun.

Karaoke Revolution Presents American Idol is available for Playstation 2. Since Playstation 3 can play PS2 games, it should also work with PS3.

Song List:
All My Life
Alone
(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me
Be Without You
Breakaway (by Kelly Clarkson)
Build Me Up Buttercup
Can’t Help Falling In Love
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Dilemma
Do I Make You Proud? (by Taylor Hicks)
Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me
Don’t You Want Me
Easy
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Flying Without Wings
Heartbreaker
Heaven
Hungry Like The Wolf
If You Don’t Know Me By Now
It’s Not Unusual
Just The Way You Are
Let’s Stay Together
Love Will Keep Us Together
More Than Words
Photograph
Piano Man
Proud Mary
Rock With You
Saving All My Love For You
She Bangs (made famous by William Hung)
Stand By Me
Stickwitu
Straight Up (by Paula Abdul)
Sugar, We’re Going Down
The Real Thing (by Bo Bice)
Total Eclipse Of The Heart
Unwritten
What A Girl Wants
You And Me
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling