All Things Gwen
For AI Top Ten
The Top Ten of American Idol 6 hit the stage this week singing the music that inspired Gwen Stefani. Despite the strange theme, it was cool to see the contestants mingle with and get advice from one of the top stars of today.

The It's Destiny! guest panelist this week is 22-year-old Jackie from Phoenix, Arizona.

Following is the It's Destiny! panel's take on the AI6 Top 10: The Music That Inspired Gwen Stefani.

LaKisha Jones "Last Dance"
Jackie: What's up girls! Glad to be here this week on the panel. And I am glad to see LaKisha rockin a hot outfit. Younger and cooler than we've seen from her before. Didn't love the song (what is the theme again?), but can't say she didn't sing it well.
Score: 8.0
Destiny: Welcome, Jackie. Glad to have you here- it's always nice to have a guy's perspective on things. I agree about LaKisha's outfit. This is so much better than the gowns she's been sporting lately. It's nice to see her put out a younger vibe. I say it every week, but I have to say it again: LaKisha still isn't bringing everything she could to the stage. There's greatness inside her, and she was better this week, but it still isn't everything she could be.
Score: 8.3
Liza: Hey Jackie! I'm with you on this theme business. This is the lamest theme ever ... artists that inspire Gwen Stefani? And she has three songs on here. Snort. Anyway, I agree with you all about LaKisha finally looking her age. It was good to see her bring some fashion sense, good hair and finally some personality. It wasn't her best vocal performance ever, but I appreciate her effort all the way around.
Score: 8.25

Chris Sligh "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
Jackie: This dude is cool. Pretty funny. Not a great singer, though. He's more like a college buddy who is cool to have around at parties.
Score: 7.5
Destiny: Well, I must say it first: Chris Sligh is no Constantine! This only made me miss his version of this song. That aside, Sligh needs to hit the road ASAP. Glad you find him cool and funny, Jackie, but I find him grating (moreso as each week passes). I agree with you, though, on the fact that he is not a great singer.
Score: 5.0
Liza: I thought it was funny that Gwen Stefani quickly noticed Chris' main flaw in just about every performance - keeping on tempo. It's getting kind of ridiculous because it's not as if Chris hasn't been told almost every week that he's off tempo. He either doesn't listen or he isn't skilled enough to correct it. This one was the most obvious one yet. Perhaps the echo effect screwed with his head, but this was really, really rough. And , Randy, why do you give him an opening to make excuses (again!). Well, as Chris said himself, "It was my bad." Yes, it certainly was.
Score: 5.75

Gina Glocksen "I'll Stand By You"
Jackie: Gina is my girl! I'd like to see her and Gwen together again. Both cool souls. Gina sounded awesome on this song. The outfit rocked.
Score: 9.0
Destiny: Gina did sound awesome on this song. I love how much she loves being on American Idol. It was nice to see her get some positive feedback from the judges. She is getting better each week with her performances. As Simon said: chalk and cheese indeed.
Score: 8.9
Liza: Best performance of the night and Gina's best ever on this show. It was a perfect song choice, and she hit the right chords emotionally, not to mention the big notes. I hated the outfit, but who cares? She was fantastic tonight.
Score: 9.0

Sanjaya Malakar "Bathwater"
Jackie: Gwen's comments before the performance said it all. He needed good luck with this one. Ridiculous.
Score: 3.0
Destiny: Yikes. Why in the world did he choose this song? The words didn't fit him, nor did the song style. I guess all you can say is Sanjaya certainly has guts. Or he's totally clueless.
Score: 5.0
Liza: Probably a combo of guts and cluelessness, but Sanjaya really needed to show more guts because, as Paula and Randy said, he should have just gone for it. This whole thing with Sanjaya is just beyond absurd, so he may as well go all out like he did with "You Really Got Me". This was half-hearted, save for the mohawk, which I choose to believe is an homage to the No Doubt drummer. He also committed two cardinal Idol sins - he talked back to Simon, and he forgot the words. Let's just hope that the double whammy finally removes him from the competition.
Score: 4.0

Haley Scarnato "True Colors"
Jackie: Haley is hot to look at, but it's like listening to my mom sing. Weird combo.
Score: 7.0
Destiny: Haley is growing on me week to week. She looked good again, and she sounded good. It wasn't spectacular, but it was pretty.
Score: 8.0
Liza: LOL, Jackie! I agree with Simon - it's a bit of a forgettable performance. It was a lovely vocal but quite inaudible at times. I know that the song calls for a softer vocal, but, as Hugh Grant said in Music and Lyrics "A little bit louder because this song was intended for humans."
Score: 7.0

Phil Stacey "Every Breath You Take"
Jackie: This is the best I've liked Phil. Cool job on a cool song.
Score: 8.9
Destiny: Great song choice for Phil. One of his best showings on the show: great outfit (love him in a hat), great song choice, great vocals. Good for him. Hope he keeps it up. His voice is so good and appealing.
Score: 9.0
Liza: Phil starts out well! Phil ends well! This is his best performance in a long time. But homeboy needs to ease up on the makeup. He looks almost macabre.
Score: 8.5

Melinda Doolittle "Heaven Knows"
Jackie: Like Gwen said, I could say this was good, but I don't need to. She sounds great on everything she sings.
Score: 9.0
Destiny: I enjoy Melinda so much better when she does an up-tempo song like this. I like to see some personality from her. I'm still not on the Melinda-is-the-bomb bandwagon, but she was good.
Score: 8.5
Liza: Finally ... up-tempo from Melinda! Her range is amazing - she goes from really low to high so easily, and she worked the stage. It's not my favorite performance of hers, but she is still a joy to watch.
Score: 8.75

Blake Lewis "Lovesong"
Jackie: This was cool! Blake is awesome. I liked that he took a break from the beat box thing too.
Score: 9.0
Destiny: I agree that it was smart for him to not beat box this week just for the sake of variety. Guess he took Gwen's advice to heart. I love everything about Blake. One of the most exciting contestants on Idol. Nice to hear him get the praise he deserves from the judges. I just hope that the frontrunner label this early doesn't harm him.
Score: 9.0
Liza: Thank goodness for Blake and his non-Idol song choices. I really wish he would quit the faux Brit accent, though. It's a little pretentious. And don't most Brits lose their accents when they sing? Having said that, though, I thought it was his best vocal yet. Also, it's interesting that Simon brought up Daughtry, the king of using other bands' arrangements of songs. Blake did 311's arrangement. At least he didn't try to play it off as if it was his own!
Score: 8.75

Jordin Sparks "Hey, Baby"
Jackie: This was a surprise song from Jordin. I wasn't expecting that from her, but I liked it. She's a fun girl with a young energy.
Score: 8.8
Destiny: I agree this was an unexpected song choice for Jordin. She sounded good on it. The song doesn't lend itself to a showstopping American Idol performance because of it's reliance on the background artists. Considering that, she did a good job with it.
Score: 8.9
Liza: Meh. I hated the outfit, and I thought she picked the wrong song for a vocal competition. It was kind of a mess, but I loved her sassy attitude during the performance. "Brilliant", Randy? Hardly.
Score: 7.0

Chris Richardson "Don't Speak"
Jackie: Chris is the kind of guy you don't want around your girlfriend. I ain't jealous though. I can admit that he's cool and that he is a great singer. This was a cool performance.
Score: 9.0
Destiny: Yeah, Chris definitely appeals to this girl. He sounded great on the song, as usual. Simon saying that Chris was in the bottom two last week because of his song choice is ridiculous. That was a fabulous performance, and his near-ouster was due to no fault of his own. Back to this week, his voice was great, and his performance was full of emotion. Nice. I'd buy his album and see him in concert any day.
Score: 9.0
Liza: Well, his song choice could have been the reason he was in the bottom two last week. It certainly wasn't because he gave a bad vocal. If people aren't that familiar with the song, they may not vote. But back to this week ... I snickered when Gwen said "Vocal Olympics" because Chris tends to fall back on that, but he kept it pretty clean again this week. And Randy, who is really getting on my nerves tonight, needs to shut it and not encourage the runs. It's refreshing to see a guy sing a woman's song. I didn't think he'd be able to pull it off, but he surprises me every week. He kind of mangled the lyrics at the end, but otherwise delivered a good performance.
Score: 8.0

Who Should Be Eliminated:
Jackie: Sanjaya
Destiny: Chris Sligh
Liza: Sanjaya

Who Will Be Eliminated:
Jackie: Sanjaya
Destiny: Haley
Liza: Haley

Calling All Fans!
Want to be like our guest panelist, Jackie? We want to hear from you this season. Each week we will feature a different reader as a guest panelist to give us their take on American Idol. If you're interested in being a guest panelist, please use the "Contact Us" form to write in and give us your information. Be sure to include your name, age, and where you're from. If chosen, we will contact you with further details.

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We asked you, "For Whom Did You Vote This Week On AI?"
34% Jordin, 22% Blake, 13% Sanjaya
7% Melinda, 5.5% Gina, 5% Chris R.
4.6% LaKisha, 3.8% Stephanie, 3% Phil, 1.6% Haley, 0.5% Chris S.

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