Melinda Doolittle - Better Than 3rd Place

Nobody can quite explain it, and everyone is pretty much at a loss to explain why it is that Melinda Doolittle didn't make it to the final 2 on American Idol. Everyone was impressed with her from the very beginning, and she seemed to be gaining momentum every week. Even Simon Cowell never seemed to have much criticism for her other than to tell her to quit seeming so surprised that people liked her. Yet, on Wednesday night, when the final 2 are waiting to find out who the winner of American Idol 6 is, instead of being on the stage with Ryan Seacrest, she'll be offstage waiting to rush onstage to congratulate the winner.

There is nothing us American Idol fans love more than a great back story, and Melinda had one of the best. She was a shy backup singer, standing behind everyone else, and letting them have the spotlight. She had at one point thought of auditioning to be an American Idol backup singer, yet found her way to the regular Idol auditions on a lark, just accompanying her friends that were going. Waiting to appear before Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul, she talked about sitting on her hands to stop her nerves.

Appearing before the judges, she talked of her work as a professional background singer, then launched into a terrific version of For Once In My Life. The oddest thing about it was that while she was singing, the shyness disappeared, but once she was done singing, she seemed to want to disappear into the background again, reminiscent of Jerry Van Dyke on the Dick Van Dyke Show. He played a character who could only be fun and entertaining when he was sleepwalking. When he was awake, he was shy. Paula adored Melinda, while Randy had reservations about her being able to be comfortable being up front. Simon noted the irony of people that walk in to the auditions full of 'tude and confidence, but with little talent, while Melinda walked in to the auditions lacking 'tude and confidence with tremendous talent. They eagerly pushed her on to Hollywood to see how she would do.

We didn't see much of Melinda in Hollywood, but we still weren't surprised that she made the final 24, being that when we'd talk about who should be in final 24, her name was always one of them topping the list. Three of those top 12 women sang Aretha Franklin that first night of performing, but she was the only one that mastered Aretha. Even more interesting, was her relationship with the other Idols. She was seen consoling Jordin Sparks every time someone would get eliminated, and we soon learned the other Idols affectionately called her "Mama."

Melinda also got very real with us early on. Dedication week she dedicated My Funny Valentine to her best friends whom she called her "Gayles," meant to be like Oprah's best friend, Gayle. Since Melinda hated to shop, she counted on her Gayles to help her put her look together, and it just seemed to endear her to us even more that she was admitting that she would "look a hot mess" without them. She went on to blow us all away with My Funny Valentine, as she once again sang so masterfully. The following week she was masterful again with I'm a Woman and opened up even more to us, explaining she was a little bit OCD at times.

By the time final 12 started, everyone was looking at the three female power vocalists, knowing it would be impossible for two of the three to get to final 2. It was assumed Melinda would definitely be there, and some wondered if LaKisha Jones could pull it out to be standing there next to her in final 2. And this wasn't just the fans and judges that were thinking this, but the guest mentors were backing all this up as well, saying Melinda didn't need their help, and even Diana Ross got chills as Melinda sang a masterful version of Home.

It took until halfway through the competition for Simon Cowell, who always had nothing but admiration and praise for Melinda, to finally have a negative remark. During Latin week, when she was worried about not appearing sexy enough, she sang Sway, and he found it a little bit wooden, but the other judges liked it, and Melinda still didn't come close to appearing in bottom 2. The following week, country week, she was back on track as Simon once again heaped praise on her and told her to quit looking so surprised that people liked her. She was so safe, that as eliminations came about the following evening, six of the Idols were separated into two groups of three, and as everyone knew that surely Melinda was safe, she was told to sit with the group she felt was safe. She showed a lot of moxie as she sat down in the middle of the stage, refusing to pick a side. This was also the week we learned that she listens to gospel music when not doing Idol tunes, as she needed it to put up with that "hot mess of people," there at the show.

Melinda continued to impress weekly, always being called the resident pro, and being told she could hold masters classes for the others. Even when she took on the rock genre, singing Bon Jovi classics, she rocked it like nobody's business and earned comparisons to a young Tina Turner. Doing Bee Gees hits the following week it was more of the same, and it seemed there was no stopping her. There was honestly nothing she did wrong or had done wrong.

The week of final 3 started, and the big question was who would be standing beside Melinda Doolittle in the finale. Would it be Blake Lewis or Jordin Sparks? No one could say they weren't talented, but which one deserved to be standing next to Melinda? Throughout the performances that evening, Melinda didn't falter once, despite singing three separate songs. During a home visit to Tennessee, the governor pronounced it Melinda Doolittle Day and even renamed a street Melinda Doolittle Way.

Randy Jackson picked a difficult Whitney Houston song for Melinda to sing, knowing if anyone could do it, it would be her, and the producers picked a Tina Turner song to prove even more their label of "Young Tina Turner." After doing an encore of I'm a Woman, we could see how much her confidence had grown in her abilities throughout the weeks, and when asked who should be in final two, Simon Cowell said it didn't really matter as long as his girl, Melinda, was there.

Yet, when the votes were counted on Wednesday night, instead of it being a contest of who deserved to be standing next to Melinda in the final 2, the voters decided Blake and Jordin should be facing off against each other and Melinda was out. Simon looked none too pleased, and producer Nigel Lythgoe was quoted in an interview having some disdain for Simon and his strong words against Jordin the night before. He also admitted Jordin was his own personal choice for American Idol.

That's all well and good, Nigel, but is she the American majority's choice for American Idol? Something with all this just doesn't sit right. It's not just that I've watched favorite after favorite voted out. We're all reminded constantly that this isn't a contest so much of the best singer as it is popularity, but I just don't see the usual fanaticism that you find with the normal top two of American Idol.

In all the other years, except possibly season three, the one everyone keeps comparing to this one, this final two week had people arguing over who was better, and it was the same people who had been arguing for them all season wrong. Four years later, they're still arguing Clay vs. Ruben. But this year, there doesn't seem to be any crazy Jordin and Blake fanatics out there. The argument isn't about how good they are but why they're there. Blake does have his Blaker Girls, but I don't see anyone willing to throw themselves in front of a bus for Jordin.

Something somewhere went terribly wrong. I have a feeling throughout this offseason we'll have people arguing what it was, whether it was the judging, our choices for top 24 to begin with, the voting system, etc. No one really knows, but once they don't sell all the tickets this season to the tour, and once the winner's album doesn't sell as well as they'd expected, I'm expecting it all to be fixed by next year. It's too late for Melinda and some of the others that seemed to be eliminated way too soon, but that's okay, as I have a feeling she'll be snatched up soon in a contract regardless of being eliminated in third place.

You can contact me at LauraBelle@realityshack.com

For more information on American Idol, see Reality Shack or SirLinksalot: American Idol and for more on Melinda Doolittle, see SirLinksalot: Melinda Doolittle.