I've been playing a lot of Virtua Tennis 3 lately. Fun game. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of real tennis, but in the video game I like the way that such a relatively simple game can breed players of so many vastly different styles. "American Idol" isn't at all simple, but it has its serve-and-volley singers, its power baseliners, and its return game specialists all the same. Now that we're well into the endgame, it's worth reconsidering how the final three contestants initially made their marks and what they did to stay alive during the series' interminable middle section.

Jordin Sparks Jordin's angle has been her youth and her vivacious manner since the auditions, something that has held up for the entire length of the competition. Jordin occasionally endangered herself by picking songs that overindulged her bubbly image at the expense of solid melodies allowing her to showcase her fine singing voice. The pick made for her for Tuesday night's show by Simon Cowell suggested that Simon feels the same way I do about Jordin. Her personality and her youthfulness are most flattering when they're allowed to come across naturally. When she deliberately dresses or acts like a little girl, it's overkill, especially in comparison to the matronly Melinda Doolittle and the uptown Blake Lewis. Simon picked some disco oddity, "Wishing on a Star," and Jordin sang it adroitly. It wasn't terribly exciting but it was convincing: Sparks is no lightweight, even if her persona when she's not performing suggests otherwise. This sounded very much like the work of a pro, adjusting to an unfamiliar song and genre and attacking it in the most direct way possible. I am surprised though that the arrangement seemed to only increase the song's old-fashionedness. Jordin's vocal suggested a more modern approach and if the band was matching her it might have taken off a great deal more than it did. 8

Blake Lewis It was bad luck for Blake having the perpetually out-to-lunch Paula Abdul making his song choice, but it might have ended up a blessing in disguise. Simon was right to call Paula's choice of the Police's "Roxanne" a stupid one, since no one besides Sting really can or should sing that song. Besides, we've suffered through more than enough awful Police interpretations this season as it stands. To my surprise, Blake managed to not utterly bury himself on "Roxanne." It was obvious from the beginning he had no shot of replicating the original's melody, but he did a surprisingly effective job telescoping it down to something that was manageable within his range. Blake is without a doubt the most musically savvy contestant remaining, and he clearly put the song together in such a way that the most important notes would be right at the part of his high tenor where he would be straining pleasingly but still in pitch. The chorus of the song sounded weird, almost disastrously so, with the band's female backing singers handling the normally male-sung vocals. Now, do more people know the song kind of well or really well? Those who kind of know the song might have found the glitchy chorus unbearable. Those who really know the tune, though, can appreciate how well Lewis rose to meet the challenge of a hard, hard song to sing. He needed a solid straight-up vocal at some point on the evening, and getting it out of the way first allowed him to totally do his thing on his last two songs. 7

Melinda Doolittle Randy Jackson has Melinda pegged, clearly, with his choice of a Whitney Houston song, "I Believe in You & Me." Here's the challenge for Melinda (and Whitney), though. Are technically masterful, personality-deficient ballad delivery systems at all commercially relevant in the ProTools era? While the judges were immoderate in the praises for Melinda once again, I found this her first really problematic vocal for the whole of the contest. One week left and finally we see Doolittle's weakness! Her high register isn't very good. She actually lost pitch a few times and was painfully shrill a couple more. When she was in her right place she was briefly hair-raising in a good way, but I found it overall a rather damning summary of Melinda's "Idol" candidacy. Her comfort zone as a singer extends far beyond that of anyone else this year or maybe even in the show's history, but when she takes any kind of risk at all, it's brutally clear how unnatural she is at it. I don't know the rest of America will react, but this is where I decided once and for all she's not my "Idol." 7

Jordin Sparks And you the judges were clueless! The "Idol" producers randomly picked another old disco song, "She Works Hard for the Money," for Jordin. I think she could have made it really work for her by embracing its silliness, going for a sweatband/Flashdance kind of thing and running about the stage like a lunatic. Jordin seemed to take it seriously, though, really trying to feel the emotions of this woman who works hard for the money... so hard for the money. Jordin can be something of a blank slate for whichever song has been selected for her, and her first two outings showed off her schmaltzy side and her ditzy side in turn. But I have to say, I was much more affected by Jordin's efforts on two songs that were lousy for her than Melinda's delivery of two right up her alley. 7

Blake Lewis No matter what happens after this week, Blake Lewis is going to have producers beating down his door to work with him on his first album. What I was saying earlier about opening, midgame, and endgame strategies is especially relevant to Blake. He was one of the stars of the early shows because of his beatboxing. Then he kind of faded into the middle of the pack during the semifinals. Here he is in the final three, and he seems to be the only one who is just doing his best work now. "This Love," the Maroon 5 hit, was a perfect song for Blake. The melody was right where he can handle it, the rhythm allowed him to do some vocal percussion that wasn't at all gratuitous or awkwardly grafted in, and his confidence in his dance moves came back. In the right register, Blake's voice has real personality. It's not perfect nor particularly powerful, but that's not really what stars are made of and Blake, the "Idol" producers, and the judges know it. That's why he's going to have the best career of this cast. The "Idol" format, with singers having to stay afloat through radical genre changes every week, doesn't bear much resemblance to the "real" pop world, where it only takes one three-minute hit to begin a career. Unlike Jordin and Melinda, Blake doesn't need to show his versatility in these last few shows. He just needs to do what he does, and hip-hop blue-eyed soul is totally in right now. 9

Melinda Doolittle The producers went obscure with the choice of an old Tina Turner tune, "Nutbush City Limits," for Melinda's second turn. They knew what they were doing, though, as it was a brassy low-register blaster that Melinda could have sung without the assistance of any higher brain function whatsoever. Doolittle is doing her best to show personality at this late hour, but it's not working for me. Fake sassiness is so unsassy. I've said it before, but what an instrument Melinda has. She is amazingly talented. It is clear she should be some kind of professional singer. She already was, though, before "Idol." She worked as a backing vocalist, a role to which she is eminently suited. I don't think she's a pop star of any kind. Blake and Jordin have "it" factor; Melinda just has those pipes. I think things would go better for everyone if she didn't win. Remember, my numerical scores are mostly for the technical level of the performance. I don't think Melinda despite outsinging the other two did anything last night to win her more votes. Blake, on the other hand, had to have raised a lot of eyebrows. 9

Jordin Sparks So after the first two performances from each singer, I had given up on Melinda, totally bought into Blake, and was still on the fence about Jordin. Well, here's your big chance, kid. So what are you going to do? Make a colossal mistake that ought to blow up right in your face, if there's any justice in the world. The contestants were asked to pick a favorite song for their final outing of the night, but Jordin didn't pick a favorite song of hers, she just picked a song that she had gotten good responses to when she first performed it a couple of weeks ago. That's lame. What's more, her revisitation of "I (Who Have Nothing)" was entirely indistinguishable from the first time she sang it for British Invasion week. It would be one thing if she'd done it a capella in the audition rounds or with the smaller bands during the semifinals, but it was only a couple of shows ago! My biggest problem with Jordin has always been that she seems a little, well, dumb. I have a problem with dumb people. This was an amazingly dumb move, and especially so given that the song didn't really mesh well with the other two she had done. For extra credit, Jordin also babbled incoherently when presented with a free shot at Simon's hypocrisy in picking a 70's song for her to sing then dissing her as old-fashioned. She had the whole contest right there in front of her to win, and she subjected us to a rerun. Lame! n/a

Blake Lewis Wow! Blake seemed to be slipping desperately in the weeks before he became the last man standing, but now he looks like heir apparent. If his "This Love" was a unexpected flurry of discombobulating blows to the competition, his version of Robin Thicke's "When I Get You Alone" was a knockout blow. How much more hip and relevant and interesting does Blake suddenly seem now that he's getting to sing the songs he wants to sing? It's all coming together for me, with Blake's beatboxing fitting in as a part of the whole and the charms of his fey little wisp of a voice becoming ever more apparent. You have my vote, short stuff. 9

Melinda Doolittle Another rerun! Unbelievable! Don't these people have any common sense at all? After Blake took the initiative and gave two of his best performances of the entire season, Melinda and Jordin did retreads. At least in Doolittle's case I can believe that "I'm a Woman" really is one of her favorite songs dating from before her "Idol" campaign began. She wasn't blatantly trying to play to her press clippings the way Jordin was. (Let me repeat. I cannot believe how stupid Jordin Sparks is. If she wins she and America deserve each other.) But Melinda was playing right into my hands by literally repeating an old performance rather than merely just doing the same old shtick on a nominally new song. She's technically grand, as we've known since day one. But she's otherwise uninteresting, and has resisted all opportunities to show range, grit, or dimension. For Jordin, picking a rerun as final song seemed stupid. For Melinda, it just seemed complacent, and that word more than any other sums up her whole season. n/a

The picks:

Homes: Melinda Doolittle
Lobes: Melinda Doolittle
4-Sided Die: Jordin Sparks