| Sanjaya Malakar - Final 8 Show - Latin Night with Jennifer Lopez |
| Ryan Seacrest bills Sanjaya as "The embodiment of Latin passion"! Ryan seems to enjoy poking gentle fun at young Mr Malakar. However, maybe Ryan isn't joking this time? "I have to to tell you, he really impressed me" says Latin Night mentor Jennifer Lopez, and she isn't talking about his hairdo. |
 | But, talking about hairdos, there is an interesting one in the Idol audience tonight. Brit bootcamper Thomas Lowe is supporting Sanjaya in famous fauxhawk fashion.
Oh, and Tom is also supporting Sanjaya's sister Shyamali. He's got his arm around her and the pair look as if they might even be an item. Romantic, isn't it? But then, so is Sanjaya's song choice tonight... Bésame Mucho.
This little Mexican masterpice, written back in 1940 by the singer/songwriter Consuelo Velázquez when she was just 15, turns out to be the perfect choice for Sanjaya. |
| Mucho of the Bésame Mucho lyric is in Spanish. Loosely translated it means "give me lots of kisses", so Sanjaya was probably really feeling this song when he sang it for Jennifer Lopez in rehearsals! |
| Tonight Sanjaya is conventionally coiffed and remains seated as he sings the lovely Latin ballad with beautiful sensitivity. Sanjaya's vocal is on pitch, passionate and he is positively smoldering on stage tonight. At last Sanjaya's got it all together in one performance, the vocal, the confidence, the emotion and even the brooding looks into the camera! |  |
We really love this performance, and on our scoresheet Sanjaya's just pipped Blake to the 'best performance' award. So far, Sanjaya has hardly been the most consistent performer but he has consistently surprised us week on week. This week he is surprisingly good! The panel agree...
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 | - Randy Jackson expresses amazement, "You're one of the smartest contestants I have ever met dude. That was actually really good!"
- Paula Abdul is positive, although her tone does sound a tad patronizing when she tells Sanjaya "it was nice. Very, very nice."
- Simon Cowell tries to sound negative, first saying "I couldn't understand a word of it", which probably just means he doesn't speak Spanish. He finishes on a compliment though, well kind of, "It wasn't horrible".
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Sanjaya, young and wise enough to recognize a Cowell compliment when he hears one, beams with delight!
In the audience, sister Shyamali, Tom Lowe and a friend excitedly exchange high fives.
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