American Idol Rankdown 2.0

[sublymonal]

  17. Blake Lewis

Average Score:

14.125

Rankings:

@Elliott - 4th

@Alex95 - 11th

@NGM - 11th

@Zoey - 14th

Public - 16th

@*Chris - 17th

@Solaris - 20th

@1234567890 - 20th

 

Quote

I ranked Blake 3rd. My love for him has probably faded since his season, but only a little. During his season and for several seasons afterwards, he was my number one, but he will always hold a special place in my heart because Season 6 was the reason I really got into Idol and what led to me meeting Elliott in the first place. Season 6 was also the first Idol tour I went to where I was committed enough to wait to meet the contestants afterwards and met Blake (see the above photo). I was a huge fan of him and Chris (and, embarrassingly, part of the "Cake" fandom ).

 

Some people might argue that Blake doesn't deserve a spot in the Top 20, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Vocally, sure, he isn't the strongest vocalist and even compared to some of the people during his season, he couldn't compete on that front, but Blake was one of the most original contestants we've ever had on the show and I'd argue that his beatboxing covers of "Time of the Season" and "You Give Love A Bad Name" were what paved the way for other success stories like David Cook, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert to rearrange songs in subsequent seasons. It only took Bon Jovi himself saying that Blake could never pull it off and then Blake to stick the landing to make the Idol judges, producers and audience rethink everything they knew about Idol as a karaoke contest.

 

As much as I am a fan of Blake, and I do think he deserved to be in the Top 2, in my opinion, Melinda deserved to win it all so I'm glad to see her get the Season 6 win in this rankdown. I also think that Blake stumbled a bit after Chris left and "This is My Now" remains one of the WORST coronation singles to ever come out of the Idol franchise. Thankfully, when Blake got off the show, he got to do his music, his way. I'm a huge fan of all of his original music and although his sound has changed over the years (from electro-pop that wouldn't be out of place at the many pride festivals Blake has played, to 80's synth that mimicked some of the greats from that era like Wham and Boy George, to Post Modern Jukebox style big band tracks after he toured with them), Elliott and I still play his music on high rotation during our road trips.

 

I haven't seen him live since the Idol tour, but Elliott has managed to catch a few of his shows with his roomie from Season 5, Elliott Yamin, and told Blake all about how he's partially responsible for us meeting which he was THRILLED about. Hopefully once we're able to travel and see concerts again, we'll be able to catch another one of his shows together and I finally be able to meet him again.

 

  

On 8/31/2020 at 11:33 AM, Elliott said:

I always considered myself more of a casual watcher of Idol until season six rolled around, and something about Blake Lewis made me get involved in Idol fandom. So, in a sense, you could say Blake was responsible for me joining IDF and then other Idol-related communities, and meeting Andrew which led to us dating and getting married. As part of season six, Blake was a truly revolutionary Idol contestant and I think largely contributed to Idol being so pro-artistry (for lack of a better term) in the seasons afterward. His performance of You Give Love a Bad Name is still my all-time favourite American Idol performance, and I think a Melinda vs Blake finale would've just been *chef's kiss*. His post-Idol music - particularly the second, third and fourth ones - has been great, and I've gladly contributed to his crowdfunding campaigns for them.

  

On 8/26/2020 at 12:01 AM, Alex95 said:

Definitely one of the most innovative and game-changing Idol contestants ever. Blake is one of the earliest contestants to take risks and he walked so many after him could run. Blake was never the best singer in the competition and no one ever pretended like he was. But he also wasn't bad. Blake stood out heads and shoulders amongst the male cast in season six, which is quite possibly the weakest male cast in Idol history (until S12 happened). Blake had a trio of wildly imaginative and entertaining performances during the semis with "Somewhere Only We Know", "Virtual Insanity", and "All Mixed Up". However, I really began paying attention to him during "Time of the Season" which is my second favorite performance of his and one of my faves of the season. I love the way he rearranged the song and thought he sounded amazing. I really started paying attention to him as a frontrunner at this point. He solidified my love for him during his performance of "I Need To Know" where he proved that he was able to hold his own in a singing competition as well. Blake's obvious breakthrough was with "You Give Love A Bad Name" obviously though. As predictable as it may be, it's my favorite Blake performance ever and my favorite non-Melinda performance of the season.I'll go as far to say that it was my favorite performance of Bon Jovi night (which is very difficult for me to say as a Melinda stan because I cannot believe I'm putting anything above "Have A Nice Day"). We had never seen anything like Blake's performance on Bon Jovi night. And we really haven't seen anything like it since. That performance along locked Blake's place in the final two up. I'll forever be a bit bitter at him and Jordin for robbing Melinda, but luckily it's been years and I do still like both. Blake was screwed in that finale getting saddled with "This Is My Now" which was never gonna sound good from him compared to Jordin lol. But I doubt he really wanted to win that bad and get that contract so it was probably for the best .

  

On 8/30/2020 at 11:49 PM, *Chris said:

BLAKE LEWIS

 

If this rankdown happened shortly after Season 6, Blake Lewis would have been higher than this as he was one of my favourite at the time - I absolutely enjoyed his artistry, and I still do in 2020. However, his journey didn't really aged well, personally speaking; He still have one of the best performance of all-time but when I think about his other performances, I don't get excited about them. I also feel that I ranked him lower than I expected due to the fact that I haven't really been following his career post-idol, and I want Melinda to win the season as it's a shame that she did not make it to this round during the first rankdown.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by sublymonal

[Elliott]

Only eight acts into the Top 24 and I’ve already had two Idols in my top four show up.

 

Legends only

[Elliott]

On 9/3/2020 at 12:09 PM, Elliott said:

Here I am, constantly setting a new standard for flopping in a final ranking 

Still relevant 👁👁

[sublymonal]

3 minutes ago, Elliott said:

Only eight acts into the Top 24 and I’ve already had two Idols in my top four show up.

 

Legends only

 

[sublymonal]

Also, this means Melinda is our Season 6 winner! Updated winner's banner coming soon!

[Bk1234]

11 minutes ago, sublymonal said:

17. Blake Lewis

Edited September 13, 2020 by Bk1234

[FrogLenzen]

22 minutes ago, sublymonal said:

I.C.O.N.I.C.

[Crisis]

Blake was my least favorite remaining, but he was the contestant who helped change Idol from the mostly karaoke contest it was prior to his arrival.

 

At least Melinda is the last one standing from her season. 

[Solaris]

this placement is fine.

[sublymonal]

#16 coming soon! Any guesses? 

[1234567890]

Alex

 

01.

02.

03. Haley Reinhart

04.

05.

06. Elise Testone

07.

08. Adam Lambert

09.

10.

11. Blake Lewis

12.

13. Jennifer Hudson

14. Jurnee

15.

16.

17. Trenyce

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24. Lee DeWyze

 

Chris

 

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11. Lee DeWyze

12.

13.

14.

15.

16. Elise Testone

17. Blake Lewis

18. Jennifer Hudson

19.

20. Adam Lambert

21.

22. Trenyce

23. Jurnee

24. Haley Reinhart

 

Elliott

 

01. Lee DeWyze

02.

03.

04. Blake Lewis

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13. Elise Testone

14.

15.

16.

17. Trenyce

18. Jennifer Hudson

19. Jurnee

20. Adam Lambert

21.

22.

23.

24. Haley Reinhart

 

Nico

 

01.

02. Adam Lambert

03.

04.

05.

06. Elise Testone

07.

08.

09.

10.

11. Blake Lewis

12. Haley Reinhart

13. Jennifer Hudson

14. Trenyce

15.

16.

17.

18. Jurnee

19. Lee DeWyze

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

 

Public

 

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07. Haley Reinhart

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14. Jennifer Hudson

15. Adam Lambert

16. Blake Lewis

17.

18.

19. Elise Testone

20. Trenyce

21.

22.

23. Jurnee

24. Lee DeWyze

 

Sola

 

01.

02.

03. Haley Reinhart

04.

05. Jurnee

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15. Jennifer Hudson

16. Lee DeWyze

17.

18. Adam Lambert

19. Elise Testone

20. Blake Lewis

21.

22.

23.

24. Trenyce

 

Victoria

 

01.

02.

03.

04. Trenyce

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13. Jennifer Hudson

14.

15.

16. Jurnee

17.

18.

19. Adam Lambert

20. Blake Lewis

21.

22. Elise Testone

23. Lee DeWyze

24. Haley Reinhart

 

Zoey

 

01.

02.

03.

04.

05. Trenyce

06.

07.

08. Jurnee

09.

10. Jennifer Hudson

11.

12.

13.

14. Blake Lewis

15.

16. Elise Testone

17.

18. Haley Reinhart

19.

20.

21. Lee DeWyze

22.

23. Adam Lambert

24.

[Bk1234]

14 minutes ago, sublymonal said:

#16 coming soon! Any guesses? 

I’m predicting Kree Harrison again. One of these days I’ll be right.

[Weedy_Speedy]

Blake's alright, was definitely a game changing contestant to steer Idol into a more ~artistry~ perspective. His artistic side is definitely a lot more interesting than a few contestants that came after him. It seemed like for a year or two that ~artistry~ just meant playing an instrument, he did more than that and I appreciate it a lot in retrospect.

[Elliott]

4 hours ago, FrogLenzen said:

I.C.O.N.I.C.

Me seeing that photo:

[1234567890]

I'm going to Kree?

[FrogLenzen]

13 minutes ago, Elliott said:

Me seeing that photo:

Lies! 2007 Elliott saw that man and said 

[Elliott]

7 minutes ago, FrogLenzen said:

Lies! 2007 Elliott saw that man and said 

2007 Elliott had no idea who Andrew was because we didn’t start talking to each other until the night of season 8’s group 2 performance show. 

[Weedy_Speedy]

[Elliott]

1 minute ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

The gay intern running Katharine McPhee’s Twitter deserves the lottery tbh

[Bk1234]

12 minutes ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

This is perfect, except they forgot Pia.

[Weedy_Speedy]

1 minute ago, Bk1234 said:

This is perfect, except they forgot Pia.

 

Lmao this gay is not here for including Pia (or even Katharine for that matter), Haley would probably be the more legit choice. Probably the one contestant who eclipsed Katharine for being IDF's goddess.

[Elliott]

3 minutes ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

 

Lmao this gay is not here for including Pia (or even Katharine for that matter), Haley would probably be the more legit choice. Probably the one contestant who eclipsed Katharine for being IDF's goddess.

This Fantasia erasure. 

[Weedy_Speedy]

11 minutes ago, Elliott said:

This Fantasia erasure. 

 

Fair point. lol

[sublymonal]

#16 is ready. This is post #24.

[sublymonal]

Post 25.