Journey shapes the singer

“THE competition starts properly tonight,” declared Simon Cowell, and in some strange way, with that shouldn’t-work-but-for-some-reason-does alchemy that fuels much of the “Idol” complex, the addition of a charity event into the “Idol” potion Tuesday night magically had the effect of refocusing the competition.

“I think at this stage it’s as open as I’ve ever seen it on any season,” said Cowell in an exclusive interview. “To me now it’s about having the wow factor.” He added that the shifting sands of fortune all season seemed at this moment slightly to favor Jordin Sparks to win the competition.

“On a night like this, it’s going to be about how you emote the song,” Cowell said before Tuesday night’s Part 1 of the “Idol Gives Back” charity event, which focused on inspirational songs.

Clearly, the task of emoting came easier to some than others. Watching in the Idoldome, Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson came off as sincere and pleasant, but neither overwhelmed the crowd. LaKisha Jones, much more so in person than on TV, was a locomotive engine of emotion, barreling over the audience with unstoppable but slightly alarming force. Blake Lewis made the (fatal?) mistake of singing the most hackneyed telethon and high school assembly song on Earth -- “Imagine” -- his emoting reading hollow while he marched through the Lennon paces. Many audience members reported chills during Melinda Doolittle’s and Sparks’ numbers.

But in the end, one wonders if Doolittle’s skills are so flawless and prodigy-like and supernatural that they come off as almost impersonal. Whereas Sparks’ bubbly spirit bursts through her every song.

On to other topics with Cowell:

* On Doolittle: “What I haven’t seen from Melinda is, I haven’t yet had that ‘Oh, my God!’ moment from her.”

* What did he say to Sanjaya Malakar when he came on stage after last week’s elimination: “I said, because I could tell he was quite emotional, ‘You can leave this show with your head held high because as a human being, particularly for your age, you have handled yourself incredibly well and I have a lot of respect for you because you haven’t whined, you haven’t complained, you have taken the criticism like a man. You’re definitely not the best singer in this group, but you’re now one of the most famous people in this country, so you can walk away with your head held high.’ ”

* What he considers the biggest injustice thus far in “Idol” history: “Tamyra Gray from Season 1.... I think that her and Kelly [Clarkson] battling it out in a final would have been as good as you’re ever going to get because they were as good as each other, those two.”

* On what makes the show such a success: “I think it is a proper reality show....I mean, if I had just plucked these 12 people from obscurity and said to America, ‘I’ve discovered these 12 singers. Can you invest in them?’ it wouldn’t work. It starts because [of] the audition shows.... And it takes you on a kind of a journey, this show. But if you take out the audition shows at the beginning, you have no ‘American Idol.’ ”

Indeed by this point, it is a long road we have traveled with these contestants.

Seldom referred to is the second part of the show’s complete proper name, which is “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar.” As it was for Odysseus, for Aeneas, -- a hero sets out for a clear destination, but ultimately the search shapes the searcher as much as he it.

The final port of call is in sight -- five more will fall, one will cross the river -- but these six are very different people today than we met a few months back -- and for having traveled with them, so are we all.

richard.rushfield@latimes.

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