Entertainment Weekly has posted video of the top three “American Idol” finalists visiting the magazine’s offices, and once again, I am reminded that Melinda Doolittle was just about the classiest, most talented contestant the show has seen. In the five-minute segment EW.com posted, Mindy Doo displays the same humility and intelligence she showed every week on stage. She talks frankly about forgetting some lyrics one week and insists that that wasn’t the only mistake she made during the season–a claim her EW interviewers rightfully dismiss.

Melinda’s faith is also on display in the segment: Prodded by the interviewers to sing for them (and reminded that it must be a song in the public domain, of course), she offers the first lines of a haunting “Amazing Grace.” Her good-hearted humor also shows through, as she tails off from the true lyrics to sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound / That’s all you’ll get from me.”

Yes, I am still lamenting her loss in “Idol,” but I have no doubt that, like other third-place contestants before her, she will have a great future. Admittedly, she doesn’t have the stage presence of a rock star, and that’s what I love about her. She was all talent, just talent, only talent, and that, of course, is why she made it to “Idol’s” upper echelons but didn’t emerge the winner.

For me, I am happy “settling” for a solid-gold voice, genuine modesty, and deep faith, even if it doesn’t come with–or especially because it doesn’t come with–the polished rock-star presence of some of her fellow contestants.

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