My top six as I watched them.
1. Melinda: Gorgeous performance, even though I don't know the song so I couldn't compare to the original (which the judges were doing and saying it was still stellar).
2. Jordin: Aww, she's crying. This was another great performance from Jordin. I think that crying strained her voice in a spot or two, but just wonderful.
3. Blake: While I agree with the judges here, I'm kinda getting the feeling that Simon isn't being as mean as usual... perhaps because he thinks it will reflect negatively on Idols Give Back somehow? Hmm. I have the John Lennon "Imagine," on my iPod, along with another version I like more, so I know that I could enjoy that song sung by someone else. I also have a CD with a version that I hate, so I know that someone can screw up the song horribly. Blake's was okay. Not bad. Not stunning.
4. LaKisha: Why, LaKisha, why? You failed with a previous AI's song last week, why would you try it again? At least, I see that Simon's mediocre crit of Blake's song wasn't because of IGB. Another song I don't know, so I didn't notice the pitch problems, and naturally I wasn't comparing it to the original. I thought it was okay, but definitely give props to some diva-esque vocals during the song.
5. Phil: Sometimes I really liked his voice here, but sometimes I really didn't like it all. When he started, I thought "Oh, this might be pretty good," and then he hit the low note that he almost spoke, and it seemed to go up and down after that. Overall, not a good performance, IMO. I'm surprised by the judges' reaction.
?. Chris: Missed his performance completely (Ryan was giving us his # when I tuned in). I saw the clip at the end of the show, and I liked the song choice and thought that two seconds was fairly decent.
I sometimes wonder about choices made for background music in shows and commercials. Here's another example where the verse seems to work for the theme, but the verses prove it to be the opposite. If you listen to the verses of "Waiting on the World to Change," JM's saying that he doesn't feel he can do anything yet, that the world has to change before he could make a difference. Obviously, not what AI wants to say during this performance.
Anyway, I suspect LaKisha is out, though I would prefer to see Phil gone this week.
Incidently, this was the first & only time I have voted (since it was Idols Give Back), & I voted for Melinda, Jordin, & Blake. When I tried to vote for Melinda & Jordin, I got through very rarely. Blake was about every other try (once House was over, I stopped voting, though), so it was pretty obvious that Melinda's & Jordin's numbers were much busier than Blake's.