If Bon Jovi night turned out to be a pleasant surprise, Bee Gees night was the exact opposite- a total disaster. Of course, maybe this shouldn't have been surprising. The Bee Gees catalogue is full of songs performed in harmony by a group of singers. That's pretty hard to replicate in a solo singing competition. And that high falsetto would have been a challenge for anyone.
In retrospect, this might have been the night for the now-ousted Chris Richardson's to shine. Too bad for him. Too bad for the remaining contestants and too bad for the viewers.
Here are my thoughts:
Singer: Melinda Doolittle
Songs: Love You Inside Out and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Rants & raves: "Love You Inside Out" was a decent vocal but the performance itself lacked Melinda's usual spark. Perhaps she wasn't happy with Bee Gees night either.
"How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was easily the best performance of the night. I liked the jazzy beginning, but it was her break out on the bridge, with a nice lead up and a solid delivery that makes her the one to beat, still.
Blake Lewis
You Should Be Dancing and This is Where I Came In
First of all, Blake came closer than anyone else to matching that Bee Gees falsetto. It was almost scary that he could sing like that. I thought his treatment of "You Should Be Dancing" was cool with the break beats.
However, on "This Is Where I Came In" I wholeheartedly have to agree that not every song needs the beatboxing treatment. It gets old. Still, I didn't hate this song. For Blake, it was a good choice because he could do what he wanted with it and most people would have nothing to compare his performance to. That being said, it was still a lackluster, B-sides kind of song that doesn't win you the plaudits on Idol.
Lakisha Jones
Staying Alive and Run to Me
Oh Lakisha. You made up so much ground last week only to come back and blow it. "Staying Alive" was a death sentence. That song has been sung a million times and it's never sung as well as the original (which again was sung by a GROUP). Ugh. Bad move.
On "Run to Me" Kiki attempted to pull it back and show off a controlled vocal performance. The vocal was fine, but the song was less-than-dazzling and was missing any emotion. This could sadly be the end of the road for her. I'm aching for Bon Jovi night right now.
Jordin Sparks
To Love Somebody and I Am A Woman In Love
Jordin sounded great during the rehearsal clip but something got lost in translation on "To Love Somebody." Maybe it was the overpowering background singers on the chorus. Whatever it was, the song was a bit sloppy up until the very end.I'm not sure that was enough to turn it around, however.
"I Am A Woman in Love" was a great song choice - the best song choice of the night. Again, the rehearsal clip built us up for a possible showstopper, but it didn't happen. Somewhere in the middle of the song, Jordin lost her pitch and never got it back. The result was an absolute disaster.
Top performance: Melinda Doolittle
Most likely to go home: Blake, Lakisha, Jordin - take your pick, but really, whoever picked Bee Gees night is the one that needs to be punished here.
TELL US: Do you have a favorite performance from last night? Who's going home?
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