After Melissa McGhee was voted off in the last round, the contestants are back, singing songs from the 1950s.
Paris Bennett: Fever by The Monkees
Kevin Covais: When I Fall In Love by Chris Botti
Bucky Covington: Oh Boy! by Buddy Holly
Chris Daughtry: Walk the Line by Johnny Cash
Taylor Hicks: Not Fade Away by The Crickets
Mandisa: I Don’t Hurt Anymore by Dinah Washington
Katharine McPhee: Come Rain or Come Shine by Bobby Caldwell
Kellie Pickler: Walking After Midnight by Betty Dempsey
Lisa Tucker: Why Do Fools Fall In Love by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
Elliott Yamin: Teach Me Tonight by Phoebe Snow
Ace Young: In the Still of the Night by Johnny Mathis
Once again, I find myself drawn to Chris Daughtry’s performance. This isn’t because he’s the best singer of the group, as I’m pretty sure he’s not. But he took a song and turned it into something different. Just like I said last week, you can say that people make songs their own all you want, but Daughtry is the first contestant to really do so, and he showed us that again this week. I hope it continues.
There wasn’t such a clear-cut second place as there was last week. Mandisa, Katharine McPhee and Kellie Pickler all turned in sultry songs, and even Simon told Mandisa that she seemed sexy. Quite a turn of events, it would seem, though I’d have to agree. The judges often talk about an ‘it’ factor, and Mandisa certainly has that.
Elliott, Kevin, Paris and Taylor were also pretty decent, so I’d be surprised to see any of these folks in the bottom of the results this week.
The remaining three are Ace, Bucky and Lisa. While for whatever reason both the judges and the crowd seemed to like Ace’s most recent performance and seem to like him generally, I just can’t figure out why, but you have to assume they will reflect the rest of America, which means Bucky and Lisa will likely end up at the bottom.
Out of those two’s most recent performances, and their jobs thus far, I’d pick Lisa to go home this week. Bucky at least stayed true, while Lisa just seemed ‘off’.
Update: Well, two out of three ain’t bad. I can’t believe I missed Kevin. I guess I just got so used to him getting through that I quit paying attention. But I think it was a good choice. He seems like a good kid, but his performances weren’t really up to snuff with the others.
