American Idol Recap: Top 9 (Televizzle.org)

This was another ho-hum week for me. I don't like country all that much (this week's focus), though I really enjoyed Katharine McPhee, and I'm really going to be bummed if she ends up in the bottom three again, as I think she was by far the best performer this week. Even my man Chris Daughtry wasn't that good. I liked it, and he's still one of my favorites, but Katharine is by far the better all-around performer (or was tonight, at any rate). She's exhibiting a much broader range, while Chris is still just Chris.

If the contest ended after the first week or two, I have no doubt that Chris would have been the winner. But as the contest goes on (and on and on and on), the audience likes to see people grow. Chris has yet to do that, and it actually makes it look like he is stagnant. I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say that, but it does have that appearance. Meanwhile, Katharine is moving and seems to me to be the easy front-runner at this point. This is her game to lose.

Bucky Covington and Kellie Pickler, my other hometown heroes (both are from North Carolina), unsurprisingly, did fairly well, since both are country singers, and this was a country night. But after all, if you do well when you are in your genre, is that really a good thing? Paris Bennett and Elliott Yamin did fine jobs, but I'm not really impressed by either.

In disappointing news, Taylor Hicks had what I would call one of my favorite vocal performances from him, but the most boring entertainment performances yet. He was so much better with his herky-jerky style. And Mandisa, who I just love, also showed a wonderful vocal but the performance also didn't wow me.

Ace was, well, Ace. What would it be without a falsetto from Ace? And what is a falsetto anyway? According to answers.com, it is a male voice in an upper register beyond its normal range. Yep, that's Ace. Sorry, Ace, I don't like you. Too much pretty-boy and not enough quality vocal. I even picked you for the Tivo contest this week. What I'm not sure about is who will join you in the bottom three.

I really have no idea who the other two will be, but I'm going to pick Bucky, because he's been there. I'm also going to put Mandisa into the bottom three, not because I don't like her (because I do), but because I think on country night, she was one of the worst performances.

Update: Well, I dropped to one out of three in the bottom three, since neither Ace nor Bucky was there. Instead it was Elliott and Paris joining Mandisa, who I did pick. I think I knew in the bottom of my heart that Mandisa was going home, I just didn't want to see it. She's a good soul (with plenty of soul, to boot), but she just didn't have a good night. I'm sure she'll do well.