9 songs that Simon hates

It’s country week on American Idol, or “9-songs-that-Simon-hates” night. And with Kenny Rogers helping out the contestants, how can we go wrong? Maybe we would have been better off with cranky major league pitcher Kenny Rogers instead.

Taylor started the show off…I’m starting to really love Taylor. I think he has a legitimate shot at winning the competition, which is really funny, since Simon didn’t even want to let him through the first round to Hollywood. (didn’t he say that he thought Randy and Paula would never let him sing in front of voters?). Even though the judges didn’t love his performance, I really liked it. I think it was a good choice for his voice, and close enough to the original that voters know he did a good job.

Oh Mandisa. So many poor choices…poor outfit choice, poor song choice…what were you thinking? I just didn’t get it. You’re such a good singer…this is two weeks in a row that just didn’t show it.

So Elliott sang “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Garth Brooks. I’m not a country fan, but I do love this song. And while Elliott did ok with it, he showed why he’s NOT a country singer. Granted, he was good by comparison, but that’s not saying too much.

All of a sudden, the show started to get weird. Ok, it was already weird (country?)…weirder than it already was. Ryan actually just started questioning what the judges are drinking (Paula, really). And I think he just asked if there was a flask over there. So I guess I’m not the only one who thinks she’s drunk.

I’m not really sure if the song Paris chose was country. But I do know that it wasn’t very good at all. It did get a bit better as it went on, but only a small bit. She might have just bought herself a ticket to the bottom three.

Ace actually chose a pretty good song for his voice. And he’s working the whole sexy look thing again. It’s a good thing he’s so cute…his voice just isn’t up to the level as some of the others that are left.

Kellie was next, sounding really good. She’s the first person tonight who actually sounded “right” singing country music. It’ll probably get her an extra week or two on the show. She seems to be really nice, so good for her.

Now, you know that I patiently wait each week for Chris to sing. And he didn’t disappoint. He was fantastic – he showed that he’s not just a rocker. This is why he’s going to win the competition. And you know I’ll be there to buy his CD!

Katharine was really good tonight too. I liked her song choice, and she rebounded from being in the bottom two nicely. I also liked her confidence when talking to Simon. She’s right – Simon just doesn’t like country music, and that’s ok.

Bucky finished off the night mumbling his way through another song. I would have thought that Bucky would have taken this theme and run with it. I mean, it could essentially give him an extra week on the show. But it was a really bad song choice, and not a great performance of that song. And when they showed the contestants with Kenny Rogers Bucky was playing along on his guitar…I would have loved to see him actually play tonight…it might have taken some of the focus away from his mumbling.

So, who do I think will be in the bottom three? This is hard…but I think Bucky, Paris, and Mandisa will be in the bottom. And this is probably the end of the line for Bucky. Oh well.