Country Week on Idol

When we were talking about the fact that this was country week on Idol today at work, everyone had the same reaction - "Oh." It's usually a train wreck, except for the lucky ew who actually want to be country singers. And with no Carrie Underwood or Kellie Pickler this year, it should be an interesting night.

Phil started the show off really strong - I think that was probably his best performance this season. It was a great song choice for his voice, and a great way to start the show. I loved, too, how he interacted with the crowd. (didn't you just love seeing producer Nigel rocking out?)

I wish I could change my pick to win in my Idol pool (yes, that's right, I picked Blake in an Idol pool). If I could, I would totally choose Jordin. Wow. She was amazing again tonight, showing how a really great singer can sing in any genre.

What else is there to say about Sanjaya? I'm glad that the judges are back to being honest about it. I wonder if they had some sort of meeting with the judges and producers about Sanjaya. Something about an agreement to go back to being brutally honest and letting the "vote for the worst" people continue to do their thing. I also have to wonder if at some point the producers won't somehow make him come in last (I don't know how...maybe pay people to vote thousands and thousands of times for the rest?).

For the first time in the competition, I really didn't like Lakisha's performance. She made a really poor song choice for her voice (in addition to making the mistake of choosing a song from a former-Idol - a real no-no). She is an amazing singer, but her voice isn't suited at all to a song like that. I know she has a big fan base, but she might actually be in trouble this week.

Chris wasn't great this week. And I don't understand his banter with Simon about him singing "nasaly" on purpose. It doesn't make any sense. My only thought is that he was more affected by the VA Tech shootings than he let on to. Chris is from Virginia, where a huge chunk of kids go to Tech and we are all rather shaken up.

My favorite part of Melinda's performance was her taped piece before she sang where she made a comment about singing a "current" song. I looked it up (since I hadn't heard it before either); it came out in 1999. I suppose by Melinda standards that makes it current. I was also glad that Simon finally asked her to lose the "gee whiz you really like me?" act. Thank goodness. It really was a good performance - another example of how good singers can sing any genre.

I didn't love Blake tonight. I don't know why - he's been my favorite this season. It was ok - hopefully it was enough to keep him around another week.

Overall, it was a much better night than I expected. And other than the fact that I can kiss my money in the Idol pool goodbye, I have no clue who will go tomorrow night. I'm hoping we'll finally see Sanjaya in the bottom three, though it's not likely. What's more likely is that this will be one of those shocker weeks when a favorite gets elminated and we'll sadly say goodbye to Lakisha.