Haley -- Mark her down as the surprise of the week. After last week's near-painful performance, she starts the show well looking confident and sounding pretty good
Chris R. -- I still don't like him. At all. But this was slightly less painful than previous weeks. However, Gloria Estefan's cover of this song about ten years ago was more masculine than Chris was.
Stephanie -- I thought this was not very good from Stephanie... she "surrounded" the pitch more than nailed it, and is doing herself no favors in the "forgettable" performance department.
Blake -- As I've said before, Blake is going to go out there and do his thing every week. This time, it worked, as he kept the melody pretty much intact while still modernizing it and making it his own. I think of Blake as a beat-boxing Sting.
Lakisha -- On the plus side, I thought this sounded just like it came from the original era; on the minus side, it sounded just like it came from the original era. Diction was much better this week, but she did have a little trouble in the bridge.
Phil -- He still bugs me, and I find his performances pretty easy to forget.
Jordin -- Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is how you do a "standing mic" performance. Solid vocally, and packed full of emotion. I'm moving her up from "dark horse" to frontrunner to win the competition.
Sanjaya -- By far and away the best we've seen from him. Still the worst of the night, however.
Gina -- I thought she did a very good job, so I was surprised to hear the judges say it was only OK. She needs to stay in the competition just to provide relief from the "diva" group.
Sligh -- His voice sounded a bit "thin" to me, and I get zero emotional response out of this performance. I know he can do better than that.
Melinda -- Personally, I object to her choice of song for the theme -- it's "British Invasion", not musical theater. I also thought she went way, way overboard with the vibrato. Hands-down the worst outing I've seen from her, and the deer-in-the-headlights act is starting to wear thin.
Who should go: Sanjaya (duh) Who will go: Stephanie
LOL!