Two Dog Zoo

Gwen Stefani joined American Idol this week and gave her help to the ten remaining contestants. It seemed to be an 80’s themed week, and while some shone like a stars, others stumbled.

Lakisha started us off with a Donna Summer song. While she started with a great early run, during the middle she fell flat on a few notes, though she sparkled towards the end of her performance. She’s a strong runner, but I’m not seeing her winning this competition.

Chris Sligh sang “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” by the Police. I found his performance flat in the beginning, and his tempo was off. The slower portions of the song were much better than the fast parts, which felt like he didn’t match the music.

Gina sounded the best I’ve heard her. She sang “I’ll Stand By You” and it was a great song choice for her. She truly shined this week.

Sanjaya’s hair was in a pseudo-mohawk, and it was so distracting, it was hard to watch him sing. He sang “Bathwater” and didn’t sing the lyrics, more than spoke them. We know at this point, a few extra votes are going to him based on the web presence and Howard Stern backing it up as well.

Haley sang True Colors and was a little flat in the beginning. She looked great and if this was a voting competition for looks, she’d soar after this week, but the weird notes at the end made you forget that she was strong during the middle of the song. Not that it matters for Sanjaya at this point, but it is a singing competition, and this song didn’t do her any favors.

Phil sang “Every Breath You Take” by the Police. I’m not a fan of Phil, but I have to say, this was by far my favorite performance by him. I loved this one and he had great vocals this week. Nicely done!

Melinda sang “Heaven Knows” and is head and shoulders above the rest, once again! I got chills, and as always, she was superb! She is a great singer, performer and entertainer. I think she can easily win this competition.

Blake had a nice sound on the slower parts, though I didn’t care for the chorus of this song. It felt weird and I think the his song choice may hurt him this week.

Jordin sang “Hey Baby” by No Doubt. It was a young and hip choice for her, but it didn’t allow her to showcase her singing talent. Most of it was in one or two keys, and while it was fun, it didn’t wow me. Her HUGE earrings caught my attention, more than her singing this week.

Chris Richardson could be in trouble. His version of “Don’t Speak”, another No Doubt song, sounded off key and horrible. I have no idea why the judges praised him, because I thought it was all over the place!

My guess is tomorrow evening will find Chris Richardson and Sanjaya in the bottom two slots.

Gwen Stefani will perform Wednesday as well.

On a side note, performance downloads of previous weeks are now available on AmericanIdol.com