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Tonight's episode featured the coaching and music preferences of Gwen Stefani. I have enjoyed No Doubt's and Gwen Stefani's music over the years, but I surprisingly haven't seen her interviewed. I felt that Gwen Stefani came off really well on camera and in the coaching sessions. She is really down-to-earth for such a famous individual.
The performances on this evening's show were up and down. There were a few who delivered surprisingly strong performances, a few who were awful, and a few who were adequate.
Tonight's Performances:
1) Lakisha Jones sang "Let's Dance the Last Dance". Not awesome, but good. The singing was the strong part, but I'd doubt that anyone would be exceptionally blown-away by tonight's go. GRADE: B
2) Chris Sligh sang "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". I was expecting this to be a pretty good song for Chris, but it ended up a bit weak. Chris' voice sounded a little weird in spots. GRADE: C (I think that Randy and Paula deserve congratulations for the unique criticism that they've been giving Chris, but they may have to find different advice to point to in following weeks.)
3) Gina Glockson sang "I'll Stand By You". Gina picked the perfect song for her. I loved this one. My only qualm with the whole thing was that Gina should have tried for some more understated clothing as a sort of tribute to The Pretenders. GRADE: A
4) Sanjaya Malakar sang "Bathwater". Entertaining in a Gong Show kind of way. Sanjaya had a memorable hairstyle. GRADE: D-
5) Haley Scarnato sang "True Colors". Haley didn't enunciate clearly enough. Nothing spectacular. From here, I think that Haley needs to remember to: cry, say charming things to the camera when she's done singing, and dress as suggestively as she did last week. GRADE: C
6) Phil Stacey sang "Every Breath You Take". I wasn't expecting much of Phil, because he was horrible until now. Phil sang better than Chris did with a Police song. GRADE: A
*My wife made a funny point about Phil's appearance tonight. (Check it out if you have it recorded.) Talking to Ryan before the song started, Phil resembled Boy George with the bald head and make up.
7) Melinda Doolittle sang "Heaven Knows". I think I can cut-and-paste an "A" grade here every week until the contest is over. GRADE: A
8) Blake Lewis sang The Cure's "Love" song. I am never excited when I learn that I'll have to endure a song by the Cure. (I had too much Robert Smith when courting angst-ridden teenage girls when I was a teen myself. That's a pretty tall order to pretend that a person likes that whiney and groany stuff. . .) The good news is that Blake made it tolerable. GRADE: B
9) Jordin Sparks sang one of Gwen Stefani's new songs of which the title remains a mystery to me. Risky choice, awful results. The judges gave her a pass. I won't. GRADE: D It is a bit surprising how poorly she did tonight, considering how strong previous performances had been.
10) Chris Richardson sang "Don't Speak". Ugh. . . GRADE: C-
Tonight's Best: 1-Gina Glockson 2-Phil Stacey 3-Melinda Doolittle
Tonight's Worst: 1-Sanjaya 2-Jordin Sparks 3-Chris Richardson
Prediction: Two of the bottom-three will be Haley and Chris R. Chris Richardson going home.