Shania Twain mentored this week on American Idol and each of the top 6 performed one of Shania’s songs.

Lee DeWyze began the evening by performing “You’re Still the One”. I thought the performance was pretty good but a bit pitchy in places – however the crowd seemed to love it, along with most of the judges – however Kara interrupted Simon as he was critiquing the performance so we were left without truly knowing what our favorite judge thought. It wasn’t one of my favorite performances by Lee but I still love him and think he has a great career ahead of him. It’s fun to see his confidence coming out more and him actually smiling as he’s learning to have more fun with the process.

Michael Lynche followed with a beautiful rendition of “It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing”. I loved it! He made it his own. Ellen even compared him to Luther Vandross and Simon agreed with the comparison.

Casey James performed “Don’t” with his acoustic guitar. Shania commented that Casey seemed to be lacking some of his former confidence (and perhaps his trip to the bottom three last week made him rethink things and put more into his performance this week). I loved the performance and Casey seemed a bit more connected to the song, more emotional than in previous weeks. It was probably my favorite performance that Casey has done to date. Randy said it was Casey’s best performance. Ellen commented “this is where you belong”. Kara gushed. And Simon agreed with Randy about it being Casey’s best performance so far. Simon also said that last week was a wake up call and Casey agreed that he reviewed all of his previous week’s and felt that he wanted to show something more of himself. Simon’s final comment about the song “didn’t feel like someone else’s song” was absolutely right on.

Crystal Bowersox sang “No One Needs to Know” (as a hint to her boyfriend about wanting the “white dress” etc)… not very subtle… but she did a good job. It was not my favorite of her performances and I thought it ended up being a bit flat in dynamics. All of the judges agreed that Crystal is always good but no one loved the performance. Simon said it was forgettable, and there was no conviction in the song. Crystal seems to be a different person than when the competition began – she’s got much more confidence and seems more open and friendly rather than being wrapped up in her own thoughts – so that’s been refreshing to see. But again, not my favorite of her performances.

Aaron Kelly performed “You’ve Got A Way” – telling the audience at the end that he was singing it for his mother (sweet)… which will likely touch the hearts of all the mother’s out there and perhaps get him some additional votes. I actually thought it was kind of boring and wanted to fast forward to the end. And was truly surprised that the judges liked it. Randy said he did a really good job. Ellen said she was really impressed – especially that he was only 16 – but when Aaron corrected her and said he was 17 now – she jokingly said “Nevermind, then I’m not that impressed.” She went on to compliment his depth and maturity. Kara said that Aaron really “felt the words”. Simon commented that Aaron had seemed a little lost the last couple of weeks – struggled – but “tonight you were like a different artist”, and “this is the kind of record you should make”. He also said the performance was “believable”. I don’t know – I just didn’t agree with the judges tonight on that one.

Siobhan Magnus sang “Any Man of Mine” and I have to admit I was a bit scared for her – it’s such a huge song, so well-known, and has to have such attitude to pull it off that I worried if she could do it. Ohhh… so sad… I have to say I am just not a fan of Siobhan anymore. I’ve tried and tried to give her the benefit of the doubt each week – and felt at the beginning of the competition she had spunk and such potential – but the past 3 or 4 weeks I have been very disappointed and this week was just painful for me. I thought she felt hesitant and awkward until the end when she belted out her trademarked scream which didn’t really fit the song. She could hit the big notes, but the rest of the song suffered. A couple of quick camera shots to Shania Twain seemed to confirm my opinion that it just didn’t work. Shania politely clapped but almost with a pained look on her face. I was shaking my head at the gushing from the judges though – wondering if they are trying to keep the “vote for the worst” gang guessing about who was the worst this week or something. Simon did comment that perhaps the screaming at the end was a bit much and said “it was almost like you were giving birth at the end..” – but Randy overpowered his objections with the love from “the dawg” shouting out that it was great. So I have to say judges – I think you were off tonight with the last 2 performances. I wonder if they would listen back if they would still give the same critiques. And I’m sorry to be so critical of Siobhan tonight – I really WANT to like her performances – because I think she’s a darling girl – but it just didn’t work for me tonight.

My guess is that Siobhan Magnus, and Aaron Kelly will be the bottom 2 and Aaron will be going home – unless the “vote for the worst” voters keep Siobhan going through. But with Casey James in the bottom last week – it’s a bit hard to call. Who do you predict will be going home?

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