Top 7 - One and a Half Thumbs Up

Tonight our Idols will be mentored by Quentin Tarantino, whose passion for music apparently means he's qualified to tell the Idols how to perform. Also, due to time constraints only two judges will be talking for each contestant. That means some won't have to face the wrath of Simon this week. Works for me. Less crap to recap!

First up is Allison Iraheta, singing Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from Armageddon. Argh. Another oversung song. Then again, I said the same thing last week and it turned out pretty well. Let's see how she handles this one. She sounds a little strained early on. Is she sick? She isn't bringing the ROCK. VOCAL. POWER. as much as usual. She turns it up at the end, but it feels like something's missing. It almost seems like she herself isn't feeling the song. Paula says she possesses the same "special sauce" as Adam. All in favor of skipping the obvious drug/alcohol joke raise your hands. Yep, I thought so. Moving on... Paula adds the usual "I can't believe how young you are" spiel. Simon calls her the girls' only hope left in the competition. Well yeah, when it's between Allison and Lil it's not too tough a choice. Finally they're pimping her as much as she deserves, but more than I'd say the performance deserved.

Anoop Desai has decided to ballad it up again with Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Well, I guess that's smart, since "My Prerogative" seems to be the only upbeat song he can pull off. In the intro clip Quentin tells him to "rough up" the vocals, which based on the Q-Man's demonstration suggests he wants him to Taylor Hicks-ify it. This should be interesting. Anoop decides not to rough it up, and his smooth vocals sound great. I really like this. The ladies in the audience all scream when he reaches the pre-chorus. Anoop made a wise move by not listening to the mentor. Randy says he did a really good job and is finding his zone. Kara says she felt connected to him singing for a change. I have to agree. This is the first time I didn't feel like Anoop was shaky at any point. He's getting more comfortable up there.

We heard earlier that Adam Lambert was doing a song from Easy Rider. It turns out it's "Born to Be Wild." I guess that works. I was thinking it'd be "I Wasn't Born to Follow." While the title is appropriate for his persona, it wouldn't have rocked very hard. Adam adds electronic elements to this one, which means the famous organ hook is gone. It's got a cool vibe to it though. His trademark screams at the end are freaking awesome. What's there left to say about Adam? He's far and away the best singer and performer in this competition. He did his own thing as usual and rocked it. Paula tells him that fortune rewards the brave and that he's one of the bravest contestants ever. Simon says it was vocally incredible, but like the Rocky Horror musical at parts. He says he loved it, but that it won't be as popular as last week. Whatever. It doesn't matter how many people hate Adam at this point. I'll be shocked if he doesn't make it to the finale.

Matt Giraud gets some Ryan chat time. He says his confidence level is in the middle right now. He picked a song he loved and thinks it should work. Ah ah ah. Somebody didn't read last week's WNTS editorial, did he? We're treated to more Bryan Adams with "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" from Don Juan de Marco. Quentin picks on Matt's enunciation, and I can see what he means. During the performance Matt seems to slur parts. He does his usual piano thing with runs and falsetto and all that jazz. Overall it's pretty good, but I'm still not on the Matt bandwagon (if such a thing even exists at this point). Randy says it started out cool, but he hit a rough patch at the bridge and shouldn't do so much with a song that has such a beautiful melody. Kara says he constantly goes back and forth between rock and soul and that he took away some of the song's core melodies. OK. Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the original, but I didn't mind it too much.

Danny Gokey's going without glasses this week and gets a chat with Ryan. He tells us he bought a guitar even though he can't play it. I need a new guitar but don't have the money right now. Life is so unfair. He's doing "Endless Love" from The Same Name (actually, the movie was Endless Love, but that's what it sounded like he said). Hey, Chris Sligh ditched his glasses when he did this song too! What a weird coincidence. Maybe this song is hard on the eyes or something. He has a harp on stage with him, which isn't exactly easy on the eyes either. Sorry, but this is kind of...what's the word? Uninteresting? I actually kind of like it when he goes into his upper register near the end, but it's not enough to make me love this performance. I remember being confused by Sligh's version at first, but it got better on repeat listens. This was just good, but not great. I don't see it improving with age. Paula says he pulled it together at the end. Simon says he sang it well but didn't do anything new with it, like David Cook did with Lionel Richie last year. Don't forget the Sligh-dog! Oh wait, the judges hated his version. Never mind. Simon goes on to congratulate Danny because the song clearly means a lot to him. Huh? Are they that desperate to keep Danny around?

Kris Allen has the second original song choice of the night (after Adam, of course), with "Falling Slowly" from Once. I've never heard of the song or the movie, but I'm not a big movie buff, so maybe that has something to do with it. The song starts out in that musical purgatory of low notes that get drowned out by the music and sound off-key. This is sort of a boring song, but once he gets into clear-vocal territory I actually like the way he sounds. He shows off some good control. Maybe I'm biased because I like Kris better than Danny or because I have nothing to compare this performance to, but I think that unlike Danny's, the second half redeems the first. Randy says it was pitchy from note one. Kara says it was difficult to pick such an obscure song, and she thinks it was one of his best moments. I don't know if it was one of his best, but I'll say it was good.

Since everyone here has gotten the pimp spot at some point, Lil Rounds is getting it for the second time this season. Since Adam had it last week I guess that means it's Danny's turn next week. Lil's doing "The Rose," from the movie of the same name. Well, it's an original song choice. I'll give her that. In her mentor clip they say she brings in a gospel influence. Quentin tells her to do that with the whole song. Now this is pitchy from note one. Wow. She can't hit the right notes here to save her life. Maybe she's shaken up from all the criticism she's gotten the last four weeks. Sorry Lil. This is bad bad bad. Easily her worst. Paula says she couldn't have sung a more beautiful lyric and rambles on with a bunch of stuff that implies she was good without actually saying it. Way to equivocate, Paula! Simon says she's getting it wrong, that the song was too soft, and he doesn't think she's the artist they thought she was. Lil's clearly upset, so she decides to give Simon a piece of her mind. She says she's tried to be an artist by putting soul, R&B and gospel into the performance. I didn't hear it, but OK. Paula says Lil shouldn't be afraid to speak her mind, and that those who matter didn't have a problem with the performance. I'm guessing she just told most of the viewing audience that they don't matter. This whole Lil soap opera is getting ridiculous. I'm almost wondering if they overpraised her in the beginning just to set up this drama. Then again, I remember thinking her first two performances were genuinely good, and I'd like to believe I'm not that easily manipulated by these judges. I hope that in the future the powers that be will think twice about overpimping a contestant like they did Lil. So much for not being defeated.

My performance ranking:

Adam (8 out of 10)
Anoop (7 out of 10)
Kris (6.5 out of 10)
Matt (6 out of 10)
Danny (5 out of 10)
Allison (4 out of 10)
Lil (1 out of 10)

So who's going home? Let's see...I think Adam's the only one who doesn't have to worry about the Bottom 3 this week. Anoop did a great job, and since his primary fanbase isn't hung over this week from celebrating their basketball team's championship he should be good. Danny was boring and forgettable as always, but I think he still has the fans to keep him safe. That leaves us with Kris, Allison, Lil and Matt. As much as Lil deserves to go, the pimp spot should keep her safe. I do think her little tantrum (which I kind of understand, but it won't exactly endear her to the public) will land her in the Bottom 3 though. I've predicted Kris for the Bottom 3 countless times, but he still has yet to end up there. I think the fact that he went late in the show will help him. Matt did OK, but the judges weren't kind, and his performance was nothing we hadn't seen from him already. Allison went first and had perhaps her weakest performance yet, but the judges' endorsement and the momentum I believe she's gaining should bode well for her. Therefore, my prediction is:

Bottom 3: Allison, Matt, Lil
Going Home: Matt

At least I can hope. Since we probably can't get rid of Danny or Lil this soon, Matt is my next choice.

Tomorrow night Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson are our guests. How fitting. They bring back J-Hud for the same week she was eliminated. When they split the Idols into two groups of three and force the leftover contestant to pick the safe group I'm sure Jennifer will be cringing offstage.