Bowersox was back and so were the rest of the girls.  I feel the guys and gals were about even this week.   And…the girls had more goods than bads, which is a good thing.   The judges seemed to have some strange opinions this week.  They liked the mediocre performers and disliked the good ones.  I don’t know.  I think it’s some kind of weird AI conspiracy.

The Good

Cyrstal Bowersox

Crystal Bowersox. Back from her brief hospital visit, Crystal sang CCR’s “As Long As I Can See The Light”.  And she rocked it! With guitar in hand, she showed her gift as a musical artist.   She is easily a threat to get into the top 10…if not the top 5.  She will be back again next week.  Listen to her peformance here.

Katie Stevens. The judges gave Katie a very, bad rap.  She sang “Put Your Records On”.  I thought she gave a strong and solid performance.  She sings beyond her years, and I’m not sure what the judges were hearing.  She was great! I wish she would pick a song a little more 17-year-old’ish.  SHE should have sung Miley Cyrus!! She will be back next week.  Listen to Katie here.

Michelle Delamor. I love her.  I wasn’t crazy about this performance, however.  She sang Creed’s “Arms Wide Open”.    She broke this song down and did a decent job with it.  I wish she held some of the notes longer….that would have made the performance 100 times better.  I found it interesting to hear this song being sung with a female voice.   She’ll get about 25 of my votes and she’ll be around next week.

Lilly Scott. Just like the judges were harsh against Katie, I thought they gave too much praise to Lilly.  She sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”.   This is the song that every other person sings in the city auditions.   I thought she could have picked a better song.   It was technically good, but very forgettable.  The judges reviews will keep her around another week.

Paige Miles. Kelly Clarkson’s “Walk Away” was a great song choice for her.  Paige has a big ol’ voice like Kelly, and she gave a solid performance with a strong stage presence.  Really, it was a near perfect performance.  Her eyes are hypnotic….you will vote for Paige…you will vote for Paige.  She will be back next week.

Siobhan Magnus of Barnstable, MA

Siobhan Magnus. Normally everyone recommends you stay away from Aretha Franklin.   Not Siobhan.  Never.  Outside of a couple of (very bad) pitch problems, she was phenomenal.   Phenomenal.  I think I could hear her family on Cape Cod screaming from my house after she hit that big note.  That was a note you don’t hear hit too often.  Amazing.  She will be back next week.

Check out Siobhan’s performance:

The Not-So-Goods

Haeley Vaughn. Another bummer of a performance from Haeley.  She picked a good song, but her voice could handle “The Climb”, a Miley Cyrus tune.  You can tell, she needs more experience.  She started out somewhat okay, but it fell apart quickly.  She should go home this week.

Lacey Brown. On the advice of Kara, she sang Six Pence None The Richer’s “Kiss Me”.  Perfect! Well, not really.  It sounded like she was at a Thursday night karaoke night at the local.  Lacey is a cute girl with a cute and interesting voice.  She might go home this week.

Didi Benami. This Southern Belle tried to pull off “Lean On Me”.  She couldn’t do it.  It was a mess.  She put her own soul/gospel spin on the Bill Withers song, but it quickly spun out of control for her.  It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great.  She could be in trouble this week.

Katelyn Epperly. The judges liked her, but I really didn’t.  She sang a Cold Play song…but much sloooooooooooowwwwwer.    We learned that she can play the piano and pretty well.  I just didn’t like the arrangement of the song and zzzzzzzzzzzz…