American Idol Top 6 Review

This is a big week as 6 become 5 and things really should be starting to heat up a bit. Shania Twain certainly contributes to some of the heat but I can't see how the competitors are going to take her songs and really inspire us but let's see what happens. Hoping to be surprised . . . much depends on how Siobhan and Casey manage to claw back what I reckon has been quite a significant drop in screen impact over the last few weeks. They haven't come across as real potential stars as they so did at the outset but I have a feeling one or both should make that break to put some distance between them and Aaron and Mike who, by talent reckoning, ought to be the bottom two and heading home. Can't see Lee closing the gap on Crystal this week.

poll by twiigs.com

Lee 8
A good earthy performance, cut short as ever in these programmes, which didn't really allow him to get going. Sounds like the kind of thing he could do himself. Doing Shania Twain was never going to be an easy ride for Lee but he did pretty well. Simon was absolutely spot-on too. Star quality lacking tonight but 8/10 for what he did.

Mike 7½
Another of his high-end-of-the-range efforts. The guy gets the crowd on his side all right but I didn't know this song and couldn't really latch on to it at the same time as watching this big guy on the screen. A quality job but did it work? Needed a few more verses again. Just cutting these tunes in half to allow for the ads is very annoying and doesn't give them much of a chance. Loved Simon's comment of 'wet'. No-one there seemed to get it but I did and agree totally. Summed it up very very nicely! Will phoneland like it? Probably. But Mike needs to pull something heavier out of the bag if he's to get much further.

Casey 17
At last, the guy's done something right! His best of the series. Casey's back in the running.

Crystal 7½
Have to say I didn't really get this at all. Would have been better without the support musicians but she did 'country' so there you go. On another week she'd be in trouble but hopefully she'll be around to make up for this another day. I suppose there is a risk that Aaron doesn't screw up and Siobhan makes the most of what ought to be a cool week for her and she's dropped in the doo doo with someone with a large fan club like Mike. She could have made herself a lot, lot safer.

Aaron 17
Actually a very mature and smart performance. Looked good and he's competing with Casey on style and presence. That could even be bad news for someone.

Siobhan 7
OK, she can do the long high notes but somehow this didn't quite work. Looking good and she certainly tried but I'm not so sure she'll be such a hit with the voters. Bags of talent there and she looks great but seemed all a bit mixed up. Again, I have a feeling that, given a full length of the track to get people tuned in to what she's doing and to start joining in, tapping feet or whatever, she'd have gone down a storm. As it was, this was a shower, albeit a pretty cool shower after which I need a cold shower!

This is most definitely not a week I'll be betting on. I guess the results are out now in the States and it'll be really difficult not peeping into Tweetdeck tonight or tomorrow. If I have to plump for someone, though, it's between Mike and Siobhan, with gasps from the audience and the big guy on his way home.

[Surprised to see Casey in the bottom two and Mike must be thinking he had a lucky escape. Sorry to see Siobhan go but watching her farewell performance you can see that the squeal that has become her trademark was actually what spoilt an otherwise superb and inspired version of Think. She'll get plenty of opportunities though and will be popular on tour where I predict Didi will also come into her own and make a great career.]