Reviewcaps

Here's my deal: We need to have a Crystal/Casey finale, and Siobhan needs to go tonight. While the judges loved her, my ears told me that she sounded like a cat being mauled to death last night. I honestly do not understand the praise that is being heaped upon her. I'd be just as happy if Aaron the wedding singer left, but even I can admit that he hasn't had a bad performance in several weeks.

But no matter who actually goes tonight, one thing's for certain: there's going to be about 50 minutes of filler leading up to it. Tonight, we get Rascal Flatts, Shakira, vampires, emo violinists, and a whole lot of other things that only the evil geniuses behind 'Idol' can dream up in an effort to stretch 5 minutes of show into an hour.

There are six contestants left on 'American Idol,' and everyone did really well tonight, which means it's anyone's guess who will go home. After noting that a whopping $45 million was raised on 'Idol Gives Back' last week, Ryan Seacrest introduced this week's mentor, Shania Twain, and we got right into the performances.

Lee DeWyze, 'You're Still the One.' Per Shania's suggestion, Lee starts the song with just voice and piano, adding in guitar later. It sounds a little forced to me, but I like the ending. Randy Jackson says it's one of his favorite songs of all time, and Lee found a way to make it his own. Ellen DeGeneres agrees, saying "you couldn't look cuter" and "all aboard the Shania Twain!" Kara DioGuardi likes that Lee cracked a smile a few times, and Simon Cowell thinks it was "absolutely the perfect song" for Lee. Then Simon and Kara started arguing about whether Lee smiled or had some other weird facial thing going on. He was smiling! He's still just a little nervous!

It's "Inspiration Week" on 'American Idol,' which means the Idols sang inspirational songs on Tuesday, and 'Idol Gives Back' was on tap for tonight. It's truly amazing how much this charitable endeavor helps people around the globe. It's not easy to see all of the suffering going on in the world -- especially the children -- but it's really easy to pick up the phone and make a small donation that could save a kid's life.

Tonight, celebrities reported on the huge malaria problem in Africa; Save the Children; a food bank in Monrovia, Calif.; and global health, among others. At the end of the show, Simon Cowell reported that $15 million had been raised during the two hours the show aired. That's awesome. For more info and to learn how you can give, check out 'Idol Gives Back.'

This season has actually gone by pretty quickly for me. Top 7? That's completely nuts, yet here we are. Plus, we get a bitchin' mentor this week: Alicia Keys. The theme this week is the nebulous, "songs of inspiration," which could either be completely ridiculous or pretty cool.

Unfortunately, it's a little bit more of the former instead of the latter. I don't know what it is, but when left to basically their own devices, these guys aren't very good at picking songs. Just about everybody gave pretty much a "take it or leave it" performance. Of course, it wouldn't be 'Idol' if there wasn't a standout or two in the crowd.

After Big Mike's dramatic save last week, this show is being set up to be super-intense. Not only have the judges used their only save, but as the title indicates, two people are going home. But before that, we need a lot of filler. We have performances by Brooke White and Adam Lambert, which wow -- I enjoyed Brooke when she was on the show, but I can honestly say I haven't thought of her since.

We don't start off the show with any of this. Instead, we start off with the longest Elvis medley ever. It was so long, in fact, that I'm pretty sure they sang every single Elvis song ever written, four songs written by Elvis impersonators, and a verse from "Allison," just to round things out a little bit.

"My tongue is not nearly as talented as yours." - Ryan Seacrest to Adam Lambert

It was an interesting night on 'American Idol,' as that statement suggests. Obviously, Ryan was talking about Adam's tongue action while singing, but when he said it, Adam's eyebrows went up. He and Ryan would make a cute couple, wouldn't they?

Anyway, Ryan's mom was in the audience, too, which made things even more interesting. That and the fact that after Big Mike's save last week -- which I'm thankful for -- the Idols are definitely feeling the pressure. Two -- count 'em, two -- people will be sent packing this week.

Based on the performances, I'm guessing they won't be the ones we predict. Meaning that Tim Urban and Andrew Garcia will still be here after tonight. Ok, maybe not Andrew.

Ryan Seacrest started off the show with "Prepare yourself for a surprise or two," and we definitely got that. Based on your comments on my 'Who Will Win 'American Idol'? post a few days ago, it's really anyone's game at this point. And I mean, anyone, from the shoe-ins like Crystal Bowersox and Siobhan Magnus to the dark horses like Tim Urban and Andrew Garcia. After this week's performance show, Kona thinks Casey James also falls into that dark horse category, and I agree.

After a message about Idol Gives Back, a group medley of Lennon/McCartney tunes, and a Ford commercial (kaleidoscope fun!), we got to the results.

We're finally into the single digits tonight, but we're still going for two hours. It's Lennon/McCartney night, and Seacrest starts out by saying they have the most recognizable songs in the world. Would you agree with that? Do you think that they or Elvis were more popular worldwide? In any case, Paul McCartney gave his blessing to these contestants, so here's hoping they don't screw it up. Of course, just based on Siobhan's outfit alone, I'm a little nervous going into it.

Turns out, though, I have nothing to be nervous about. Overall, this is my favorite episode of 'Idol' so far this season. There were several performances that I enjoyed, and many that took me by surprise. Plus, 'Idol' instituted a new thing that I actually like: the interviews in which the contestants talk about each other. It was cool to hear how people are perceived in the house, but more than that, Crystal's comment about how she loves the fact that Andrew and Lee can get married and have lots of "little Danny Gokey babies" is still cracking me up.

My favorite part about the very beginning of an 'American Idol' results show is guessing who's going to go home. According to our poll from last night's episode, most of you think that it's Didi Benami's turn to leave the stage. While I can definitely understand that rationale -- she has been murdered by the judges for the past few weeks, after all -- I disagree. Even though he did a good job last night, I kind of feel that Lee DeWyze should go home, if for no other reason than the fact that I completely forget he's on the show every week.

Before we get to the actual results, though, there's a lot of other stuff that we have to get through: namely a rally weird 'Clash of the Titans' product placement that opens the show, as well as a performance from 'Idol's' forgotten winner, Ruben Studdard. We learn a few interesting things during this performance: Ruben has lost a pretty substantial amount of weight, and he's going on tour this summer with his 'Idol' runner-up, Clay Aiken. So what do you guys think? Is this tour going to be a fun show, or just two guys trying to recapture the limelight?

We're inching ever closer to the end of season nine of 'American Idol,' and I'm seeing some clear standouts from the pack. My favorites as of tonight are Michael Lynche, Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze, Aaron Kelly, and Casey James. I'll add in Siobhan Magnus, but I'm not as big a fan as the judges (though I liked her performance this week better than they did).

It's R&B/Soul week, and Usher is the celebrity mentor. Unlike some mentors, he actually seems to give the contestants something useful in his critiques. He drills home the fact that they have to connect with the audience, which, of course, is important and something they might overlook while trying to bring the performance together on stage. And he's also got his new album to promote, 'Raymond v Raymond.' In fact, while I was writing this review, I got an email from iTunes about it, so good timing there, marketing people.

Last night, we learned the Top Ten who'd be going on the 'American Idol' tour this summer. Out of all the contestants who made it into the Top 24, I'm ok with who's left. There are really only a handful of standouts for me -- Crystal Bowersox, Michael Lynche, and Siobhan Magnus -- but all of the contestants have their moments.

What I love about this season is there's such a diverse group of singers, each with their own fan base. We've got Crystal's bluesy-folksy vocals, Katie Stevens' teen pop, Michael Lynche's soulful blues, Casey James' guitar rock, Aaron Kelly's mad vocals (I'm convinced he can sing anything well), Tim Urban's Zac Efron vibe, and Siobhan's edgy pop-rock. Lee DeWyze, Didi Benami, and Andrew Garcia don't really pop out at me, but there's still time.

Did the right person go home last night? Let's talk about it after the jump.

Thank God 'American Idol' is still two hours long. If it weren't, we would have had to cut down the horrendously awkward intro in which Ryan chats with all of the judges. Between Ryan commenting on Simon's v-neck shirt, and his kissing Ellen, I half expect them to just go ahead and get naked. Luckily, they managed to control themselves, and we were actually able to see some performances.

The mentoring thing is always a little weird on this show, but Miley Cyrus? That's certainly an interesting choice. I understand that she's highly successful and good at what she does, but how much guidance can she really give to these contestants? I have a feeling that a lot of their mentoring sessions consisted of them nodding politely at her and then doing whatever they were going to do in the first place. Fortunately, even though she's the mentor, it's not Miley Cyrus night. Instead, the contestants just have to pick a song that was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I don't know why, but I was thinking up until this show started that we were still losing one guy and one girl; but the days of the competition being split evenly are over. We're only losing one tonight, so one of the genders is going to be completely safe. It's hard for me to guess who's going home, though, as last night's episode was one of those nights in which I questioned what show I was watching as compared to the judges.

They, apparently, were watching some sort of star-studded tribute to The Rolling Stones, while I was watching a hot mess. The contestants seemed way over-praised, in general, while the one who wouldn't have made Mick Jagger question all of his career choices, Crystal Bowersox, was unduly criticized. It was crazy-town last night, so I'm really interested to see who America ultimately thinks should go.

Tonight's 'American Idol' takes us to the "big stage," so it will be interesting to see how the contestants adjust and adapt to all of that space. And the theme is the Rolling Stones, which should be fun. Let's get to it...

Michael Lynche ('Miss You'). We learned a bit more about his past, and how his focus shifted from football to music after his mom died. Awww, his baby is so cute! He does kind of a bluesy-jazzy-pop version of 'Miss You,' and I like it well enough, although it doesn't blow me away. Randy wasn't crazy about the arrangement, but says Big Mike is a great performer. Ellen and Kara loved it. Simon thought the performance was a little corny and desperate at times, particularly the dancing, but he thought Michael sang it well. At this point, Simon and Ryan got into a little to-do about who Simon should be talking to, and Ryan stomped over to the judge's table and stared right at Simon. It was all very weird.

Ryan Seacrest said there would be a few surprises on last night's episode of 'American Idol,' and that certainly proved to be true. You have to wonder if Vote for the Worst came into play, although even the worst contestants are still really, really good to have made it that far. Let's take a look after the jump, and see which four got eliminated.