Nikki was ok, but I'd be praying to god if I were her that she goes out tomorrow. She looks (and has for some time) like she knows she is totally out-classed.

Justin did great on his first song, but I thought he was pretty bad doing Elton's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on me." I was shocked the judges seemed to love it.

Kelly even on a so-so night=LA Lakers

Justin and Nikki=the Eastern Conference

Let's just run down the performances:

Nikki's take on "17" - When Nikki sings, sometimes I close my eyes, and I swear I can visualize the bouncing ball from the karaoke screen showing the singer the tempo of the songs. Nikki has a rock voice with a limited range, so what happens to her is that she sings everything at the same tempo, and for some things, like the chorus, it sounds passable, but then she gets lost in the rest of the song with the tempo, and instead of performing/interpreting, she imitates to the best of her ability, and when a classic song like "17" starts to drone on and on, I know why.

Justin's take on "Let's Stay Together" - is precisely the type of song that he does well with because the demands of the song suits his vocal range and style/phrasing. And yes, he even got to let loose his falsetto, if for a very short while. Once Justin "settles in" with a song that's well-suited for him, he does the song justice.

Kelly's take on "Think Twice" - shows that she could sing the telephone book, and it would still send shivers down my spine. Her voice demands your attention, it grabs it by the throat, and doesn't let go until she's done, or you've passed out from the experience. She still has some work to do with sustaining the low end notes without seeming like she's straining (which does at times). She does have a way of imbueing the song with conviction, and what I like about her is that she sings in the moment of the song.

Next round:

Nikki's take on "Black Velvet" - another good song for Nikki to sing, but still her tempo is still too slow, and her enunciation is too precise for this song, she needed to let the words flow out, not be pushed out, in a sultry fashion that she still hasn't figured out how to attain. Hate to bang on the karaoke drum again, but it's why she doesn't send shivers down my spine when she sings. Nikki sings from her lungs, not from her soul. You can see/hear that she's thinking when she's singing, not feeling what she's singing.

Justin's take on "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" - not a good choice for him because Elton John has a couple more octaves on Justin, and it's needed for this particular song, and, to me, Justin's rendition was barely recognizable to my ears. He seems to have lost the melody of the song when he was singing it, and it showed. I didn't think it was one of his better efforts (seems like Justin has this pattern of rocking on his first songs, and then some of the wheels fall off on the second songs). Justin sounded out of breath when he was singing this song.

Kelly's take on "Without You" - that was a cruel thing for the judges to do to Kelly, because that song has one more gear that Kelly doesn't quite have yet (or ever) because Mariah Carey is a freak of nature with her voice on this song, and Kelly compensated by going lower than she should have through the second half of the song. Her first high note of the song was brilliant, the hairs on the back of my neck snapped to attention, but as the song progressed, Kelly was pressing pretty hard to get "up there" but to me, she was a bit out of gas, and she did what she could to sing the rest of the song to finish it up. I think when Kelly hits the limits of her voice (and she's got a much wider range than the other two, that's for sure) she almost always goes back and tries to reset her voice with a bit of a gutteral growl to "get back on track", and to me, it gets a bit distracting to be all over the map in some respects. I think with more training, she'll find out that less is more because she's got plenty in the tank, but she needs to keep some in reserve for a crescendo that she's capable of imparting to the song's completion. But even with those minor quibbles, Kelly makes songs her own when she's performing them. That's the crucial difference between a karaoke queen and a singer.

All in all, and mix bag (again), but like Kelly admitted, they are getting a bit tired of the whole deal, and want to move on with their careers (whether that was a PC thing to say or not, I understand her feelings, so I give her a pass if people take them the wrong way).

While it's patently obvious that Kelly is the one with the best pipes/range/talent, I wonder if Justin will squeak through on sheer "it" factor and become "The American Idol".

Well, I just agree with everything Patman said.

During the recap, I could really see how Kelly was trying so hard to do the "Mariah", but nobody can do that. Same thing with Justin, he couldn't do the song justice.

BTW, was tonight 's show at the Kodak Theater? If it is, has it always taken place there? If it isn't, is it only for next week? I'm a little confused as to where exacly it is filmed.

I didn't particularly care for Nikki's first song...but I was cooking dinner so I wasn't totally paying attention. Her second song was much more suitable to her. I think the big difference between Nikki and the others is that Nikki doesn't make a song hers. She doesn't sing it to differentiate it from the person who originally performed it. That's where the whole karaoke thing comes into play.

Justin did a really good job on his first song. For once, he actually had good song selection. I was a bit surprised when they announced that he would be singing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me". I'm not much of a fan of Elton John, and therefore don't particularly like that song. That aside, I didn't think Justin performed the song very well. I was really surprised to hear that the judges liked his performance on that one. I kind of think they were just saying that because they didn't want to take the blame for selecting a bad song.

I know I'm in the minority, but I'm not a big fan of Kelly. IMHO, her performances are rather boring. Her first song was okay, but I don't think it was that special. Again, I was surprised at the song the judges selected. While she tried to make the song her own and change it a little bit, there were clearly times when she screwed up. She did an okay job of hitting the high notes, but she struggled to dig into the low notes and her voice kinda fell off when she tried to go too low. Still, she did a decent job with a hard song.

I always marvel at the guts that people show who sing Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston songs in talent contests. If I were a female, I would never try to sing one of their songs.

Also, I don't think anybody has mentioned Kelly's look this week. I think it's weird that the judges used to always bring up the fact that Nikki kept changing her look, but it seems to me that Kelly has been changing her look every week for the past few weeks. She was wearing gobs of makeup this week (which is good for her because she isn't at all attractive without makeup IMHO) and she looked totally different than before. In fact, during the show I was wondering to myself if something else was different besides her makeup and hair (i.e., plastic surgery). I know she couldn't have had plastic surgery since last week, but that's just how different she looked in my opinion. It was that drastic.

Anyway, I'll be surprised if Nikki survives this round....but she's continued to defy the odds thus far, so I guess anything is possible.

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Well, I too agree with Patman's breakdown of the performances.

Special mention of these points:

1. Black Velvet is a neat song, imo, and Nikki performed it miles better than anything else I've ever heard her do - and it still sounded karaoke. Patman was dead on when he said she thinks through her songs rather than feeling anything while singing them.
2. Let's Stay Together was amazing - I dug on the falsetto, and the rest of the song's ...phrasing, I guess you'd call it - was wonderful as well - and made Justin's voice sound tons better than the "ordinary" we've been subjected to since that amazing second show's performance he gave.
3. Horrible choices for Kelly - don't make her a diva type singer, please! please? :( Break out the big band - her life and amazing voice are used to their full potential in that genre. But that being said - she still sends chills up my spine almost every time she sings - her voice is just beautiful. Don't care for the type of diva song (and I despise Mariah but that's another story ;) ) but she can even do justice to those.

So - I don't care if Nikki or Justin win, but I'd be much happier than if Kelly won, because (again ;) ) I want Kelly to do more than the diva-type of song they'll have her churning out if she wins.

And I think she was just being honest about being tired and wanting to be done - that kind of stress is incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't been kept on the edge about your life for weeks on end. Trust me, when you have a similar experience (waiting for bar results, waiting for medical board results, waiting to see if a loved one or you are sick/well....you get my point) of being in a HUGE amount of stress and pressure (possibly for the first time in your life) - you'd be ready for it to be done, too. Plus I think she was just half-serious - like "I'm just so excited for the rest of my life, that I'm ready for this chapter to end" type of thing. The Nicks comment - now THAT was arrogance. :D

edit - oh, and Zeus - maybe you noticed Kelly's new highlights - that's what I saw anyway. And I hate them. :) Golden/honey highlights that weren't done in that trendy "chunk" manner would have looked tons better, more natural, and would have made her more luminous. Ash/platinum highlights just look fake and trendy and yuck, imnsho. :D

Yeah I noticed her highlights, but her face seemed different, too, for some reason. I think her makeup was applied differently or something. Maybe she used that gift certificate to Sephora to get a makeover. :p

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Kelly vs Justin in finals pleeeaase..

If its Nikki and Justin i'm crying.. I'm 99% Justin is in for sure.

I would be sure that Kelly was, but after the upset that was last week...

Kelly was good - the 2nd song was cruel, but she did well!

I noticed more than ever that Nikki just screams higher and cracks when the song calls for more range than she has.

Justin did good - but bores me to tears.

I have nothing (much) new to add. Justin is still the Idol. Kelly is still the Voice. Nikki is still the (Unwed Single Mother Trailer Trash but Do-Able) Underdog. (Her "head shake to the left" gets on my nerves, as does her "left hand dust sweep", and her "pelvis flex left"....when done in concert, it is downright ..... repetitious.)

A reminder that the Voice does not the Idol make. Justin's overall talent exceeds Kelly's vocal talent (quantity, not quality). He is better looking, has more charisma and better acting ability (sitcom is the high end), is a better dancer, and is an adequate singer. It is American Idol, not American Singer. Just ask Britney!

:D

Just a couple quick observations about last night's show from me:

1) The hosts were absolutely excruciating. Even the usual squealing audience who giggle with glee at everything they say and do were silent. Just awful.

2) I don't dislike Nikki. I really don't. But she really is out of her league at this point. Tamyra should have been up on that stage last night, not her. BUT, I didn't hate her performances. And I also agree with whoever said this before. Why is it o.k. for Justin to imitate Al Green but it's not o.k. for Nikki to imitate Stevie Nicks? The judges, once again, are all over the map and not consistent with their rules or opinions.

3) Again, I can't stand Justin, but he did a decent job on the Al Green song. Thought he was mediocre at best on the second song. I'm sorry, but the guy has ZERO range. And I'm so sick of his butterfly thank yous and air kisses to the crowd. Ugh!

4) I didn't know the first song Kelly sang, but thought she did it beautifully. I too agree that it was cruel for the judges to select the song they did for her second performance, but thought she pulled it off. In fact, I kept thinking "Wow! I didn't know she could sing that low". Glad she didn't try to emulate Mariah Scarey. Last, I didn't get offended at what Kelly said about getting tired and just wanting to get on with starting their careers. I thought it was an honest answer. After watching last night's show, I was tired too. I feel like I've been watching it for 10 years. But Simon said it best, Kelly truly is the best singer in the competition. Always has been IMO.

I agree with Simon that Kelly is the best singer in the competition, but I have a bad feeling that she is going to be the one to get booted tonight. I didn't really like her first song last night, but she did do a good job with it. I agree that her voice was too low on much of the beginning of Without You, but to me, she definitely outperformed Nikki, who I think should be gone. I really don't like Justin's voice that much, even though he did a good job on Let's Stay Together.

WTF!? Better looking? Hardly. The guy is creepy looking with a capitol creep if you ask me. I mean, that hair alone.....More charisma? The plastic fork I'm eating my breakfast with has more charisma than Justin. Although I give him an A+ for effort. It's just fake and forced. Better acting ability? Um, did I miss an episode of "AI" where the contestants did any acting? A better dancer? Well, considering we haven't seen Kelly dance, how would you know? No, Justin will probably win because those squeeling teens think he's "dreamy". His "talent" is limited at best. Again, my opinion.

kelly looks more like a teen idol than that justin freak. my girlfriend, sister, cousin, and mother don't see what people see in the kid. he looks like a big puff of weird hair to me.

anyway... i hope he gets voted off tonight. i'd rather listen to nikki do some more karaoke than sit through more justin performances.

newly sucked into the show in the last 2 episodes, more from watching Extra and Access Hollywood who must both have shares in the thing.

anyway my comment is on Justin singing elton's song, that just showed to me how awesome both Elton and George Michael are, Justin is nowhere near either of those.

Now Kelly on the other hand, that girl has some pipes, I am voting for Kelly.

What I want to know is......

HOW ON EARTH ARE THEY GOING TO STRETCH OUT TONIGHT'S RESULTLS SHOW TO AN ENTIRE HOUR?!?

The last few half-hour ones have been painful.

Just how many bad musical numbers, Ford Focus and Coca-Cola ads will we have to sit through?

I think that there are going to be some clips from previous shows. Basically, how the final three got to be the final three. The results show could literally take place during a commercial break of a regular show, but since they are doing huge ratings, I don't blame Fox for trying to take advantage of it. It has been a great summer filler program...

I couldn't agree with you more. Justin does nothing for me, nothing. When he's singing he reminds me of an old Vegas lounge lizard. Trying to make "sexy eyes", winking - charisma should be natural.