Who'll Lead The {Rat} Pack after AI8's Top 5 Performances?!

Idol had been advertising a 10-song show for AI8's Top 5, but they must have come to realize what we all knew deep down: there was NO way they could fit 10 songs (PLUS judge critiques!) into only one hour. They were probably also scared of a repeat cooky Paula Abdul performance, where she critiqued both of Jason Castro's songs last year after he'd only sung one of them on air.

Thankfully, though, this left us with plenty of time to view the pre-performance mentoring sessions with the awesome Jamie Foxx.

Ryan Seacrest introduced our four judges: Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell, then killed some time with Kris Allen, and after a commercial break, "Rat Pack Standards" night was underway.

Kris Allen ~ "The Way You Look Tonight"
I was excited to see what Jamie Foxx would bring to the mentoring table. Inevitably, we knew, he'd bring the funny, but were you as surprised as I was to hear him say "This dude is a dude I'd do a record with," talking about Kris?! And he offered him to do something "if this whole thing don't work out." He praised Kris for "not trying to sing the throat olympics" (wait, who was that a diss on?) and told him, "You're my #1." WOW!

I was loving the song when Kris started, and the twinkle in his eye was cute; oooooh, and the way he carried that mic stand...meee-ow! But when the band kicked in to raise the tempo, I was a little disappointed with the corny-ness of the music. Kris still held his own with his vocals though, but I never did (and still don't) get the whole appeal of ending on the highest note possible. In fact, I was chanting "don't end high, don't end high!" but I guess he didn't hear me. Hmpf. Overall, it was a good Kris performance. By the sounds of the audience, he's definitely got some (more) laaaaaadies in his fan club.

Randy: '...Dude, let me tell you something: I personally think this is your best performance to date, and way to do it tonight! You took your time, you told a story, you had some R&B stylin's. Mad, nice vocals, baby, nice!'
Kara: '...Tonight you have set the technical standard so incredibly high for this evening, with your impeccable phrasing, your diction, your rhythms, your timing, and also a unique approach to the song, you are truly a dark horse in this competition. Amazing.'
Paula: 'You've made this amazing transition from being the adorable boy next door into the everso handsome, sophisticated gentleman. And your quiet confidence makes you this contemporary crooner, and it made your performance near impeccable.'
Simon: 'I thought it was good, I'm not quite as enthusiastic as these three, um, only because I thought it was a little bit wet. I'll tell you why...you're like taking a very well trained spaniel for a walk...it's gonna be safe, it's gonna be quite nice, but I didn't think it was incredible. I don't get the feeling from you tonight, that you can win this competition because it's all a little bit like that.' Ryan asked him for a clarification of wet, and Simon said "um, not dry." {Oooookay} and then Ryan told Kris to "go dry off" {LOL!} when he announced Allison was up next.
I: It wasn't my favorite Kris performance, but he's never had a flop! Oh, and I could have done without the Ryan Seacrest suit. How cute would he have been if he went all open-buttoned shirt/untied tuxedo bowtie?!! Mmhmm, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! ;o)

Allison Iraheta ~ "Someone To Watch Over Me"
Having celebrated her birthday Monday, Allison is now 17 and not-quite-so...jailbait. Jamie Foxx still told her she was too young to be in love right now, and to channel the innocent love her family has for her (which was quite a stretch from his recent Miley Cyrus comments!) Allison channelled her inner crooner and did a pretty good job! She kept the tempo low and quite true to the original version.

Randy: Thought this genre might 'trip her up,' but said, 'you come out looking like Britney Murphy, looking dope. You sing like Pink, but with like 9,000 more octaves, dude, that right there, I don't care what nobody tells you, that was the bomb and you did it in your own rough kinda gruff kinda style, and I loved it.'
Kara: 'Girl, I was starting to think you did need someone to watch over you, being in the bottom three, it was a crime those weeks. But I ain't nervous for you anymore, let me tell you. You converted some new fans tonight. You are not a one-trick pony, you're not just some rock chick. That was a gut-wrenching, deep, emotional, waaay beyond your years rendition, and if that doesn't land you in the finals, I don't know what will.'
Paula: 'I've been waiting so long to hear how you would approach a ballad, and we all know the driving force that your vocals possess, but what you delivered tonight had an innocent sensibility that was both alluring and very tender. I'm really proud of you.'
Simon: Was interested in knowing if Allison thinks she can win this competition at this stage, to which she answered...after hesitation..."You know, I think I can, I think all of us have that chance right now." 'I asked the question because I don't feel that belief in you still. I thought it was a great performance and as Randy said...it's great to see you sing a song like that. Maybe you've just been overshadowed by some of the personalities at the moment, but, um, I have a horrible feeling you could be in trouble tonight.'
I: don't think Allison can win this. I think we've had one Kelly Clarkson, it would be wrong to bring another out of this platform, but I think her hesitation was because she and all the other guys (and the girls) get along SO well. The behind the scenes footage from hidden cameras in the mansion would probably just be a snooze-fest of them all hi-fiving and dancing while they eat or something. But it's that likeability for the others that is holding her back. She would love to win, but at the same time she would hate for them all to lose, and let's face it, in this competition, you're here to be the next American Idol, not to make friends. She needs to figure out what's more important to her, winning or friendships. And maybe she already has, which is why she's not performing at a 10 (only a 7 like Simon said)...they're all there knowing that only one of them will walk away with the title, though, so should she be so worried? I don't think so. If she gets to stay another week, it's time for some serious soul searching, sistah!


Matt Giraud ~ "My Funny Valentine"
Matt said he's been looking forward to this week because he loves Jazz, and studied it at some college that he plugged. He only got a "B," though. That sounds about right, don'tcha think?! *snicker* Jamie Foxx thought his rehearsal was good, but called him back in the room to ask him to change the key to the song and sing it in his full voice (less riffs), and said if Matt did, he'd probably nab #1 (presumably of the night, because we all know he couldn't mean of the competition! gosh.) Matt donned his grandpa's jazz hat and started singing on a stool. I guess if you're a Matt fan, you probably liked it (but really, are there any Matt fans out there?! Having been voted off once already, I'm going with probably not...), I definitely would not call him #1...more like #4 or 5!

Randy: '...That was probably one of the hardest songs to sing ever. For me, that was just a little bit pitchy, and you tried a bunch of things...some of the runs came together, some of them landed right, some of them didn't. It didn't all quite come together for me, I'd have to give it like a 6 out of 10.'
Kara: 'The competition is so stiff tonight, and you really gotta be the leader of the pack to establish yourself, and I could appreciate all the runs and the different things you did with it that show what an incredible singer you are, but I didn't feel you were emotionally connected to it, and that's what I was missing most of all.'
Paula: 'I love what you did with this song, and I love the advice that you took from Jamie by lowering the key, I do. I felt the emotional connection. By lowering the key, we got to hear a different side of Matt, and it was pure, simple, and really impressive. I think you did an excellent job tonight.'
Simon: 'I'm gonna have to disagree...with Randy. I thought, for me, it was the only believeable, authentic song I've heard tonight. I could tell that you love the music, and I heard almost like Nat King Cole type of phrasing there, I thought you were absolutely brilliant.'
I: guess, after what Paula said, if Matt is still here next week, we can blame...uh, I mean...Matt can thank Jamie for telling him to lower the key.


Danny Gokey ~ "Come Rain or Come Shine"
Unluckily for Matt (and might I add, luckily for US!), Danny was next. And the award for the funniest mentoring session of the night goes to Danny's, when Jamie was right up in his face and Danny asked how's my breath?! Ha! But, according to Jamie, that was when he got the purest and the truest notes. Danny started low, sweet, and bluesy. I was a little distracted by his jaw movements...going back and forth rapidly (think Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell in "Ernest Goes To Camp," when he says "Ewwwwwww") And of course, by the end, Danny was using his loudest, throaty voice, and I wondered if he wanted to love her so much, why the H was he YELLING at her?!?!?! That said, he (thankfully) left the corny dance moves in his pocket and man-handled the mic stand like a pro.

Randy: 'You are the only one I've heard so far tonight, that actually could have an album of songs like that, and win. And let me just remind everybody about one thing, forget all this stuff about the connection to the audience...stuff like, I don't feel this whateva, connection...this is a singing competition, and you can sing!'
Kara: 'What I've been missing from you all season is that Rat.Pack.Swaggerrr. And you have swagged tonight. I mean, the end of that performance, that was the most creative you have ever been with the melody. It was unbelievable. And the rasp and the tone. I'm starting to think you should do standards.'
Paula: 'I'm gonna keep this short...{and then go on and on!}...stellar. Stellar, stellar performance. I think the best thing about you Danny, is I can tell that you can see the finish line right in front of you.'
Simon: 'What Kara said is 100% right. What you had tonight was a swagger and a confidence. And you proved my point what I was talking about the first to uh, uh, people that came out, which is I felt tonight you came out to prove a point. Not only did you prove a point with your vocals, which is the best I've heard from you for weeks, your performance was what I've known you were capapble of. I don't know whether it's the fact that you know you're getting near the end...and the arrangement by the way Rickey was superb...and I've got to pay a special thank you to Jamie Foxx because what Jamie's brought out, particularly in you tonight, is incredible. That was outstanding.'
I: would take a Danny performance over a Matt performance any day... and apparently so would the mama in the yellow! I also am noticing (did you?) that Randy was trying last night to call out any negative cliche remarks that Simon could have made (like telling Danny to forget about what anyone says about connection to audiences and talking to Allison after Simon had made negative comments), plus he copied the old "7 out of 10" and gave Matt a "6 out of 10." It's not DWTS, here, guys! There are no sparkly paddles to hold up! Oh yeah, and Danny can do what Ellen DeGeneres did, and put the heart shaped hands AWAY. It's corny and lame, and who the heck is he doing that to?! I mean, really!


Adam Lambert ~ "I'm Feeling Good"
Rocking the magic staircase like Ryan Seacrest never could, Adam started high up there, stopped midway to start his song low. Then the lights came on and the rock star emerged and Adam strutted down the rest of the steps and across the stage, where he rocked out to the rest of his song. His was the only performance tonight that left me feelin' gooooooooooooooooood. (Or "GLEE"ful!!! Is anyone else not too proud to admit they can't wait 'til that series starts?!) It was pretty predictable that he was last, in the "pimp spot." What wasn't so predictable was his super shiny white suit. Thank goodness he didn't paint his nails white, too!

Randy: 'I've been saying it every week, I'm sounding like a broken record, I mean it was a little theatrical, a little too drama filled, a little to drama for me, but, you are in the zone consistently, dude, another good performance.'
Kara: 'Again, my mouth drops open everytime you perform, it's like is he really doing that? Shocking, you're shocking...in a good way, confusing and shocking and sleazy, and superb and way over the top, but I don't know I like you, craziness.'
Paula: Words can not describe...{then she went of script}...oh forget it, you make me feel better than good, with every performance that I see, it's like watching the Olympics, and you're our Michael Phelps.'
Simon: 'I love, uh, Randy complaining about you being theatrical, it's like complaining that a cow moos! {hehehe!} That's what he is. I'll tell you what I love about this competition this year...is that normally every year we have people bleeting on about how winning isn't important, etc., etc., but winning is important. And what I get from you, and from Adam {hello, Simon, you are talking to Adam! I think you mean Danny!} and some of the other competitors, in fact all of them actually, no, three of them actually, is the feeling that you want to win, and you want to prove a point every week and you want to entertain, and that's why I like the showmanship. And btw, best entrance that we've had of the year so far, and Ryan...you are no longer using that staircase.'
I: still think that Adam needs to scale back that tongue a bit, but he is a star, there's no denying that.


My Predictions ~
Bottom Three: Kris, Allison, and Matt (sometime, though, I'd love to see Kris' fans surpass Danny's and he'll be in the bottom three instead of Kris...maybe next week...)
Going Home: Hopefully Matt, but maybe Allison. If it's Kris...I quit. ;o)

Tonight's Results show includes Taylor Hicks, Natalie Cole, and Jamie Foxx. Fingers-crossed a certain hat-wearing JT wannabe is going home!