Shot Through The Heart

Oh, my heart. I'm afraid Jordin is going to go home. This was a bad week to have a bad week, since two go home. It's Bon Jovi week, and the girls were all going to have problems that only clever song selections were going to solve.

Scores from this week are added to last week's scores and the bottom two go home tomorrow.

Rock songs like Jon Bon Jovi's don't require a great voice, however, they do require exceptional musicality and, most importantly, the ability to 'lose yourself' in the song. JBJ also has a funny range, so unless the performers transpose the songs to a better key, they could be in trouble. And, indeed, none of them changed the key from the original.

Phil went first and did a very nice rendition of "Blaze of Glory". If the Idol Irony Rule is in effect, that would doom him to being sent home, just because of the appropriateness of having to sing "Going down in a blaze of glory" for his final performance. Somehow, I think he's staying.

Jordin was next and tried to do the iconic Bon Jovi song, "Livin' on a Prayer". It was too low for her, even in rehearsals and she didn't heed the warnings that Jon Bon Jovi gave her. She did a fine job of saving the song in her performance, but you just couldn't hide what was going wrong. The judges gave her credit for doing her best in a bad situation, but this was the worst performance of the night. I really hope her last week's performance saves her.

Lakisha came on and blasted out "This Ain't a Love Song". There just aren't many Bon Jovi songs that are going to work for a woman, and she chose wisely. Not the best of the night, but definitely in the top half. She's only got one volume, and it goes to eleven. This song is big enough to hold it, though. I think she actually had an advantage in not knowing Bon Jovi songs. That meant she actually had to listen to the discography and pick one that sounded right. Jordin obviously thought "Oh! Bon Jovi! I've gotta do Livin' on a Prayer!"

Blake did "Shot Through the Heart (You Give Love a Bad Name)". Just from hearing that, you'd think he doesn't have the voice to carry it off. Blake took a huge risk and deconstructed the song, making it fit a techno-beat, and did a beat-box duel with a percussionist in the middle. It worked. Man did it work. He brought the song home by changing it to the classic version at the end. I'd give this a 9.5 out of 10. Best of the night.

Chris sang "Dead or Alive". I thought that he might be able to do a passable Bon Jovi imitation, as long as he avoided certain songs where JBJ's voice is much bigger than his. This one fit my theory. He did a pretty good job and the judges liked it. Not original, though.

Then there was Melinda. I couldn't imagine what she'd pick. I had thought that "Never Say Goodbye" was one of the few songs a woman could pull off, but she instead chose "Have a Nice Day", which is one of JBJ's more recent hits. She channelled Tina Turner and made it work.

Update: Oh, and I forgot to add that I'm ticked off that no one sang "Never Say Goodbye", which would have saved Jordin or Chris's butts tonight if they had thought of it.

So, for tonight:
1. Blake
2. Melinda
3. Phil
4. Lakisha
5. Chris
6. Jordin

And last week:
1. Jordin
2. Melinda
3. Phil
4. Blake
5. Chris
6. Lakisha

Which leaves me to calculate this order for elimination:
1. Melinda
2. Phil
3. Blake
4. Jordin
5. Lakisha
6. Chris

If I'm even slightly wrong, Jordin is going home. We'll see how right I am tomorrow.