At least I know that I did!

But Mariah Carey night? How cruel! I mean, really, how many people can successfully sing ANY of Mariah's songs? And haven't the judges been critical of people who have tried it in the past? So, why now?

My guess is that they are trying to weed out the poseurs in the group, such as Brooke and Jason and Kristy.

So do I think they raised the bar too high? Sure! But did the ones we'd think would fail actually fall? My opinion is: not entirely.

The best of the group was no surprise: David Archuleta. His smooth and dexterous voice did what it does almost every week, and it is difficult to imagine a final two without him being one of the contestants. I'm not a Mariah Carey fan and I know only a couple of her songs so most of these were new to me, but when David sings it makes no difference!

If anyone would be doing backflips after hearing about the featured songs I would have guessed it would be Syesha Mercado. After all, her whole presentation IS R&B, Soul and Diva songs and I guess she did OK. But to my ears when she gets into the higher register it sounds more like shouting than singing.

The one disappointment was Carly Smithson. She just seems too tight and wound up when she sings. She tries too hard. I think she is in trouble with the voters again.

With Mariah's big voice and the bombastic nature of some of her songs I would think that singers who rely on understated nuance might have trouble. And those whose voices just aren't Idol worthy would be expected to melt under the pressure.

That being said I think only one of the remaining...no, maybe TWO, fell flat. And the one who I thought WOULD fall flat DID fairly well, despite what the judges said.

The best of this group was probably David Cook, although I was WAY underwhelmed by his take on a song I never heard before. I found it to be boring and tedious, but the judges raved because it was so "cutting edge" and "innovative". Simon went so far as to say that David Cook was ready to be a recording artist TODAY! Maybe there is just something wrong with my ears? Who knows...

Now, HERE is where I'll probably get in trouble, but I thought that Kristy Lee did a GREAT job in transforming a diva song into a country western ballad type song. She seemed to stay withing her range and abilities and the audience responded very well to her. She doesn't deserve to be inthe bottom three tomorrow, but who can tell for sure.

Jason Castro... if he didn't have such a big, cute smile would he still be in this thing? His singing was okay, I guess, but it was just the same old stuff from him. Two of the three judges thought it was brilliant. I didn't

And finally, Brooke White WILL be in the bottom three! Despite her likability index she blew the song, lost her confidence and deserves to be voted off the show. But again, WHO KNOWS for sure. Brooke needs to stay away from the piano!!! She's not that good and, as she did tonight, she gets caught up with either playing OR singing...she cannot do both well enough to win. Despite that the judges were too kind...no, they were WAY too kind to her.

Brooke White

because she deserves it

Carly Smithson

because she comes off as unfriendly while singing

Kristy Lee Cook

just because!

Going home: Carly Smithson
Who Deserves it?: Brooke White