Having sung songs from their birth years, the contestants were now tasked with singing a song from last week’s Billboard top 10 songs.

Elliott again started off the group, singing “Home”. I thought this was a really nice performance, although I had to agree with Simon I don’t know that I would have chosen a song with the lyrics “I Wanna Go Home”. After singing, Elliott forgot to stay and listen to the judges’ critique and had to do a little slapstick number with Ryan to get him back to listen to what the judges had to say. It was actually a nice moment, as you got to really see Elliott relax.

After singing Prince, who has a really distinct voice, Paris then chose to sing “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blige– another singer with a very distinct voice. I thought she pulled this off a lot better than “Kiss”. I think Paris is remarkable at singing jazz, but I think she really wants to sing songs like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce Knowles. I just don’t know that those songs are her best choices.

Chris Daughtry sang “I Dare You”. It was a Chris Daughtry performance. If you missed it, go back and watch one of his past performances– you’ll get the idea. The judges preferred his first performance to this one, probably because it was a much better song.

I had never heard “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree”, the song Katharine McPhee chose to sing, but I really liked it. When I was sitting in the other room listening, I enjoyed this performance. When I was watching it, I just found the squirming around on the floor odd, at best. It was just a tad bizarre. Other than that, I thought that this was exactly the type of song tha Katharine should sing.

Taylor managed to pull off something really clever, singing THE BEATLES’ “Something”. Yes, that’s right– a Beatle’s album is on the Billboard top 10 charts, so Taylor got to sing a 30 year old song. The producers probably tried to put the kibosh on that but feared that fans would mutiny and show up on their doorsteps if they made Taylor change his song again. This song was the epitomy of what I really love about Taylor. When some of the other contestants sing a song that I know and love, I always find myself comparing it to the original (usually unfavorably). When Taylor sings a song I know and love, it’s just enough different that I don’t feel I have to compare the two, but he knows enough musically not to make changes that harm the song. He’s not singing a song differently just to sing it differently. It’s almost as though he’s singing the song differently because he HEARS the song differently. Anyway, I loved this, and even Simon said that, in spite of Taylor’s “barminess” (crazy shenanigans), he’s a really good singer. Right, Simon. That’s why we love him.

So, tomorrow night one of them will be eliminated. If I had to guess I would say that Paris will probably be going home. I thought Katharine had the single worst performance of the night, but I thought her second song was better than either of Paris’ songs. So, I think Paris will be saying goodbye tomorrow night. I could always be wrong, but check back here to find out whether I’m right

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