Tonight was Stevie Wonder night. I agreed with Randy’s assessment of tonight. He said he was really looking forward to it because he likes Stevie but was a little scared of how the performers were going to do.

Let me just say that I’m going to sum up Paula’s comments right here at the beginning. Of course, she loved everyone— except Kellie Pickler. She didn’t have a lot positive to say about that performance, which tells you a lot about how that performance went.

First up tonight was Ace Young, singing “Do I Do”. I had just written that it was “alright” when Randy said exactly the same thing, so I guess that summed it up.

Kellie Pickler sang “Blame it on the Sun”. She seemed to struggle with the song. I know it’s not her style music, but I mean she REALLY struggled with this song. The best part of the performance was her talking about her false eyelashes. It was really funny because I said I thought she sounded like Dolly Parton and then Simon said she LOOKED like Dolly Parton. So, I guess there was a Dolly Parton theme going on. Sweet Kellie— she apologized every time one of the judges said something negative to her, which means she apologized a lot.

I really expected Elliott Yamin, who sang “Knocks Me Off My Feet”, to do excellently. I thought he did well, but I’m not sure it was a fabulous performance. Randy said it was good but not Elliott’s best performance. Simon said it was the “best so far” but that it was “good, not incredible”.

Mandisa sang “Don’t You Worry About a Thing”. As usual, she delivered a really good performance. Simon summed up her performance with “now we have a competition.” I was really glad she took off her shoes (or had Ryan take them off), as I don’t think she would have performed nearly as well with them on.

I was really scared of Bucky Covington singing “Superstition”. I expected it to be really disastrous. But it wasn’t. It was actually qute good. Randy thought it was an enjoyable performance. Simon said it was one of Bucky’s best performances, but the “Jessica Simpson hair has got to go”.

Every week there’s a performance that I just wonder what the judges are listening to that I’m not hearing. Melissa McGhee’s performance of “Lately” was that performance this week. They loved it. I thought it was iffy, at best. She forgot the lyrics, and I just thought it was not very good.

Lisa Tucker sang “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”. Now, don’t get me wrong— I like Lisa Tucker. But usually I find her performances a little dull. Not this week. I really thought it was her best performance, to date. Simon thought it was one of the best of the night.

Kevin Covais. Hmmm. I usually really like to keep things positive, as much as possible. But the only thing I can say about “Part Time Lover” is “ugh”. Simon’s “appalling” pretty much summed it up for me.

Katharine McPhee had the first song that was liked unanimously by the judges (and me) when she sang “Til You Come Back to Me”. It was just a great performance. I’ve read on some other reality television boards that some people don’t like her voice. Are they nuts? These same people must be the ones who vote for Kevin Covais and who will probably force me to listen to Kevin (as nice as he might be) for weeks to come.

And then my favorite part of the evening— Taylor Hicks. I don’t really care what he sings. I wish he had gotten a chance to play the harmonica, as well. I’m clearly not the only one who loved his “Living for the City”, as he got a standing ovation. Randy called his performance “fearless”, and Simon gave the very definition on a backhanded compliment when he told Taylor that people liked him because he was like “every Dad who’s got drunk at a wedding and got up on a stage and sang. Except you can sing”. I don’t know how much truth there was to it, but Ryan said that the hairstylists wanted to color Taylor’s hair. They better not, or I may have to get a ticket to fly to California and hunt them down. They should just leave his hair alone. He’s just fine the way he is.

Paris Bennett sang “All I Do”. I thought this was a great performance. So did the judges. And I thought that they stylists did a good job of making her look more her age. She looked cute. She sang great. What more can I say?

As they often do, they saved the best for last (shhh, don’t tell Taylor I said that). But, truly, Chris Daughtry singing “Higher Ground” was the best performance of the night. It was a rock star tonight, and Simon was spot on when he said it was the “best tonight by a mile”. I don’t know about “by a mile”, but I will give him “best tonight”.

This was a very bipolar night. There were really good performances and really bad performances. The good performances were some of the best ever. The bad performances were some of the worst so far.

I hope you all were able to get through to vote for your favorites and that you’re happy with the results tomorrow.