We had the second week of Top 6 tonight. I hope you voted for your favorites because two are going home tomorrow. You know, I want to take a moment to say how odd this season of American Idol has been— we’re down to the final 6, and I still am not really sure who should win (or even who I WANT to win). Anybody else having this same reaction this year? Anyway, on to tonight. Tonight was Bon Jovi night, and the singers were coached by Jon Bon Jovi and keyboardist David Bryan. (My husband was so pleased— this is the closest he’ll probably ever get to heavy metal night. I don’t really see them having Metallica night any time soon.)

The first to sing tonight was Phil Stacey singing “Blaze of Glory”. He started out in the audience and put on a much better show than usual. He did continue along his path of improvement. I have to say Phil makes me wonder about some of the rather mediocre singers who have gone home early in past years— would they have ended up being really great if they’d just stayed in long enough? I guess we’ll never know. Randy loved this performnce. Paula said it was the best opening performance this season (come on, Paula). Simon, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy it at all. He said it had no authenticity and that he didn’t think he’d done enough to stay in the competition another week. Huh?

Jordin Sparks sang “Living On a Prayer”. It was, well, not good. And Jordin knew it. I found it encouraging that she didn’t try to defend her performance, that she could hear it wasn’t good. It would have been very disappointing if she had tried to defend her performance as a stylistic choice or some other nonsense. The judges all agreed that it was not her best performance; Simon was a bit more blunt, calling it terrible.

Next up was LaKisha Jones. LaKisha was asked via email what kind of training she had before American Idol. She said she hadn’t had any. After Jordin’s performance, I was a bit nervous to hear LaKisha sing. I thought this might be a very bad night for the girls, actually. LaKisha chose to sing “This Ain’t a Love Song”, which I wasn’t very familiar with. She did a really excellent job. I thought this was one of her better performances in a while. Randy agreed, saying “LaKisha’s back”. Paula liked it but gave me no quotable quotes. Simon said “I could kiss you after that” (and did). He loved that she rose to the challenge and gave a strong performance.

Blake Lewis took the biggest risk of the night, singing “You Give Love a Bad Name” in his own personal style. I was SO GLAD to see Blake back! The last couple of weeks, I’ve started to feel a bit bored with him. I’ve missed the beatboxing and the more unique take on music. But tonight there was beatboxing, there was dancing, there was a rock concert going on! I loved it! Randy said it was the most original performance EVER on American Idol. Paula said it was amazing. Simon said it was risky but “absolutely the right thing to do”.

Chris Richardson had the unenviable job of following Blake— not only did he have to follow Blake, but he was singing “Wanted Dead or Alive”. He had the second audience question of the night: “What do you tell yourself before you walk out on stage?” He said, “just have fun”. I’m going to just quickly sum up my opinion of Chris’ performance. I’m going to borrow one of Simon’s favorite phrases: it was dreadful. This kind of music can sound nasal anyway and with Chris’ nasal tendencies, I just didn’t care for it at all. However, I do have to say the performance aspect of it was better than usual. Randy said “you did your thing”. Paula said he did a good job, and Simon said he did as much as he could have done with that song.

The final performance of the night was Melinda Doolittle. She was very nervous, saying to Jon Bon Jovi that she’s terrible at rock music. Either she was being overly modest, or Jon Bon Jovi is the best rock coach ever because SHE ROCKED!! I actually think this was her best performance since she sang “Woman” way back in the first weeks. Maybe she should be a rock star! Randy didn’t think it was her best performance. Paula said, “you’re a rock star”. Simon said she was like a young Tina Turner.

So, here’s my rankings of tonight’s performances:

1. Blake Lewis
2. Melinda Doolittle
3. Phil Stacey
4. LaKisha Jones
5. Jordin Sparks
6. Chris Richardson