Tonight was Barry Gibb night. Each competitor was singing two songs, as well, so it was a fun night.

Melinda Doolittle kicked off the night with “Love You Inside and Out”. I thought she really made the song her own and sang it with a lot of personality. The judges began tonight’s theme, which apparently was “we’re not impressed”. Randy said he wasn’t jumping up and down, which I think he shamelessly stole from Simon. Paula said the vocals were great, but didn’t seem overly impressed. Simon said it was more of a backing vocalist performance.

Blake Lewis followed Melinda, singing “You Should Be Dancing”. He sang with a good falsetto and threw in a little beatboxing. Overall, I thought it was a fun performance. Barry Gibb seemed to think that the song was well-suited for beat boxing. Randy disagreed (Randy, you don’t get to disagree with the person who wrote the song. You just don’t.) Paula said it started shaky, and the pitch was off. Simon conceded that it was unique but thought it was terrible.

After Blake, LaKisha Jones sang a slowed down version of “Stayin’ Alive”. It was an interesting version, but it really changed the meaning of the song, I thought. LaKisha did connect well with the lyrics, which was nice to see. Randy thought it was a weird arrangement and that LaKisha tried to do too much with it. Paula thought the arranagement brought the mood down. Simon summed up his response with, “there will be no kiss tonight.” (Didn’t I tell you the judges had their own theme going tonight?)

Jordin Sparks got the first viewer question of the night: what have you learned about yourself in this process? She answered that she can handle a lot more than she thought. Then she sang “To Love Somebody”. Barry Gibb was clearly impressed, saying he’d never heard a greater version of the song. I think that pretty much said it all. The judges took a small break from tonight’s theme to say that wasn’t too bad.

Melinda was next, answering a viewer question, which was “what was the first tape you bought?” It was Michael Jackson’s “Bad”. Then it was on to her second song. She chose “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”. She changed the lyrics to avoid a reference to being a loser, thus avoiding the dreaded Idol blunder. Hopefully that, and her solid performance, will keep her from going home this week. Randy thought this was much better with a beautiful ending. Paula thought it was a beautiful vocal but wanted to be surprised. Simon thought the second half of the song would put her through to the semifinals.

Blake won the weird song choice of the night with “This Is Where I Came In”. It was interesting and sounded very contemporary, but it was a bit hard for me to get into. Randy thought the beatboxing got old. Paula said there is nothing old about Blake. Simon thought it wasn’t a good song choice.

After Blake, LaKisha performed “Run to Me”. As usual, she refused to take the direction of the guest mentor, which was a shame because I think Barry’s suggestion would have spiced up an otherwise slightly dull performance. On top of that, she missed the last note. Randy thought it was better than the first song. Paula said she’s still a champ. Simon said it still wasn’t great.

The final singer of the night was Jordin, singing “Woman In Love”. Barry Gibb said that Jordin is on track to be “one of our greatest female artists”. Wow! That’s high praise. I really enjoyed her performance of “Woman In Love”, but the judges clearly had a different opinion. Randy said it wasn’t her best performance and that the song was pitchy. Paula agreed. Simon said it was old-fashioned and pageanty. Ouch.

Here’s how I would rank tonight’s performances:

1. Jordin Sparks
2. These two spots were a toss up for me between Blake and Melinda
3.
4. LaKisha Jones

I think LaKisha will probably be going home this week.