Soul and RnB Night

Here we go, yo. Tonight Ursher mentors the Top Ten in soul and rythym 'n blues. An apt choice since Ursher is the Billboard's number one artist of the Hot 100 of the last decade with 45 million in sales, and 5 Grammys under his belt.

This is a night that I always look forward to because RnB is definitely my favorite genre of music and because I believe this kind of music can weed out the great vocalists from the mediocre, and this season if raft with the mediocre.

So, here we go with Ursher at the helm:

SIOBHAN started off with "Through The Fire" by Chaka Kahn. I rarely ever utter the name Chaka Kahn with out prefacing it with "The Incomparable." I was fearing the usual "Siobhan Screech" and she delivered it, ruining the song even more than if she just sang it outright. It was terrible. Off key and wandering pitch. Her scream didn't help her this week. She took on someone beyond compare and failed. Of course, Ellen, the boob, said she "loved it" at first, but recanted after she heard the other judges. Worst of the night so far. Really???

Next up, CASEY. He chose "Hold On I'm Comin," by Sam and Dave. Not one of my favorites. It's pretty safe with no huge range variations. All in all, it was just that -- a safe and adequate performance that was pretty much exactly like the original, but not quite as good. If nothing else, Casey is good at chosing songs that fit him. He'll stay around.

Tonight was definitely MIKE's night to shine and shine big. He has the purest RnB voice of the bunch fo sho. Shades of LUTHER!! "Ready For Love" by India Arie was his choice. Not my favorite choice because it was not a hugely popular song by Arie. He sang it as it was written, a slow (boring) ballad. Mike's great vocally, with his pitch right on spot from beginning to end. His delivery is nice and rich, but I sure am getting bored with his funeral dirge songs. Time to step it up, Mikey. Ursher weighed in on Mike's performance saying that he "connected." I agree. No doubt we'll be hearing more from him.

DIDI sang "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" by Jimmie Ruffin. It was OK for Didi. She doesn't have an RnB voice, so the way she sang it was good as she could do it. There was no big moment, but I didn't expect it. Didi admitted she's not an RnB singer, so it's good that she knows her limit. She's more of a folk singer. She'll do well on Joan Baez Night.

Anita Baker's "Sweet Love" was TIM's choice. There is considerable range in this song, so it was interesting to see Tim take it on. To his favor, it was the most contemporary song choice so far. Well, aside from his "deer in the headlights" stare, I think he did a pretty good job. As I said before, Tim is coasting through this competition on his looks. I loved how he stood there and laughed as the judges crucified his presentation. I acutally like him. He's got more personality than anyone in the contest and I'd like to see him stay around. He needs a haircut.

ANDREW sang Chris Brown's "Forever," one of my favorites of the past several years. He did an acoustic version, seated on a stool with his guitar. I had high hopes for Andrew with this song, but he didn't do it for me. It was just OK. Although I do think Andrew has true musical talent and just needs to find his flow. I'm in the minority here. All the judges loved the performance. BTW - Seacrest couldn't let the moment pass with out mentioning "Straight Up."

Ursher's next charge was KATIE, singing "Chain Of Fools," by the one and only Aretha Franklin. We've heard this song zillions of times and most renditions were better than Katie's. Anytime the singers take on an icon like Aretha, they will suffer from the inevitable comparisons. She was on key throughout, but it sounded forced with no soul. We'll probably be seeing poor Katie in the bottom three.

LEE and his new-found confidence took on "Treat Her Like A Lady" by The Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose. He took the song and truly made it his own. Full of raw soul, he absolutely nailed it. I loved it, and I believe Lee is in serious contention to win this competition. Lee just needed to find his backbone, and he did tonight. Best of the night so far.

CRYSTAL was next. Ursher coached her through Gladys Knight and the Pips' "Midnight Train To Georgia." Awesome job!! She started off the song at her piano, then got up and stood for the last half. She looked classy and sounded perfect. I have been saying that Crystal has no chance of winning this contest, but now I'm beginning to rethink that assumption. She is a musician in every sense of the word. I can't wait to hear from her next week.

Little sixteen-year-old AARON finished out the show with Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." First of all, Aaron needs to work on his appearance. He looked like the kid from the "Yo Little Brother" video from the 80's. Check it out for a laugh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L0H_w9kBx8 Aaron sounded OK, but there was nothing earth shattering with him tonight.

So that's the end of Soul and RnB night at Television City in the world famous Fairax District. I wanted it to be better, but we did see a few worthy performances, especially in Lee and Crystal. Kudos to Ursher for a job well done. My bottom three preditions: Siobhan, Didi, and Katie.

BTW - I like the new feature where the camera follows the contestants into the green room just after they performed to get their reaction and mood, and I loved the new Kotex tampon commercial tonight.

See ya next time!