TOP 8 - J LO WEEK

JENNIFER LOPEZ - What a great mentor! She was really fun. She seemed to have real, solid advice for the contestants. I thought she did a great job with them, and I'm looking forward to her performance tomorrow!

I decided to rate each contestant this time on a scale between 5 and 1. 5 +'s would be out of this world blown away, and 1 + would be "just a'ight".

MELINDA - I liked it! It was new and old at the same time. Simon's seems to have been *looking* for a reason to criticize her. And she agrees with me. Rating: ++++

LAKISHA - Good job! +++

CHRIS - I always love musicians on stage with the vocalists, so that's a plus right there! I thought he did surprisingly well with it. +++

***Simon's right about Chris being more contemporary than the first two...that's my problem with them as well. They are excellent singers, especially Melinda, but I don't know if I'd listen to them outside of this competition precisely because they aren't current. Hmmm, I'll have to think on this some more...

HALEY - I couldn't hear her very well. She had fun with it! Randy's seems to have run out of his own comments and has had to steal from Simon... "I could hear that in any bar..." blah blah blah... ++

PHIL - I can't hear him very well either, I think maybe it's a microphone thing??? It seemed a little more "acted" than "felt", but he did a good job. ++

JORDIN - Is it just me, or has she answered more viewer questions than the others? Very well done! She is so fun!!! ++++

BLAKE - I'm not a fan of the hat, but I'm definitely a fan of the singing! He did great! ++++

SANJAYA - I love this song...let's see how he does. I can hear him, so that's a good start! :) Feeling is oozing out of him and through my TV! I'm surprised to say +++ !!! Randy's right, he is a *very* smart contestant.

TOP - JORDIN and BLAKE.

SURPRISINGLY WELL DONE - CHRIS and SANJAYA.

BYE BYE - HALEY [or maybe PHIL, but I'll be sad if it's him :( ].