The Top 8

First things first: Nikko was robbed.

This year's theme was "Songs From The Year You Were Born." My brother commented that it would have been better to have "Songs From The Year You Were 10," since they'd be more likely to know the songs, but this was still really good.

1. Nadia Turner: "When I Dream" (Crystal Gayle): Nadia sang this well, but I knew she'd get slammed on song choice. So many songs, and she picks this dreck? I'm sorry, but I think there could be a lot better options from 1977. "Dancing Queen" came out that year! If Nadia's out this week, I think it's her own fault for picking such a dull song. When Randy's never heard it, that's pretty obscure. Also, the way she defended her choice by talking about how she's a dreamer did not work for me.

2. Bo Bice: "Freebird" (Lynyrd Sknyrd): Bo was more Bo-like tonight, he sang this very well, but I think it could have been more exciting. It was awesome, but I would have liked to see him rock out more.

3. Anwar Robinson: "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again" (Dionne Warwick): Better than usual, but I think I just don't like Anwar's voice. He's very nasal and he sounds kind of forced. It was a good song choice for him, but I think he might want to dial down the smiling during such a dramatic song.

4. Anthony Fedorov: "Everytime You Go Away" (Paul Young): I wanted to hate this, but I couldn't. Fedorov did a very nice job. I still feel that he doesn't have enough subtlety though, and doesn't get into the emotion of the song. I may be making sense, or I may be sounding like Paula, you be the judge. Anyway, this was really, really good. Admittedly, I was singing, "you trach a piece of me with you." Trach jokes just never get old for me.

5. Vonzell Solomon: "Let's Hear It For the Boy" (Deniece Williams): Ok, I LOVE this song, so I was quite excited, and Vonzell did it well. Maybe not her best performance ever, but it was still quite good, and part of my liking it was because it was a good, recognizable song. You hear that, Nadia?

6. Scott Savol: "She's Gone" (Hall & Oates): Of course she's gone, Scott, you threw a phone at her! Yeah, this was pretty bad. He did well on the chorus, but the verses were terrible. He was very mumbly and did not sound right. Hall & Oates are looking quite scary, by the way. Oates looks like Chapter 11 John Leguizamo with a perm. Also, Scott doesn't get any props for talking about how brave he is to be onstage. The ego will not help you.

7. Carrie Underwood: "Love Is a Battlefield" (Pat Benatar): Another song that I love, and Carrie sounded really well, very Pat Benatar-esque though she went a little crazy with the vibrato. She looked cute (love the top) but I could see where Simon's "kitten being a tiger" comment made sense. Also, her dancing was HORRIBLE. At least do the shoulder shimmy!

8. Constantine Maroulis: "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen): God help me but this was brilliant. I still can't look at him and found myself screaming a couple times when he looked at the camera (and please, Constantine, put that tongue back wherever it came from), but WOW. I didn't know he could do that! He just sang it so, so well, and it worked for him. However, he would have gotten bonus points for me if he included "Scaramouche, scaramouche, can you do the fandango?" Maybe next time.

The best: Constantine, Anthony
The worst: Scott, Anwar