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Barry Gibb is this week’s guest mentor. He and his brothers, The Bee Gees, came out of the British Invasion of the mid-sixties and have been through a few metamorphoses over the years. During the 70′s , they became a dance band, helping to mainstream disco. And, as a staunch member of the “Disco Sux” contingency back in the day, I’m not a big fan of the music from that period. My favs all come from their early work, in the 60s, of which I was hoping to get a good dose of tonight. Alas, it was only Jordin who brought the Beatlesque Bee Gees, singing the beautiful “To Love Somebody.”
Melinda Doolittle - à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Love You Insideà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - Barry was a little confused that Melinda chose this song because, “it was a falsetto song in the first place.” Well, so? Melinda delivers a great performance, but unfortunately for her, not great enough.  Her performances have been so expert, that her personal bar is set extremely high at this stage. As always, Melinda’s phrasing, pitch and delivery are stellar.  But, the judges are not bowled over by her performance. Now, anything less than knock-yer-socks-off incredible is not going to impress. It’s called peaking early, and at this critical point in the competition, it may hurt Melinda. Shocking boot anyone? Simon says, “that was more of a backing vocalist performance.” Burn.
Blake Lewis – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“You Should Be Dancingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  - Blake is very excited because he gets to meet one of the “pioneers” of dance music.   While his vocals are OK, I find the beatboxing effects a little grating–particularly the staccato beats he drops in at the end of each verse. The beatboxing in the middle is pretty good, but unfortunately, the entire effect comes off as a party trick. This week, it doesn’t really add much to the song. That, and the over-processed echo effects on the vocals add up to a strange and unsatisfying performance. The judges pretty much hate it. About the beatboxing Randy says, “That song didn’t need none of that.” He also thinks the effect is ”corny.” Simon says it was “absolutely terrible.” Ryan mocks the beatboxing when he gives out Blake’s numbers. That doesn’t help.
Lakisha Jones - à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Stayinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Aliveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - Barry says this is another song meant for a male falsetto. Lakisha appears to have some problems with the melody. When she performs it, she starts off well enough, but it slowly comes apart until it’s a big ole mess at the end. Barry tells her to get out of her lower register, but as usual, Kiki does it her way. She drops out of the trouble low notes and lets the backup singers take over. She’s shrieky and out of breath through much of the song.  Simon says, “Lakisha, no kiss tonight, baby…the performance was verging on scary in parts.” This slowed up, halting performance just didn’t work.
Jordin Sparks -à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“To Love Somebodyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - According to USA Today, Nigel went to Barry to get permission for Jordin to sing this song–Barry is planning on performing it tomorrow night. The song is one of the Bee Gees best. Even though Barry can’t imagine a girl singing it, it is the perfect song for Jordin, allowing her to hit the big notes with emotion–basically her trademark at this point. In the end, Barry comes around–he says he’s heard a couple of hundred people sing this song, but he hasn’t heard a greater version than Jordin’s. She delivers the most engaging performance of the night so far, and the judges are loving it. The judges agree that it’s the best vocal so far tonight. Simon says, “We’re back in the competition.” I have to say, Jordin always looks hilarious towering over Ryan on stage. I have no doubt she could squash him like a bug.
Melinda Doolittle - à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“How Can You Mend a Broken Heartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - Melinda changes the lyrics a bit, she doesn’t want to sing the line, “How can a loser never win?” Bad mojo, I guess. And again, as always, the song is delivered beautifully by Melinda. It’s perfectly phrased, and the arrangement gives her a chance to hit some big notes at the end. A really good performance. Paula says she’s waiting for Melinda to throw away her technique and really “throw down.” Actually, Paula makes a good point here. Melinda has proven that she’s got the mechanics down of delivering a song.  But again, she has raised the bar so high for herself, she’s really got very little room to grow. Simon says, “I think the second half of that song has put you into the semi-finals.” Well, maybe Simon, but I think this is the week where anything could happen.
Blake Lewis - à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“This is Where I Came Inà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - What an odd choice of song. According to the USA Today spoiler article, Blake heard the song and really liked it. Not only is it obscure, but out of the huge catalog of songs Blake has to choose from, he picks an inferior tune from 2001. Even Barry admits it’s kind of a lemon, “We thought it could be a hit, and we were wrong.” Blake goes for the beatboxing again. I wish he’d reach back into the Gibb’s catalog to pick a really melodic song–maybe from the British Invasion era–something that would have highlighted his pretty falsetto. As it is, a very meh performance from Blake.  Randy tells him that “You don’t have to beatbox on every joint, dude.” I’d bet my house that Randy, at some point, told Blake he should beatbox more. Simon says, “I don’t know what that song was, I found it completely tuneless.” And then, “I don’t think you’ve had a good night tonight.”
Lakisha Jones - à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Run to Meà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - Barry tells LaKisha to hit the chorus hard on the first verse–advice that she pretty much ignores, as usual.  Barry says the two key changes in the song present a challenge. When Lakisha hits the change, she’s off-key and screachy. It’s not a pleasant sound.  The arrangement is really choppy. The song gets really loud and then suddenly LaKisha pulls back and it’s really soft. The flow is really odd. When she comes to the last note she can barely squeak it out. Randy and Paula tell her not to worry about the last note–the song was still good. Simon says while it was better than the first song, it still wasn’t great and that she and Blake are in trouble tonight. Eep.
Jordin Sparks - à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Woman in Loveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ - Barry wrote this song for Barbara Streisand. The album he did with her back in the 80′s was a huge hit. My mother used to play it over and over again on our console stereo. I had fantasies of breaking the album into a million tiny little pieces…but I digress… This song presents all kinds of opportunities to bomb. In my opinion, it’s a really badly constructed melody. Even Babs sounded strident singing it. Barry says Jordin is going to be “one of our greatest recording artists.” Whoa, Barry got the memo… Anyway, Jordin really falters here. She’s strident, off key and screamy through the second half of the song. Everytime she hits that high note, I instinctively want to put my fingers in my ears. Randy and Paula gloss over critiquing her much. Randy slides into giving Barry Gibb props for writing such great songs. Paula babbles out a non-critique. Simon says, “I thought it was old fashioned, and actually very pageanty.” I thought it was just bad. Then Simon says the magic words, “But you’re 17 Jordin!” And somehow, that makes it all alright.
