The special guest this week is the stylishly awesome Gwen Stefani and the theme is songs or artists that inspire her Gwen-ness. This week, I’m adding in the comments of my 2 year old “LG”, just because.

LaKisha Jones
Last Dance (Donna Summer)
LG’s comment: LaKisha wear boots!
Very strong vocal performance. And who doesn’t love Donna Summer. I adore Donna Summer. A great way to start off the show. And it was nice to see her go uptempo for a change. But you know, as much as she has a very awesome amazing voice, there is just some little something that is missing with LaKisha for me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s just something lacking when I watch her. But still, this was a great performance.

Chris Sligh
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (The Police)
LG’s comment: Kiss is singin’.
He was a bit pitchy at the beginning and he was a bit behind the beat especially on the chorus. Which Gwen pointed out to him, by the way. It felt kind of like he was slogging through mud. Sting sings this way faster. Vocally, otherwise, it was okay. Not great, though.

Gina Glocksen
I’ll Stand By You (The Pretenders)
LG’s comment: Yay Gina!
Her outfit is seriously horrible, but this was her best performance for me. She should sing All Pretenders all the time I think. Chrissie Hynde is perfect for her voice.

Sanjaya Malakar
Bathwater (No Doubt)
LG’s comment: yayyyyy.
The hair is freaking me out, but at least he’s having fun with it. I actually think this is a good song for his voice, but as Gwen said, it’s a tough song. Well, I didn’t hate this, but that’s about all I can say. I think he is laughing at himself though and that’s a good thing. But I bet there will be many girls wearing their hair like that tomorrow and that is scary.

Haley Scarnato
True Colors (Cyndi Lauper)
LG’s comment: Haley singing!
Her dress made her butt look larger than she might have wanted. The vocal was, as usual, weak, but pleasant, but I didn’t really like her arrangement all that much. At least Sanjaya was having fun.

Phil Stacey
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
LG’s comment: Vill!
Phil’s voice is just too pretty. And I say the same thing every week - he needs some grit in his voice, at least on the verse. On the chorus, I think he sounded really good actually.

Melinda Doolittle
Heaven Knows (Donna Summer
LG’s comment: Yinda!
A fun upbeat piece from Melinda. Great job of course. And whatever that little something that LaKisha doesn’t have is? Melinda has it. The only negative thing Simon could say was that he hated the outfit. I tend to agree with him on that one.

Blake Lewis
Love Song (The Cure)
LG’s comment: Dat Bake!
This is the first week that I haven’t loved Blake. I think that either this a really boring song or he made it really boring. He has such a laid back style, that maybe picking a laid back simple song like this just didn’t really work. I still like him, but this performance didn’t really do anything for me, although his vocals were good - nothing wrong with them, just nothing that was really exciting. Still the best guy in the competition.

Jordin Sparks
Hey Baby (No Doubt)
LG’s comments: Jordin Parks! Singin’ on microphone! Jordin silly! Jordin have a dress!
Nice to see Jordin doing an upbeat song for a change - really having fun and doing something a little more her age. As always, Jordin is awesome. She definitely has personality. One of the best of the night. Didn’t like the outfit. The stylist was not doing a good job this week.

Chris Richardson
Don’t Speak (No Doubt)
LG’s comments: none (don’t blame her)
Gwen wants him to focus on the melody and the emotion. So usually they save the best (or one of the best) for last. But this? Sucked. It was pitchy. I hated what he did with the arrangement. This is such a beautiful emotional song and he just killed it. Hated it. HATED. I liked Sanjaya better.

LG’s final comment: Bye bye Mercan Lidol!

My ranking:

1. Gina
2. Melinda
3. Jordin
4. LaKisha
5. Blake
6. Phil
7. Chris S.
8. Haley
9. Sanjaya
10. Chris R.