You did catch Jimmy Iovine’s call about the girls having outperformed the guys on American Idol last week, didn’t you?

That right there should have been a not-so-little sign to the gentlemen they need to step things up … WAY up. After last week’s performances, there isn’t one girl who can’t hold her own song for song against any of the guys. But maybe something goes awry this week between the 9 remaining contestants, so let’s see what we can see …

Kree Harrison “With A Little Help From My Friends” You can’t really beat flawless, can you? I’ve said it before: Kree’s my favorite, but there was nothing surprising, sassy or unpredictable about her covering this song (and in Joe Cocker’s style). She was atop the heap in last week’s voting, she’ll be up there again this week.

Burnell Taylor “Let It Be” The impression I got from Burnell was the strange little runs and inflections lent to him not knowing what the hell he was doing with the song. He did weird things with this classic, and not in a good way, adding up to something overly convoluted when it should have been effortless.

Amber Holcomb “She’s Leaving Home” Hello, Burnell? Were you watching? If you’re going to do something different with a Beatles’ tune, this was the way to do it, regardless of the fact Amber needed a little time to work her way into it. In the end she succeeded, but it took some doing for her to get there. Not great, but adequate.

Lazaro Arbos “In My Life” Wow. Warbliness reigned over and throughout Lazaro’s poor performance, making him sound even worse than he actually was. Tempo issues, waverly tones and probably the sincerest insincerity put forth in a song all night. Like everyone out there in TelevisionLand, Lazaro has been a sympathetic fan favorite for me, but is it time for him to cash in his chips? Because his veneer is really starting to crack and the weakness are starting to show through. Glaringly. He may have been the top guy of last week, but that was last week.

Candice Glover “Come Together” Candice may have done well with her version of this rocker, but I didn’t like it. She took too many liberties for my taste. Admittedly, some of them simply weren’t conducive to the feel of the song. I know she was trying to make it hers, but she overplayed it. I’ll give her props for the only uptempo Beatles song of the night, however. And regardless of my feelings, there’s no way she’ll be in any sort of trouble come elimination.

Paul Jolley “Elenor Rigby” Jimmy keeps saying the contestants are going to kill their performances. Paul definitely “killed” this performance of Elenor Rigby, committing one of the ickiest versions I’ve ever heard. *ugh* Maybe the pretty boy should give up singing and take up modeling instead. I think he’s doomed.

Angie Miller “Yesterday” Another substandard performance, this time from … what!? … Angie … ?!?? Really? Yep. Her tone on the song was completely wrong and she hacked it up pretty well. It was as if she was struggling with it, something Keith even commented on. All the luster of her high point original performance “You Set Me Free” during Hollywood Week succumbed to one of the safest Beatles songs in their repertoire.

Devin Velez “The Long And Winding Road” Best of the boys this evening, but he was using a little too much of his best strength — his runs — to leave a mark … and it almost worked against him. A few more of those and it would have messed up his turn irrevocably. There might not be too much personality to the guy, but he’s the best thing the guys have going for them at this point, regardless of the fact he looks like Tin-Tin.

Janelle Arthur “I Will” There wasn’t a better song on The Beatles’ roster than “I Will” for Janelle to take on. Not only a perfect song to end the night on, but a perfect one for Janelle to showcase her singular bent. With the availability of putting a little country twang and flavor in the song, how could she do poorly with it? She couldn’t. It worked monumentally to her advantage.

Bottom 3: Lazaro Arbos, Burnell Taylor and Paul Jolley will make up the low spots this week with Paul waving bye-bye to his fellow Idolites.

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