American Idol gets inspired!

So, I was 2 for 2 last week. Have been pretty good this season with picking who's in danger and who goes home but I'm not tooting my own horn (toot, toot!), it just has been rather obvious week to week who should go home, ahem... except for Tim. o_O

This week is inspirational song week with Alicia keys as the mentor. Alicia was ok as a mentor. We didn't really get to see or hear too much from her. What got more of Lambert last week. What's up with that?

Casey went first and did an ok version of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't stop". His voice didn't seem in sync with the music until the choruses. I was more impressed that he was actually playing with one of Lindsey Buckingham's actual guitars than with Casey's performance.

Lee went next and was very good in his performance of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer". His best performance to date.

Tim did yet another emo/folk version of another song, this time the Goo Goo Dolls "Better Days" which is a favorite song of mine.

Aaron Kelly did R. Kelly?! While Aaron thought he could fly with his song choice, I don't think he got off the ground with it until the very end. Why didn't he do a Garth Brooks song? Garth has plenty of songs with inspirational messages. Same for Keith Urban. So many better options than what he picked.

Siobhan took on Mariah & Whitney's "When you believe" and I thought she did a really good job of hitting some crazy notes effortlessly. The judges didn't seem too impressed by her and Kara said that while she was technically very good that she didn't see who she is an artist. Isn't this a singing competition? So shouldn't a very good technical performance on a hard song be praised? The judges are giving too much conflicting advice this season. Simon didn't and won't like anything Siobhan does because he wants Crystal to win (he has stated she is his pick) and Siobhan is clearly a threat. So is Lee. I like that Siobhan didn't look upset by the critique and instead stood up for herself but she needs to work on getting her thoughts out faster and more clearly. She sounded a little too Paula-ish last night while explaining herself.

Michael did "Hero" and I think that was a real bad song choice for him vocally. It just didn't work. Simon sometimes seems to have no clue though. He said the song was about Spiderman?! DOH!!!

Crystal ended the show with a really solid performance. It just seems a bit too similar to everything else she does though and I'm rather skeptical of the tears. Alicia had told Aaron that if he got to the point of tears by the end of his song that he could bring it to another level but it was Crystal who had the last song on the show who did so. These contestants are competitors and being on last is an advantage as you are the last impression on the audience before the show ends, ending it with tears makes it a talking point and plays to the viewers sensitivities. She said she was overcome because her Dad was there for the first time but this is a girl who has stated she has performed around the world so I'm sure he's been to her shows before. Then when they showed the highlights with the phone numbers again, they replaced her ending in tears with a clip from rehearsal I would assume because she was not crying at song's end. I hate to be skeptical, I really do... especially when it comes to performances but it just seemed too out of character (she's been criticized for being too stoic and standoffish in the past, even Simon made a comment regarding this at the end of the song) and too coincidental with the Alicia Keys advice to Aaron Kelly earlier in the show. Anyway, it was a solid performance nonetheless.

So who goes home? No one! It's "Idol Gives Back" week and no one ever goes home during that week. It would be the wrong message to send, now wouldn't it? Let's talk inspiration but kill a contestant's dream this week. Talk about mood killer. Should be a good "Idol Gives Back" show tonight.