American Idol 9 - Top 6

It's hard to believe, but the competition is starting to wind down. Once the producers start using two telephone numbers for each contestant, the competitors are getting fewer and fewer. So, is it country music week, or simply "songs from Shania Twain"? I've found lately, particularly with this season and last, even though it's supposed to be country music week, the contestants change the song however they feel it should sound. They basically eliminate the country twang. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but they should be trying to adapt to the country sound a little bit at least. Some of the contestants embraced the country roots these songs have, while others changed them to suit their sound. So how did everyone do overall this week with Shania Twain's songs? Let's find out...

Lee Dewyze - "You're Still the One" : Lee is up first tonight and he's been doing consistently well for a number of weeks now. I would say it was another strong performance week for Lee, but it wasn't quite perfect. He ran into some pitch problems here and there, particularly in the beginning. The key of the song almost seemed to be too high for Lee and it appeared he was struggling to hit the highest notes in the song. And the way he ended the song seemed a bit awkward to me - was he overcome by emotion at the end? Other than those issues that came up, I thought Lee delivered another solid performance. And I like that he is overcoming his stage fright issues because he's going to need to if he's going to be a big recording artist.

Michael Lynche - "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing" : Big Mike is up next and he is tackling another ballad and giving it some R&B flavor. I must say, this is when Michael is at his strongest when performing these kinds of songs. I agree with Simon that it did seem theatrical at times and he has to work on limiting his theatrical-like stage movements. But all in all, it was another strong performance week for Big Mike. He was pitch perfect, he delivered an emotional, raw, and vulnerable performance and he showed exactly why he's still on that big stage (while being helped out with the judge's save). Now the big question is, did he do enough to make a connection with the audience and to keep him around another week?

Casey James - "Don't" : So it appears that Casey received a much needed wake-up call last week when he landed in the bottom two. He just was not connecting to the judges nor the audience while delivering those lazy, yet competent rock song covers. Those kinds of performances sound great in any bar across the country. Yet, when you're try to be a relevant and new performing artist, you need to do something else. And Casey did exactly that this week. He performed a much more slowed-down song and really let his vocals shine. It was vulnerable and you could tell he was connected to the song. It may not have been quite as good as "Jealous Guy," but it was definitely a breath of fresh air, particularly after last week.

Crystal Bowersox - "No One Needs to Know" : I am sure I don't need to tell you that Crystal is the proverbial front-runner in this competition, even though it appears that Lee is nipping at her heels a bit. She has delivered consistently-strong performances week after week. But she has a unique problem that the majority of contestants this season don't have to worry about. She became the front-runner so early on that it's hard to see her improve because she's so consistently good. She may become stale to the average Idol viewer and run into serious trouble. I don't think this was her strongest week by any means but overall she was solid. I really enjoyed her falsetto towards the end of the song. But I don't ever see her performing these kinds of songs in her career.

Aaron Kelly - "You've Got a Way" : Aaron has made a few trips into the bottom three recently, so he needs to deliver a strong performance to get a reprieve. I will say this - this is the perfect week for him to do well, after all, it's country music. I am sure he's listened to a few Shania Twain songs here and there. And he definitely picked the perfect song. He did run into a few pitch problems, especially earlier on in the performance. But he improved quite nicely and had a strong finish. And it was such a heartfelt performance; how could anyone be negative after that one? He started to get overcome with emotion at the end, so you could clearly see he was connected to the song. Nice to see Aaron come back with a vengeance.

Siobhan Magnus - "Any Man of Mine" : Siobhan finishes out the show with one of Shania's more popular upbeat songs. Siobhan has definitely encountered her fair share of struggles as of late. And her choice of songs has also been rather questionable. Let's hope she hits one out of the park this week, because I'm still rooting for her - even though I don't find her quite as appealing as I once did. And I must say, it was a big improvement for Siobhan this week over the past few weeks. She still ran into a few issues, especially pitch-wise. She had problems while trying to hit the lower notes in the song. Sometimes she's hard to understand when she's attempting to hit those lower notes in her register and it happened a few times during her performance. She sounded nasally and unintelligible at times, yet, a big improvement over the last few weeks.

Week 6 Performance Rankings:
1.) Casey James
2.) Mike Lynche
3.) Lee Dewyze
4.) Crystal Bowersox
5.) Siobhan Magnus
6.) Aaron Kelly

Going home: Wow ... what an incredibly tough decision this week. You could make a case for all of them staying or all of them going home. For some of them, it deals with an issue that's been plaguing them all season. For Big Mike, he's typically pitch perfect yet his stage persona is often over dramatic. Lee has delivered consistently-strong performances, yet still runs into pitch problems. Crystal is always good - and that just might be her problem. How does she show improvement when she's always good. Aaron Kelly is a sweet young guy, but still runs into pitch problems. Siobhan is quirky, outlandish, and you never know what kind of performance she's going to deliver, but also runs into pitch problems and questionable song selection. And lastly, while Casey finally gave the audience something new this week performing a ballad quite strongly, his up-beat rock-band cover performances still leave the audience wanting something more. So, with that being said and having to make a difficult decision, I think Mike Lynche is going home tonight. He was already eliminated once but saved by the judges. I just don't believe he connects with the audience all that well. But honestly, it could be anyone else going home tonight; it's that difficult of a decision.