American Idol...your final 2 will be Taylor Hicks and...

...I'm going to have to change what I thought yesterday and say that the other member of the top 2 will be Katharine. I think she may have edged out Elliott last night. I'm pretty positive Taylor is safe. If he's not safe then something weird happened, but I don't think there's any reason to think he's leaving tonight.

The performances:

Taylor Hicks -

Clive Davis' choice - Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen. Clive personally called Springsteen to get this one approved and The Boss said ok. Does that mean he likes Taylor? Maybe. This was an unusual choice, but not as unusual as for the other 2. I'm thinking if he actually called Springsteen, there are a few other more classic choices he could have picked, but this one wasn't bad. Taylor did a good job with it. It wasn't a stand out vocal, but he sounded good and the dancing with Paula was fun. Grade - B

Judges (Randy Jackson) choice - You Are So Beautiful - written by Billy Preston, most famous performance by Joe Cocker (I'm so glad Randy pointed out Billy Preston wrote this). I was a little skeptical about this song, because it's very repetitive. However, I loved Taylor's version. The best part was that Taylor came up with his own phrasing and didn't sound like Joe Cocker at all. Actually the best part was his building falsetto "ooh..." in the middle. He got his highest praise ever from Simon on this one. Grade - A

Taylor's choice - Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding. Taylor was going to do this a few weeks ago, but wasn't able to, but I think it's almost better that he got to do it in the top 3 instead. He did a great job with this one. The song is perferct for his voice and style, and he came up with his own way of doing it at the end. Anyone who thinks Taylor overdid anything is probably not familiar with any Otis Redding live versions. Grade A+

Katharine McPhee -

Clive's choice - I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly. This may have been the worst Clive pick. Do people still like this song? Katharine didn't seem to know what to do with it. She made the weird decision not to actually sing the title of the song in the chorus. Isn't that the hook? Not a great performance from Kat. I also didn't like her "you've been hard on me the last couple of weeks" to the judges. As if she didn't deserve any criticism. She also sounded whiny when she said she didn't pick this song. It was true, but that's part of the competition. Grade D

Judges (Simon) choice - Somewhere Over The Rainbow - I'll guess I'll have to take back that this wasn't a good choice from Simon. He believed this was the perfect song for her. Personally I didn't like the performance. I thought the low notes were out of her range, and the rest unmemorable. I don't think it was the "moment" it could have been. Simon said it was the best performance of the entire competition? I definitely don't get that. I can think of several better ones. Grade - B-

Kat's choice - I Aint Got Nothing But The Blues by Ella Fitzgerald. A very unusual choice for Kat, and she didn't pull it off well at all. It's a blues song, yet she was bouncing all over the stage. Vocally it was overdone, and the whole thing just didn't work. She said she didn't want to be compared to any current singers. She would rather be compared to Ella Fitzgerald instead? Katharine's overconfidence in her voice is what has always turned me off on her. Grade C.

Elliot Yamin -

Clive's choice - Open Arms by Journey. Clive Davis has a very weird definition of classic. This was a horrible choice for Elliott and Elliott clearly did not look like he enjoyed singing it. It just wasn't a good song, and like Katharine, Elliott didn't try to do anything buy just get through it. Grade - C

Judges (Paula) choice - What I Won't Do For Love by Bobby Caldwell. Elliott was ok on this, but it wasn't a great song. It just wasn't what was needed to carry Elliott through to the finals. It wasn't memorable. Grade B-

Elliott's choice - I Believe To My Soul by Ray Charles. Elliott didn't do the Ray Charles version of this, he did the Donny Hathaway version. It's the kind of pop-soul style I don't really care for, and like his second song, this one wasn't memorable. After his electrifying performances last week, this week was disappointing for Elliott, and he will probably go home tonight. Grade B-



It's a toss up between Elliott and Katharine leaving, but I think Katharine has the edge. Her Somwhere Over the Rainbow was more memorable than anything Elliott did last night, and Simon proclaiming it the best of the season probably stuck in voters minds.

I'll be a little disappointed if Elliott's not in the top 2, but I ultimately just want Taylor to be there, and I'm pretty sure that's what's going to happen.