Top 12 Perform

In tonight’s episode, contestants were asked to sing songs from the year they were born.

Naima was born in 1984 and chooses “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” by Tina Turner. As always, she looks good, but again this week she’s pitchy throughout the whole performance. It’s a hot mess.

Paul, too, was born in 1984 and he selects Elton John’s “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues”. I have a love/hate relationship with this guy. There’s something about his voice that I don’t like, but there’s more about his voice that I do like. He’s a perky Rod Stewart, he moves like a dork, but somehow he makes it work. He’s hoarse tonight, his voice starts wearing out, and there’s a pitchy spot.

Vanessa Williams’ “Colors of the Wind” from 1995 is Thia’s song choice. She’s highly influenced by Michael Jackson --- the evidence is found in her vocal style, but she has a true, clear, singing voice and sounds lovely, but just lovely --- nothing extraordinary except the quality of her voice.

James chooses Bon Jovi’s “I’ll Be There for You” from 1989. The tail’s back, his voice sounds slightly weak at the end and he has one pitchy spot, which is really uncharacteristic of him.

Haley, who was born in 1990, chooses Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight”. I love the quality of her voice; there’s sometimes an old-timey jazz singer quality edge to it. I like the song, but the judges want her to find out who she is.

Stefano’s choice is Simply Red’s “If You Don’t Know me By Now” from 1989. It’s a great performance right up until his voice cracks every so slightly on the last note.

Whitney Houston’s “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?” from 1988 is Pia’s choice of song. Her outfit is dreadful, but her voice is beautiful. However, there’s no heart or emotion there for me.

Scotty sings Travis Tripp’s “Can I Trust You With My Heart?” from 1993. It’s simply perfect --- he stayed true to the song, yet made it his own and reached a little further this week than he has in the past.

Karen sang “Love Will Lead You Back” by Taylor Dane from 1989. This performance was just okay to me.

Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from 1991 was the song Casey chose. He took a HUGE risk, but I think it was successful for him.

Lauren sang “I’m the Only One” from 1994 by Melissa Etheridge. It was a great performance, especially considering she has the flu.

Jacob wrapped up the show with 1987’s “Alone” by Heart. I like Jacob, I really do. But this was a little like listening to Josh Groban sing pop. It just didn’t work for me.

Despite the unexpected bumps in several of tonight’s performances, I’m predicting with no doubt that Naima will be going home this week.