Finalists:
- Danny Gokey - "Stand by Me" (Mickey Gilley, 1980)
- Kris Allen - "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" (Don Henley, 1985)
- Lil Rounds - "What's Love Got to Do With It" (Tina Turner, 1984)
- Anoop Desai - "True Colors" (Cyndi Lauper, 1986)
- Scott MacIntyre - "The Search Is Over" (Survivor, 1985)
- Allison Iraheta - "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Bonnie Raitt, 1991)
- Matt Giraud - "Part-Time Lover" (Stevie Wonder, 1985)
- Adam Lambert - "Mad World" (Tears for Fears, 1982)

The Theme
Songs from the Year the contestant was born. And they picked some shit tonight.

Voted Off / Should've Gone Home:
Scott. It was time. Somewhat passed time. He was not as interesting as Megan Joy, as good a singer as Alexis Grace, nor as likable as Michael Sarver. He also kept choosing obscure, bland songs that failed to connect every damn week.

"The Search is Over": D

How Was Everyone Else?
Gokey's "Stand By Me" was intended, surely, to be a powerful statement that started slow and low and built to a thrilling climax. It was was incredibly awkward from note 1 and a hideous arrangement.

"All She Wants to Do is Dance" featured likable Kris in the crowd with his guitar but the charm he managed during "Remember the Time" (Michael Jackson week) just wasn't there.

Lil Rounds capably sang "What's Love Got to Do With It," but Simon was SPOT ON when he said she was aping Tina Turner right down to the way she walked the stage. Too true. It was a good version, but it was Tina's version, and well, you might as well listen to Tina who'll sing it with a certain passion and not a wide-eyed stare and incomprehensible smile.

Allison's "I Can't Make You Love Me" was good, and showed she could do a very slow song that didn't build to a larger rock finale (her "Alone" is still her best work).

Matt's "Part Time Lover" was a not very good take on a not very good song, and Adam Lambert almost appeared too desperate to be "edgy" with his pick. He doesn't need to try; he's already the strangest thing happening on that stage. He has his quiet, yearning songs and his bombastic powerhouses. You can't do the same every week, assuredly, but this wasn't amazing, and even Simon was acting like it was.

"True Colors," from Anoop brought nothing to the Cyndi Lauper classic, and sternly enforced no one really sings that song as well as Cyndi as it's a pretty song but you need that raw vocal to make those otherwise maudlin lyrics sound meaningful. But he wasn't Phil Collins, so I suppose that says something.

"Stand By Me": D-
"All She Wants to Do is Dance": C
"What's Love Got to Do With It": C
"I Can't Make You Love Me": B+
"Part Time Lover": D
"Mad World": B-
"True Colors": D

I must also say that this week the judges were a bunch of pricks. They ached and agonized over whether they would save Scott right in front of him, gritting their teeth and clearly not wanting to come off as insensitive. It was pointedly clear it became nothing about talent when it got down to "but you're an inspiration!" Yes, inspired, lovely. Do your fucking jobs, people. It didn't help that this was also Let's-hear-from-only-2-judges-per-song week. We'll see how long THAT lasts; they still went over time, and nearly anything that the judges said made any constructive impact.