Last night we were treated to the Top 6 American Idol performers for a second week in a row after no one was sent home last week during the charity event, Idol Gives Back. It’s really starting to feel like a strong, enjoyable talent contest with several of the performers starting to rise to the top while a few others are continuing to drop. Tonight we’re going to go from Top 6 to Top 4 as two contestants will be sent home.

Bon Jovi is this week’s performing guest so they’ll be doing a song tonight. Yesterday we saw Jon Bon Jovi spend a lot of quality time with the performers and really help thing along. Jon embraced his role and put a lot of effort into it giving them tips and even playing along with each of the singers to help them get the songs just right. I would say he joins the ranks of Jennifer Lopez and Diana Ross for taking the role of musical coach seriously, unlike Gwen Stefani when she practically just dialed that one in.

Fun Note: Funniest moment from last night was when Simon told LaKisha Jones he could kiss her on the lips after her great performance. So what did LaKisha do? She ran right down off the stage and planted a big kiss on Simon’s lips. Simon seemed to really enjoy it!

Best Male Performer: Phil Stacey with “Blaze of Glory”. Phil came out rocking and opened the show in a powerhouse performance. There was a ton of energy in his performance and he really put himself fully into this song. Phil was psyched to be working with Bon Jovi because he grew up loving their songs. His enthusiasm was shining strongly. Randy told him it was his best performance of the show. Each week Phil is outdoing himself. I’m predicting Phil Stacey to be safe this week.

Best Female Performer: Melinda Doolittle with “Have a Nice Day”. I thought Melinda might struggle a little with a rock theme and she expressed that concern as well when she first sat down with Jon Bon Jovi. He promised to turn her into a rock star and that’s definitely just what she did. Simon told her she was like a young Tina Turner and I would certainly agree. Melinda did an awesome job and I continue to expect her to win this whole thing.

Worst Overall Performer: This was a tug of war for me. Jordin Sparks had a surprisingly bad performance with “Living on a Prayer”, but I think it felt so terrible because she’s been doing so incredibly well all season. So I’m going to let her slide this week. Blake Lewis, on the other hand, had a miserable performance. He gets credit for being very creative and making some interesting choices. I think he’d make a great mixing artist or dj, but what he did last night did not display singing abilities to me. He mangled “You Give Love a Bad Name” by live mixing it, pretending to be a record player, beat boxing along, and barely singing any part of it. When he actually sang he sounded really good, but those moments were few and far between. As Jon Bon Jovi noted, how can you consider this a singing performance when you go 16 measures without singing? Paula said that she could see a twinkle in Jon’s eye when Blake was remixing the song during practice. I think Paula was drunk again. Jon instead repeatedly remarked that he didn’t think this was a good idea. Simon said half the audience would love it and half would hate it. I hated it. If you enjoyed it maybe you’d like to get the guy from the Police Academy movies, Michael Winslow, to record an album of sound effects for you to listen to over and over.

My Prediction: Since two people are going home tonight that makes this a little easier. First, the easiest prediction, Chris Richardson has hit the end of his American Idol road. While I didn’t think his performance last night was terrible, it still wasn’t good. He’s been consistently weak in his performances and I think he’ll pay the price tonight. He doesn’t seem to put his heart into it like Phil Stacey, nor does he take risks like Blake Lewis, and that has cost him. Next prediction is a little bit trickier. Jordin had a rough night, but with the votes being combined from last week I think she’ll be safe. Not in the reverse of that situation, LaKisha Jones had a great performance last night, but last week did not go well. She was back to the way we once knew her last night. Sadly, I think it was too little too late. Averaging those votes from last week when she just didn’t do well is going to really hurt her.

I’m expecting to see Chris Richardson and LaKisha Jones go home tonight.

Top 6 for American Idol 2007 Season 6:
• Jordin Sparks
• Lakisha Jones
• Melinda Doolittle
• Blake Lewis
• Chris Richardson
• Phil Stacey

Come back tonight after the show for our American Idol Results Show recap.

Check out the rest of our American Idol coverage.

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