So after Paul's departure last week, what do we think of the contestants now and how will they cope with the new theme?

It's Mowtown week, or something like that. Everyone thinks Candice will shine because of the genre. But I think, just as she could easily be the best of the night, it could be just as dangerous. She could come across as old fashioned; she needs to modernise it somehow. Song choice is key...

Speaking of which, I dont know why Jimmy was so hyped up about Amber's performance?? Vocally she was one of the best of the night (probably top 3) but the song choice was a terrible one and it came over, to me at least, as bland and boring. I'm surprised she wasn't bottom of the vote due to song choice and the fact she came 5th the week before. I think a middle-good ranking is very dangerous as the supporters of the people who failed to pull in many votes panic and vote more. And the supporters of the contestants near the top dont want to become too complacent. I think Amber's great though so hope she nails it this week.

Devin and Lazaro seem like nice guys but are becoming out of their depth and need to be the next two to go; Lazaro especially. Votefortheworst.com (you should check them out) are supporting Lazaro and I do think that he'll stick around for a while.

Burnell is great and for some reason I think he'd do better on 'The Voice'. I think he will shine this week.

Kree is more soulful than Janelle and I think she'll stand out over her. Am not too fond of Janelle but I'm just overall not a great fan of country; to me shes an average-good singer and that's that.

Angela I'm very interested in. Jimmy was correct when he said there's something wrong and it needs to be fixed. I can easily see the Pia-effect happening and the save will probably be used on her or Candice. I can see her winning though but this week is the week to show she is creative and innovative as an artist.

What do you guys think of the theme and/or contestants, leading up to the top 8 week?

Thanks for starting the thread Abigail! Motown should be a good theme - hope they sing some well-known ones.

It'll be interesting to see how Lazaro and Devin get on this week.

I have youtubed all the performances and there were some clear standouts. Will record tonight's show as I'm going out but it's one to watch, including a 'get off the stage' comment from one of the judges, you can probably guess who.

Should be interesting!

Thanks,sounds like it's going to be a good one! Have a good night.

Favourites - Candice and Amber
My least favourite of the night - Angie ( :O HOW THE HELL? SHE WAS SHITE)

This was all down to youtube though, ill have to watch the actual programme.

Evening all, anyone watching? Nice to hear some Madonna - love that song. Thought Janelle & Kree did a good job.

They did okay - I've never heard a really great cover of Like a Prayer... It's Madonna or nothing IMO

I missed the beginning of the show but, from what I saw, Kree was the stand-out act. I also liked Devin and Burnell. I normally like Candice too, but I missed her tonight. I think Lazaro is the weakest contestant but tonight was probably his best performance, and he is clearly getting by on factors other than his singing prowess. Angie was awful tonight, Amber was not great either, and Janelle was OK if you like that kind of thing, I guess, but I don't. To go back to Kree, not only does she have a great voice, but she has also lived a bit more than most of the others, so she can actually put more feeling into her performances. Most of the others are too young for that.

Candice was a standout performance for me. Kree is still my favourite and the artist whose album I'm most likely to actually pay money for. Burnell should have been good this week and was. Amber was great... if you like that sort of over-performed stuff, I guess. <waves at Mariah> Janelle's solo was really very damn good - much much better than I expected from her.

All the 'group' numbers were pretty bad:

Angie was pageant queen on that group - was odd to see two such beautiful girls eclipsed by the sheer charismatic, talented presence of the less conventionally beautiful Candice - you go girl!!! Just shows that substance beats style any day, <waves at Ms Minaj>

Janelle and Kree didn't seem to even be singing in the same key. Not what I'd call harmony anyway.

And the boys... - well, I never thought I'd say this but for once Nicki was absolutely right - Get off the stage!!

Lazaro needs to go. Beautiful sweet smile aside - his lazy attitude just sucks.




Am going offline for a couple of weeks so I'll catch up when I get back. Shall miss chatting AI on here with you all...

Btw - and this isn't really relevant to tonight's show at all, so feel free to ignore

I caught BBC's An Evening with Glen Campbell the other week. I'm not a country fan but I was brought up with his stuff - along with the Stones, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel and The Corries lol. Anyhoo, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

And the reason I bring it up is because he sang a version of Galveston, I hadn't heard before - much slower and more emotional. And I desperately want to hear Kree sing it!

Am linking GC's performance here. Anyone agree? I just think her tone would be amazing for this...

I didn't enjoy tonight's show as much as Beatles week. I felt the loud arrangements swallowed up nearly all the singers. Even though there were no particularly bad performances there weren't any standout performances because none of the singers could rise above the band (and the rather haphazard camera directions.)

Amber made a great choice with Lately, a song that flatters any decent singer, Stevie Wonder did all the hard work with some great vocal runs that Amber simply copied, Kree chose a great song and was on-point yet again. A very indistinct show, I bet the producers wish they'd put a rocker in the show so we could have had some White Stripes tonight.

In summary, based on subjective judgments and my guess of voting trends, I'd put Amber again in the bottom 3 with Lazaro and.... Candice (not that she deserves it).

But surely the only possible winners are Angela, Kree and Candice.

Really? I hope not Angela. There's something very offputting about her - very fake, very 'beauty pageant' as Jimmy once said. I wouldn't object to eithre Candice or Kree winning, though. Or Devin or Burnell,

Candice was the standout for me - I loved her arrangement of that song.

I'm probably going to get a hard time for this but Amber is really overrated for me. She has a great voice but her performances never seem to grab me, there never seems to be any real feeling in her vocals and her performances are always so old fashioned. I predict she'll be the first girl to get the lowest number of votes and the judges will waste the save on her.

Not from me. I don't rate her either. She has a decent enough voice and she certainly has the look, but yes, we've seen/heard it all before and I didn't like it then.

I agree with you! If I had my way she'd be in the top 3 just because I'm not a fan of country or any of the guys in the show so her, Candice and Angie would be great. But there seems to be a disconnection between herself and the audience. It's annoying and i think sometimes it cannot be fixed.

She wont be eliminated; it will probably be the three remaining guys in the bottom 3! But I disagree with you on one point. I think she'll be the first, but possibly second girl to get eliminated. But they wont use the save

I think Candice is great but I have to disagree with the comments about the arrangement of the song last night , didn't like it at all , maybe its just one of those songs that is just so classic that it just sounds wrong when you change it as much

i'm still unsure about burrell , theres just something about his voice that grates on me a bit and really think he needs to sing the right songs to avoid sounding forced

angela was poor tonight , thought it was a terrible song choice , thought she was trying too hard to show that she can do something different and just went too far out of what shes good at, but with legs like hers I can forgive a lot

would think lazaro will go , he wont get the big sympathy vote again this week

I think this weeks show just showed how much better the girls are than the boys The boys group performance was awful! And it was fairly obvious both Devin and Burnell were blaming Lazaro for that.

Burnell butchered the lyrics this week.

My cherie amorrrm
One that I adormm
wish you worm mine.