It was a British Invasion Night. Mentors were Lulu and Peter Noone, both major European hitmakers and the best people who can represent the British Invasion period in the 60’s. It was generally a good performance night, all of the finalists gave commendable performances.

First to perform was Haley Scarnato with the 1963 song “Tell Him” (the one featured at the “My Best Friend’s Wedding” soundtrack). It was a sexy Haley that performed, now at least she showed some fresh confidence and a little more skin.;-P True enough, Randy said that it was her best performance to date.

Cute, Haley!:-)

Chris Richardson did his performance of “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’” with an acoustic vibe. It was a good version of the song, his voice so controlled, a departure from his usual “Justin Timberlake” bearing.

Stephanie Edwards sang a Dusty Springfield original, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”. I thought she was in tune and okay, but Simon thinks that she’s losing her edge over her two best competitors (referring to Lakisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle). He also added that she sounded a little bit “night clubby”.

Blake Lewis was again my favorite performance of the night. He sang a The Zombies’ 1967 hit “Time of the Season”, whereby he also incorporated a little of his beatboxing and subtle break dancing. He’s on top of my list tonight! (Ryan Seacrest did some moves and beatboxing too after Blake, and it didn’t look good. It was hilarious!)

Lakisha Jones performed “Diamonds Are Forever” and said that she was actually wearing 1 million dollars worth of DIAMONDS. Lucky Girl!:-) Her singing was good, and it was at par with the greatness of the original Shirley Bassey rendition.

Phil Stacey performed “Tobacco Road”. While it was a good performance, I’m afraid his fans are really gonna work hard to make him stay on the Top 10. It’s just that, his overall appeal is on the decline. But minus all the distractions, without a doubt, he has a very good voice.

Jordin Sparks definitely looks better with straightened (ironed) hair. She sang “I Who Have Nothing”. Her vocals were good, but the song was boring. Nonetheless, this towering girl has one of the best voices among the bunch, I’m sure she’ll make it to the Top 10.

Sanjaya Malakar was such a big surprise tonight! He was all energetic and feisty when he vigorously sang “You Really Got Me Now”. Man! It was great to finally see him show some emotion and craziness. I’m sure none of us knew that Sanjaya can very well pull a rock song like that. Go Sanjayans! Vote your fingers off!

Gina Glocksen sang “Paint It Black”. She’s got the look, but for me, her rendition lacked the “arrogant rocker attitude” (even if she worked at robotically tipping off the mic stand on purpose). The contenders at Rockstar: INXS were far better in pulling this rock song. The Rolling Stones won’t be happy with Gina’s performance. (But that’s just me talking).

Chris Sligh was such a sly. He sang “She’s Not There” and sang it well. He did make a shoutout to the notorious website that kept Sanjaya afloat, and may well earn a good number of votes just by uttering the words “Hi Dave!”. Nice move, Sligh!

Melinda Doolittle sang “As Long As He Needs Me”. While it wasn’t as tear-jerking as her performance last week, it was still top notch. I wasn’t that moved, probably because the song wasn’t too familiar. Still, her slot to top 10 is already one sure thing.