Chris Richardson falls off his pedestal

LaKisha Jones is next and she's quickly nearing the bottom of my list, along with Chris Richardson. She hasn't really impressed me in weeks and while people may be annoyed by melinda's "act" of humility, I feel like LaKisha could use a dose of it herself. last week, she was talking about sharing her gift with the world and whatever. I don't know... my enthusiasm for her has waned, for sure.

This week, she's singing "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood. Are you serious? Is she really trying to outsing someone on the top of the country charts right now? Someone who sang that very song on the show only about a month ago or so? See, this is what I'm talking about - her ego is just out of control. I almost hope she screws it up - she clearly needs to be knocked off her high horse.

Martina McBride says Lakisha chose the song wisely because it's a song that she can relate to. She says LaKisha was very connected to the lyrics and says that she had a real emotional reaction to Lakisha's voice.

Not crazy about the crazy gold boots - don't think they match the dress. But as usual, the voice sounds great. Especially in the beginning - the first verse is soft and beautiful, but truth be told, the chorus was rough - she was a little sharp and then her voice seemed to be in her throat a bit. The thing with LaKisha is that she'll never sound awful... but something tonight left me disappointed. Not sure what it is or whether it's just me. The judges may completely disagree.

Randy heard the pitch problems and tells her that it wasn't his favorite performance - he tells her she could have done more to make it her own sound. Paula tells her it sounded like she was shouting, but tells her she's still brilliant. Simon says it's like eating a hamburger for breakfast - it doesn't go together. He says LaKisha and that song didn't go well together, that it was a wrong song choice. he mentions how in the beginbning, she was the one to beat and how she needs to keep picking good songs.

The worst part about the whole thing is that you can see on her face that although she could hear the criticism, she wasn't internalizing it. She's in her own little world thinking she's the best. I think her weeks are numbered for sure.

And here we are again, with Chris Richardson. I'm getting tired of saying how awful I think he is - I mean, clearly no one is listening. But he is... he's awful and terrible and i want him to go home so badly.

Anyway, he's singing "Mayberry" by Rascal Flatts. He says he thinks people will be surprised at how comfortable he is with country music - he's from Virginia, was raised in North Carolina. He says he has those country roots. Martina McBride may be the first mentor to actually like Chris - she think his voice fits the genre really well - she thinks he could be a country singer just like that. Ugh... I'm almost afaid he's going to be good this week and won't go home. This is getting worse than when Anthony Fedorov stayed months past his time.

Well he starts off completely out of tune, and with the exception of a few moments of OK-ness, he's pitchy throught the song. But I'll Randy won't notice - he's so smitten, it's sickening.

Can I admit to having tuned him out? He's still singing, but all I hear is dissonance - it's awful.

Well, it looks like the sky is clearing. Randy mentions that he was out of tune and tells him that he didn't feel any sense of connection to the song, any emotion. Paula says the joy and the love that he has onstage didn't come through. Simon says it was nasally, non-descript and tinny, which had no impact on him at all. He says the whole thing was completely and utterly insignificant.

Sigh... You can't imagine my relief - the judges finally heard him sing.