LAST EDITED ON 10-29-11 AT 09:24 PM (EST)

1. Josh: A for a touching vocal performance, perfectly done, showcasing all that is good, soulful and genuine about him. For this guy, no arrangement is the best arrangement.

2. Melanie: A- for a performance that was very pleasant to watch and listen to. Best save ever.

3. Drew: A- for a very pleasant performance, easy on the ears, attractive in it’s tone and a pleasure to watch all the way through.

4. Leroy: B+ for a fine and touching vocal performance, although the arrangement didn’t really suit his voice and style. I have to agree with Simon: Nicole gets the B, Leroy gets the plus.

5. Astro: B+ for a highly entertaining and skillful rap performance. There’s nothing special in the way of vocal abilities here, but he’s as good as anything you’ll hear coming out of a boombox in the car next to you at a red light.

6. Rachel: B+ for an entertaining set by a very charismatic young lady. Tell Makeup to leave her hair alone, though!

7. Stereo Hogzz: B+ for a finely polished group performance of this song, vocally all there and entertaining to watch, although predictable.

8. Marcus: B for a good vocal performance that he made look easy, appearing more comfortable on the stage than he has before.

9. Chris: B for a fairly solid performance, although it didn’t really rouse the crowd.

10. InTENsity: B/C+ for a pseudo-Glee performance that looked entertaining and sounded Ok on stage, but came across as an imitation that belongs on the Disney Channel.

11. Lokoda Rain: B-/C for looking more like something we’d see in a high-school or sorority musical.

12. Stacy: C+ for a rather forgettable performance that tried to do to much in a haphazard arrangement not suited for Stacy’s voice or style.

My full show recap here.

Was it just me, or were there several terrible song choices? Sure made it hard to tell who was good and who wasn't, though I can't really argue with any of the judges' decisions.

I thought the top four girls were better than all of the groups.

My list:
1. Josh - love this guy's voice
2. Drew - my wife hated her song but I thought it was great
3. Melanie - excellent effort
4. Rachel - agree with Simon, that was a good song choice for her
5. Leroy - very smooth but doesn't inspire me very much
6. Chris - uneven effort but seems to have potential
7. Stacy - has the voice but lots of baggage
8. Lakoda Rayne - the best of a crummy set of groups
9. Astro - decent hip-hop but won't come close to winning
10. Marcus - mediocre but saved by Phillip's awful song choice
11. Stereo Hogzz - decent arrangement but not impressive overall
12. Intensity - saved only because the Brewer Boys were horrible

Was it just me, or were there several terrible song choices?

There were several times I asked myself, which song are they singing, anyway? There were several mash-ups with at least two different songs mixed together. In writing the recap, I had to google the lyrics (with the help of closed captioning) to figure out that some of them started with one song and then mixed into a different song entirely. What was with that?

And not only were some of the song choices totally off, but some of the arrangements were song killers with so much instrumental and vocal backup, along with dancers and flashing strobe lights, that it drowned out the song altogether, relegating it to a showy performance. I think Phillip, for example, was a victim of this -- he'd been much better off having a classic four-instrument big band swing in the background, kept his hat on, and did what he was best at.

The running joke of the last quarter was that Simon, after years of bashing people for their horrible song choices, turned out to personally be just about that bad at it -- if you think he didn't sabotage his ouster picks on purpose.