Well, i'm glad Cincy made it through to this round, so they got to sing more songs. I think they redeemed themselves tonight, with interest. But I'll have to admit, I could barely watch some parts. That host has got to be the worst ever. And I'm with Loree, the showcasing of the sob stories for the sympathy vote was just too much. If I didn't have a connection here, I wouldn't have made it through 4 minutes.

My take on the performances:

1) Team Lachey--ok, I know I'm biased, but I'll say they were the best ones out there, and it's because of their range. I knew they were gonna do Bumblebee (that's the one I was looking forward to--my friend told me about it after their first rehearsal, saying Lachey picked it himself from his high school days, then she told me "don't post that online, because it's supposed to be a secret."), but the other two were good, too. I think they were the most "choir" like of the bunch, and they showcased their talent well. The Mariah Carey song was fun, and the Lachey song was palatable and not overdone.

2) Team LaBelle--well, they have one genre: Gospel; and one singing style: belting. Impressive at first, but wears thin. Awfully fast. I mean, how many tearful, emotional songs can one sing? or take? And the "thank you Jesus" stuff got on my last nerves. LaBelle's "Somewhere over the Rainbow" was way too screetchy for my tastes. Still, you gotta admire their talent; I just wish they had more range.

3) Team Shelton--I liked Home, their first song, and his hit at the end was ok, but the "Joy to the World" was bland, and the mix with the 3 Dog Night version was forced and icky. And they just don't have the overall talent of the other two groups.

I'm pretty sure, though, that it won't matter how well anyone performed, Team LaBelle will get it anyway. My friend tells me that this has been her baby from the get-go, and she's been a powerful mover and shaker behind the scenes. But I'm happy, at least, that my friend got some more face time tonight, and I even saw her dad and brother in the crowd shots.

One more behind-the-scenes tidbits from my friend: each choir was given a color scheme (theirs was silver and black), with which they could build costumes from their own wardrobe, but the producers also had lots of other stuff in their colors backstage for them to wear as well, if they wanted. She said on the first night, Rowland's choir came out and the producers sent them back to the dressing room because they looked too slutty. Heh.

Thanks again, everyone, for indulging me, especially if you voted for Cincy.