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We're halfway through the Top 6 and it's time for Crystal Bowersox. Can she top last week's emotional performance?

Crystal Bowersox - "No One Needs to Know Right Now"

Now this is What a Mentor Should Sound Like: "She needs to let that song remind her how it really applies to her real life right now."

Crystal says this song is a hint to her boyfriend and that "he'll man up one of these days." Looks like Crystal's boyfriend has been put on notice, on national TV. And you better believe Seacrest will be mentioning this again, repeatedly after Crystal is done. We've seen Big Mike's wife give birth this season, will we see Crystal Bowersox get engaged as well?

Crystal has adopted a believable twang for tonight's country theme, which doesn't sound affected or put-on. She's the first contestant to go all out country for Shania, which I wasn't expecting her to do, so plus one for Crystal. Thing is, after Casey's revelation and Big Mike's note-for-note perfection, Crystal's feels sleepy and underwhelming ... especially when you compared to what she's done before. It wasn't off or awful, but it was still probably my least favorite performance of Crystal's all season.

Simon Says: "Shocker, we don't like Crystal this week. It was limp." Ellen is kinder, "It wasn't my favorite performance, but that's like asking what's your least favorite color of the rainbow?" And as predicted, Ryan drops some not so subtle hints to Crystal's blushing boyfriend.

Safe, Shaky or Should be Packing:  Safe (if her fans still vote) or she could be shaky

Aaron Kelly - "You Got A Way"

Now this is What a Mentor Should Sound Like: "It's almost as though he's preoccupied with hitting the note. End when you know where you feel safe and good."

Can "High School Student Aaron Kelly" meet the challenge of performing his own genre?

He's gone against my advice and decided to sing ANOTHER BALLAD. I don't have a problem with ballads, just ballad addicts and Aaron Kelly clearly is one. (So are Siobhan and Big Mike.) 

That being said, when he's on, Aaron can sing one hell of a ballad. Tonight he's just mostly on, so it's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good. For the first time since "Angie," Aaron managed to convey some believable emotion, even changing up some 'adult' lyrics to make the song more his own. Unfortunately that emotion had nowhere to go with Aaron just sitting on a stool slightly off center stage, ultimately making the performance feel much more like karaoke than it should have. It would have been really good karaoke, but I still think that could spell trouble for him come eliminations tomorrow night.

Simon Says: "Aaron I'm going to be honest with you, I think the last two or three weeks you've really struggled. However, tonight you were like a different artist."

Safe, Shaky or Should be Packing:  Should be packing  (I have to say someone should be.)

Filling the pimp spot tonight is Vote for the Worst's new princess, Siobhan Magnus. Sadly, going into the performance I feel more curious to see what Siobhan is wearing, than to hear her sing.

Siobhan - "Any Man of Mine"

Now this is What a Mentor Should Sound Like: "You've got to put some attitude in to those lyrics."

Siobhan suffers from the opposite of Aaron's problem. While Aaron lacks personality, Siobhan lacks vocal consistency. Though the combination means that Siobhan certainly isn't boring, I don't find what she's doing on stage at all pleasing. Of everyone tonight, Siobhan's struggling the most with sour notes and because she sings so big, she struggles with breath control, which is only exacerbated by her stalking around the stage. What Siobhan does best is ending with such strength, you almost forget about all the off notes that came before it, she did it in "Think!" and she did it again tonight. Except instead of a glory note, she went for 16 bars of glory. There's no denying she has the pipes, but it's getting to the point where I'm starting to think she shouldn't be allowed to use them live.

Simon Says: "The song was perfect, I think the screaming at the end may have been a little bit ... it was almost like you were giving birth up there. It was fun, it was good."

Safe, Shaky or Should be Packing: Shaky

And with that bizarre, but apt Simon Cowell description, Shania Twain night is over. I have to admit, its left me a bit perplexed. On the one hand you had arguably the strongest performance across the board of the entire season and by far the best mentoring and song choices we've heard. On the other, who the heck is going home tomorrow? It seemed for the first week all season there was almost a level playing field and there wasn't a single (or couple) performances that just left everyone else in the dust. While that's great for what's been a supremely shaky season of American Idol, it sure makes choosing my picks for elimination in Fantasy TV tougher.

What did you think, who was the best tonight? Who was the worst? And who will be heading home tomorrow?

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