Nashville Star gave pop songs a country spin last night, and the results were nothing if not interesting. Any night of music that includes covers of songs by Britney Spears, Rihanna, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and others is bound to be dance-worthy. Throw in a distinct country twang and a bevvy of beautiful – if unnecessary – backup dancers, and you end up with a crazily entertaining night of television.

While some of the Nashville Star finalists took classic bubblegum pop songs and owned the stage, others were not quite so successful and left us wondering why they were even this far along in the finals. So who came out on top? And who merely popped?

9. Coffey - “Umbrella”

Oh, Coffey. In my opinion, he had perhaps one of the easiest pop songs to transform into a country ballad. I've seen many, many covers of this song done with just a singer and his or her guitar, and the results have been lovely. Instead, Coffey threw in some beat boxing and shouted sentiments after every sung lyric. Add in Coffey's unappealing nasal tone throughout the song and I was left cringing at what I saw on screen. Judge John Rich mysteriously loved the song, but thankfully Jeffrey Steel and Jewel called it like it is and told Coffey that the performance was a gimmicky mess.

8. Alyson Gilbert - “I Think We're Alone Now”

Poor Alyson can't seem to catch a break. Just when it seems she's on an upswing, the judges dig into her and tell her she has digressed back to be boring and pageanty. Unfortunately, Alyson deserved the criticism this week – though probably not the mean spirited nagging that John Rich gave her. Alyson's rendition of her song was almost completely straight – if there were many differences between her version of “I Think We're Alone Now” and Tiffany's, I didn't hear much. Alyson's version of the song was as boring as a pop song can get.

7. Tommy Stanley - “Maniac”

Tommy was in the bottom two this week, which was surprising since I thought his big voice and the fact that he's a Navy boy would keep him safe for awhile. While he sang the heck out of his Flashdance song, and pulled out a killer note at the end, what Tommy did not do is follow the theme for this episode of Nashville Star. What he sang was more or less a pop rock power ballad when he should have been pulling out something with a bit more country.

6. Gabe Garcia - “Living La Vida Loca”

I'm sure many will debate my placement of Gabe, but I wasn't too impressed with his choice. While he did the complete opposite of what Tommy Stanley did in making his Ricky Martin song sound pure Spanish influenced country, his performance was still a little stiff for me. His lack of groove was all the more apparent with the hilariously out of place backup dancers shimmying around him. While Gabe has the country voice for sure, I think he really needs to work on playing for the crowd.

5. Pearl Heart - “Love Shack”

Pearl Heart's blue grass cover of the B-52s classic was a nice take on a well known hit, and as usual the girls played and harmonized really well. Their continued downfall is still the awkwardness of front woman Courtney. Though she's a lovely girl and can sing well, there's something a bit high school talent show about her that she's really going to need to work through before the entire group can shine. Courtney has definitely improved from week one, but I still think she has a ways to go.

4. Ashlee Hewitt - “(You Drive Me) Crazy”

Ashlee is a pretty girl and she gave one of my favorite performances of the night by breaking out with a fast-paced, fun Britney Spears song. The judges keep insisting that she's a new incarnation of Jewel, and I definitely see it in both looks and voice. Ashlee didn't enunciate as much as I would have liked at times, but I think she has a great tone and is just getting better each week.

3. Shawn Mayer - “Bye Bye Bye”

I had no idea what to expect when we were told Shawn's choice for the evening. “Bye Bye Bye” is such a glossy, famous pop song that I couldn't imagine how she would work it out. Yet, Shawn did just that. As Jewel pointed out, there's something a bit sad radiating from Shawn and she seemed slightly uncomfortable with the material, but her voice was strong and her performance memorable. Even with the slightly awkward dancing, Shawn pulled off her choice and showed that sometimes taking big risks can pay off.

2. Laura and Sophie - “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”

Though it's debatable how much their mentor Jeffrey Steel influenced the final arrangement of this song, there's no denying that Laura and Sophie's performance of the Michael Jackson classic was almost unrecognizable when transformed into a catchy country diddy. With the girls alternating lines to highlight their individual voices and then harmonizing beautifully when singing together, this was a memorable, fun, completely country performance.

1. Melissa Lawson - “True Colors”

Melissa is the one to beat, in my opinion. Though we had a scare last week with her being in the bottom two, she showed again why she more than deserves to be here with her effective rendition of the Cyndi Lauper pop ballad classic. The judges praised her up and down, deservedly so, and I think her performance really showed how to take a pop song, make it country, and then make it shine.


- , BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Photo courtesy of NBC)