We've Got Ourselves a Competition on 'American Idol'

It’s not every day I agree with Ryan Seacrest, but I have to say the guy had a point when he ended this week’s "American Idol" episode with the parting words: “We have ourselves a competition.”

Gone are the days when Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert were sure to make the Top 2. Here instead are Matt Giraud, Kris Allen and Anoop Desai edging themselves in as contenders to watch.

The whole thing was kind of surprising considering the theme of the week was the Grand Ole Opry. With a country music theme and Randy Travis as a mentor, you’d think this would have been Michael Sarver’s week to shine. But instead the welder’s version of “Ain’t Goin’ Down Til the Sun Comes Up” just made me wish the sun would come up already.

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The only thing more monotonous than Michael’s performance was Randy Travis’s as a mentor. It’s like someone slipped him a memo saying that for every contestant, he should just blabber on about being unsure about their song choice, then act totally amazed at how brilliantly they “made it their own.”

I realize the guy’s trying to be nice, but the objective here is to make people better.

Remind Scott MacIntyre he’s picking songs for "American Idol," not an after-school special.

Inform Alexis Grace that her new hairstyle makes her look like a Golden Girl.

Tell Michael Sarver to stop squinting like a blind turtle.

This is what mentors are for.

Still there was one performance that even Randy couldn’t pretend to love.

Adam Lambert’s Middle Eastern sitar version of “Ring of Fire” was about as country as the black nail polish and turquoise hair he was rocking. Like Kara, it just left me a bit confused. But for most country fans out there, it probably left them wishing Adam would just get swallowed up in his own ring of fire.

Megan Corkery was another contestant that left me a little puzzled. With her being sick, you’d think she’d come out looking and sounding like death. But she actually looked and sounded better than she ever has. Her spastic body movements and the crazy accent thing however are KILLING me, and those have nothing to do with the flu.

But there was nothing baffling about my favorite of the night, Anoop Desai, and his rendition of “You’re Always on My Mind.” As he sang the words — “Maybe I didn’t treat you quite as good as I should have. Maybe I didn’t love you, quite as often as I could have” — I couldn’t help but think that he was singing to all of us who’ve had to listen to his crappy performances for the past three weeks.

But Anoop certainly came out tonight to prove that he’s more than just the goofy kid at the party or a Bobby Brown poser. He showed that he deserved his spot in this competition, and that he can actually sing with the best of them — even Danny and Adam.