They all sucked. I've always liked Gloria Estefan but I have never appreciated the truly awesome talent she has until I heard these six fail to get even close to what Gloria can do. I don't mean imitation; I mean the Latin feel. Ricky Martin beats the AI six by miles.
So in order of appearance
Fantasia - Get On Your Feet. I didn't mind the "We love you, Jennifer!" shout-outs. Fantasia seems very spontaneous and even though I'm sure she thought of it before she went onstage, it seemed sincere to me. BTW, I didn't mind the shot of her kid because it was part of "Fantasia's Friends and Family," which they do for everybody. To me, that's okay. What they did last week was not because it specifically identified her daughter in the green room, which interrupted the flow of the song, and bringing the kid out on the stage--puke. Anyway, re the singing ITA with Randy and Simon: Great performance--she really owns the stage--but she COULD have really down something great with this song and didn't. Nobody, including Fantasia, had the *kick* in her voice that Latin music needs. I'm no expert, these are just my descriptions. But great Latin singers have a *punch* or percussion in their voice combined with great power singing. Several of the singers had some great moves and a few nice moments, but did anybody want to jump up and dance like you do when you hear Gloria, even on the slow temp songs? I know I sure didn't.
George - All I Want to Do. Oh, dear. Just when I got to liking George he started going downhill. Square peg in round hole performance.
LaToya - Rhythm Is Going to Get You. I think I figured out my problem with LaToya. She looked gorgeous. She's very professional. She never makes mistakes. But she holds back. She's too contrived. Although I agree with Simon that she needed to do this song, I don't think it was enough, at least for me. I felt she was too concerned with singing on key, looking good, and doing the carefully choreographed dance moves when what I think she needed to do was kick her own butt. You know, LET IT GO! Actually, I think LaToya will probably win, but IMO she needs surgery to take the stick out. I know I'm being hard on her, but I just feel she has never taken a risk. She has also never moved me.
Jasmine - Here We Are. Kind of like George. During the first few bars I thought, "Yess! She's going to do it!" Then, blah. A prettier square peg in a round hole.
John - Music of My Heart. When Seacrest said John's mother went to the producer's to complain about the DJ who said, "Don't worry about the red haired guy on AI. During their first concert, somebody will take him out," I thought, "These people are really sheltered." Shock jocks all over the country say that kind of thing about anybody and everybody in the public eye every single day. They are entertaining their audience, which wants to hear this kind of humor. The other thing is, "John, Welcome to the world of the limelight." Seacrest said on "Access Hollywood" "These kids don't have thick skins yet." Well, IMO, part of the learning process of this kind of competition is thickening up that skin. I wouldn't be surprised if DJ's all over the country have said cruel things about ALL the AI contestants. This one happened at a time when John was part of a controversy and his mother heard it. This may sound cruel, but to be on a professional singing competition with very high stakes and have your mother complain to producers that a DJ made a "death threat" against her son--if I were John, I would have said, "Mom, leave it alone." I mean, it's like a kid in high school having his mother go to the principal complaining that her son is being picked on.
Enough about that. About John's performance: Very sweet that he dedicated it to his grandmother. Was very glad to hear Simon compliment John on how he's handled the criticism. The singing: Abysmal again, though I'm sure his grandmother loved it and at least he has that.
Diana - Turn the Beat Around. I'm definitely in the minority. I don't think Diana did anything exceptional with this song or special compared to her other performances. Gloria was telling her in rehearsal to really hit the consonants in the lyrics as if her voice were the percussion. GREAT ADVICE! But Diana didn't do it. She was still lyrical, but just high energy lyrical. She's naturally a very bouncy high energy girl, so I think that's what made her performance attractive to a lot of people. But I just saw cheerleader doing a little shimmy and shake. Nothing Latin about it.
I'd vote them all off based on these performances, lol. Gosh, I don't know. There are so many variables going on with the controversy. I'd like to see John put out of his misery--I mean, I think this is all too much for him--but I heard on "Entertainment Tonight" that the Johniacs voted in full force. Fantasia could be in danger. Other than that, hell if I know.
Rgirl
good to know he's happy! 
