From the Archives: Season 5 Standards Week

I believe this was the first sign that Chris Daughtry may not win the competition and that Taylor Hicks could. Hicks was announced as the top vote getter that week, while both Daughtry and Catherine McPhee were in the bottom two. I think it was this week, anyway. I know there was one round when they were both at the bottom before Daughtry finally got the boot. In the end, though, it was in fact Ace Young who was voted off, much to the dismay of teenage girls worldwide.

From April 18, 2006:

Chris: My goodness what a surprise. Who would have thought Mr. Rock and Roll can sing a soft ballad, and sing it so well? Very professional, very solid, and clearly established him as the man to beat in this competition. Consider that hole filled, and I don't know if he has any more holes left.

Paris: Ballads have never been her strongest suit, but tonight she did a good job with one. It was probably her best pure singing performance. It was still a little shaky in spots but it was very strong in others, and once again she showed pose beyond her years.

Taylor: An excellent song choice. It was a little flat at first but man did he pick it up at the end. Like many of his past performances, I felt like he was this close to blowing everyone away, but unlike past weeks when he came just a little bit short of greatness tonight he made it over. I felt like we finally saw him at his best. A few more performances like this and he'll be a serious challenger to win it all.

Elliott: Another good song choice, as his voice is tailor made for this music. While I think he's sung better before, it was nevertheless a solid performance. I could feel the emotion in his voice, particularly towards the end. He's grown as much as anybody in this competition.

Kellie: The beginning was OK but it got really shaky there towards the end, and perhaps that's being too polite. With all the great vocal performances that preceded her it made it sound worse than perhaps it was, but it was clearly not a good performance. I was surprised that she didn't pick a Peggy Lee song or something with more passion and more opportunities to show off her performance skills. Not a good song choice.

Ace: It was a surprisingly good performance, one of his best in the competition. The falsetto parts were awesome as always, and the rest wasn't bad. It was an interesting new look for him with the pulled back hair and the suit.

Katherine: Best performance of the night by a mile. Her voice was born for this music and she was clearly the class of the field tonight. I figured that she would do well with standards and she delivered. Rod Stewart himself couldn't have done that song any better.

Predictions: Kellie Pickler's performance was clearly the worst of the night, so I would be surprised if she were not in the bottom 3 this week. As for the other two, it's hard to say because everybody else besides Kellie did very well. My guess is that the other two in the bottom 3 will be Ace and Elliott, two frequent bottom 3 occupants. It wasn't that their performances were so bad as much as everyone else's was so much better. Paris Bennett is a possibility but she did much better than I expected and thus should make it to the next round.

So is this the week Ace Young finally gets voted out? Maybe, but I have the feeling that it won't be. Clearly he needed a good performance to stay in the competition and he made it happen. It wasn't a home run performance but it was probably good enough to stay another week, though I still think he has the least talent of anyone still in the competition. Judging from this week's performance alone Kellie would be the clear choice, but I think her past performances will keep her alive in the competition just a little bit longer. So that leaves Elliott Yamin, and I think he'll be the one that will be sent home tomorrow night, though I would not be surprised if it were either Kellie or Ace.