The show is down to the last eight contestants and they were even spread with four boys and four girls. That also meant that it was time for duets and they were paired to do some. The theme of the songs was the 80s and all the song came from that decade and there were a few surprises with the performances. Let’s check them out.

Brackensick did ‘I Like It’ an El Debarge number. The good thing with his performance was that he did not go heavy on the falsetto as is his usual practice. All the judges gad something nice to say about him this time around so he must have impressed them with his performance.

Testone sang ‘I Wanna Know What Love is’ and did we mention that Gwen Stefani and bassist Tony Kraal were the guest coaches for the theme? Well they were impressed with her performance during practice but the performance proper did not get the same kind of feel from the judges although J.Lo had some positive things to say.

Phillips can sing and is arguably the one person in the show who is ready to just go out and start doing his thing. He seems to know exactly what he wants and where he is going. He sand ‘That’s All’ by Genesis. If you had gone by his practice you would say he was going to make a harsh of things but he was totally different during his performance. He seems to be the most consistent.

Ledet did ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’ from Simply Red. All the judges had something nice to say about him but he still looks like he over sings. Jessica Sanchez did an amazing job with Houston’s ‘How Will I know’. The judges had tons of praise for her. She has really strong vocals and her tiny size compliments this.

Cavanagh did ‘What A Feeling’ and did not really get the judges to look up from what they were reading. Dixon’s ‘Time After Time’ from Cindy Lauper was amazing. At first the judges thought that the way he redid the song was very original but he said he actually took what he heard from another band and only did minor changes.

It was Laine that stole the night with the final performance. She did ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ and it was a masterfully crafted rendition that showed that this girl was a natural singer and all the judges were smitten.

For the duets Ledet and Sanchez got the most praise for the rendition of Aretha Franklin and George Michael’s ‘I Knew You Were Waiting For Me’. They got a standing ovation from the judges. Testone and Phillips did not do so badly with ‘Stop Dragging My Heart Around’ by Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks.

The show was interesting and ended on a high not with Skylar Laine’s performance. The next thing is for America to vote.