Canadian Idol 5 Go to Nashville

Country night! Tyler Lewis should have it in the bag since his voice has that quintessential country tone (I write this before the night begins).

Eva Avila gave a nice, playful (Jake's very appropo word) performance. She lost a little volume as she went up and down the stairs, but she showed professional stage presence, a good development to see. I noticed during the opening clip that her voice was a bit off-pitch but tonight, on the night it counts, her voice was bang on. That shows good practice habits and good stage nerves.

Tyler Lewis tackled Elvis. A bold move, and to my ears, came up a bit short, partly cause he cannot yet match the richness of Elvis' voice and partly cause volume was a problem with him too. With all his bouncing in front of the mike, I'm not surprised. He must've been giving the sound guy a headache. Seriously, I'm wondering why no-one on the Canadian Idol staff have taught him how to separate his legs from his upper torso so he can thump his feet all he wants without bouncing his head. Some find it hard to master, but I'd think this would be important to teach him.

Steffi D didn't tackle Elvis, but she tackled a very well-known song -- and nailed it. She sang with believability, performed with panache, and totally surprised at the end. She didn't lose my attention, not once, and, for me, that's the sign of an excellent performance. It's interesting to compare McBride's comments for the different performers. From the clips they showed, it seemed like the performers she most wanted to see were Steffi D and Eva Avila.

Chad Doucette sings with great commitment, but I wasn't sure he'd pull off a classic Gordon Lightfoot song. He did it well, with much better control of his voice than I've heard before. It gave it greater power and depth of emotion.

Craig Sharpe also tackled Elvis. And that was his best performance to date. Didn't hurt that his new hair flatters him the best of all his colours and dos. For two weeks in a row, he's been told to emote, to not just sing the lyrics. Martina McBride got through to him. For the first time, we glimpsed the powerful performer he will become when he sings with believability.

Not as good a night as last week's overall, but it was good to see some performers really go up a notch and absorb the advice given them.

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