Idol 2010 - Friday Finals - Week 6, 12.11.2010

Rock week....and some did it better than others. Olle Hedberg was not one of them: an extremely disappointing version of The Rasmus' "In the Shadows", which didn't really suit his voice. Surely he'll get to sing Kings of Leon at some point....or even his cover of Ne-Yo's "Closer"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvc8czTYJEg

However he needs to raise his game as this contest is getting tougher by the week, otherwise his top 3 (or top 4) place may not be guaranteed after all?

Elin Blom was in danger from the minute she stepped out onto the stage. "I Surrender" by Rainbow is one of my favourite early-80s rock songs. Jay might have done it justice, but Elin's version of the song was just far too lightweight.

Jay Smith meanwhile didn't have to try too hard, as he blew away the opposition with his crowd-pleasing version of "Rocks". He now knows how to work the audience and that clearly came across in this performance. Absolutely no doubt now that he'll make the final, but I still have my doubts about whether he will have much of a career beyond this contest. Unless like Erik, he uses it as a stepping stone to become a lead singer in a band?

For me, there were no doubts about Linnea Henriksson this week - she literally threw herself into her version of Mando Diao's brilliant "Dance with Somebody", interpreted in her own Linnea-style of course, and as great as you'd expect.

So why was she in the bottom two?

(And one more question...who's voting for Andreas Weise???)

Minnah Karlsson may not strike you as an obvious "rock chick" but she has adapted to all the musical styles thrown at her, week by week. I thought she might have struggled with "Jump" but she did enough this week and was never in any danger.

I thought Andreas Weise would have been next for the exit door. He doesn't impress as a 'rocker' and his "Start Me Up" was as usual sung well but left me cold. He would have been gone if Elin had been better...

Duets! Ooh I love it when they get to the duets in Idol :)

Jay Smith & Linnea Henriksson – Sunday Bloody Sunday: I expected not to like this as it's not one of my favourite U2 songs but Jay & Linnea managed to turn it into something rather great.

Elin Blom & Minnah Karlsson – Calleth you, Cometh I: it turned into a bit of a shout-fest. No one but Ola Salo should be allowed to sing this.

Andreas Weise & Olle Hedberg – Gimme Some Lovin´: Idol's answer to the Blues Brothers also had their own little shout-fest going on, they ran around a lot, and tried to make us forget that this wasn't really that great after all. Or maybe I'm just not in a very good mood???? Anyway I'm hoping for better things from Olle next week, because he disappointed me this week.

Next week's theme is "Classics" - I hope we have some classic performances from Idol's top 5 too! They're all doing two songs each so that should be interesting...