Singer: Crystal Bowersox
Song: "Midnight Train to Georgia"
Monkeys As Critics' Take: Crystal promised last week that she was going to mix things up this week. The twist? Crystal's playing the piano instead of guitar. She admits she hasn't regularly played piano for a while. She's got three Ray-lettes looming over the piano. She's only on the piano in the beginning. It's almost a gag that she's bothering at all. Like she's winking at us and saying, "This isn't what I do, but I wanted to do something different." Soon, she's standing up and taking center stage without any instrumental crutch and teetering just a bit on her high heels. No, Crystal doesn't look quite as comfortable without her guitar, much less dolled up in a dress and heavy makeup. But one thing she proves is that her real instrument -- that being her voice -- stands out regardless of what's happening. It's almost unfair, because as much as I liked Lee, Crystal was many times better, despite almost literally hobbling herself in the name of leveling the field a little.
Randy, Ellen, Kara and Simon Say: Randy says Crystal did Gladys proud. Ellen whips out a "in it to win it" quote. Kara's pleased Crystal took the risk. Simon says the backing vocalists shouldn't have been there and he warns Crystal not to let the process suck the identity out of her. Crystal protests that she felt comfortable and liked wearing high heels.