[Janette]

Darius has always been the also ran for me, but the way he's been performing the last couple of weeks, he may well be the dark horse of the competition!

Saying that though, I still stick by my previous statement that Gareth will win because he is probably the only pop singer left!

[Kaz]

My views on last night's programme:

Gareth - Sang both his songs well, but I thought his voice wasn't strong enough against the backing of a live orchestra.

Darius - His best week yet. The Tom Jones song was fantastic, not so keen on his version of the Atomic Kitten song, but again he sang it very well.

Zoe - Oh dear. After being fabulous last week, she rather lost the place. Went off key a few times and tended to shout rather than sing at times. Definitely the weakest for me.

Will - Didn't like the Eurythmics song much, but his version of Night Fever was tremendous. Seemed to have lost a lot of his sparkle.

All in all, I felt the right person went. As Janette said, Zoe has won the public's vote as female Pop Idol, and I'm sure we'll hear a lot more from her.

Last night really brought home to me the enormous pressure these young people are under, when Kate Thornton (another terrible post-show interview on ITV2, incidentally) said Will had revealed to her he'd had enough. It must be unbearable for them sitting waiting to hear who's going and, unlike Big Brother, everyone is up for eviction every week. it really made me appreciate Paul's strength of character having been nominated so many weeks in a row. Brian, Dean and Elizabeth really had it easy, didn't they?

I hope Will gets his zest for singing back, because he is the one for me who really has something special.

Next week will really be nailbiting stuff. I just hope the judges pick songs that bring out the best in the final three.

[Feefs]

Originally posted by LEE
Zoe does have a great voice, especially for a 16 year old, but tonight she was trying too hard and she was forcing her voice and over-singing.

That's what I thought. She did a bit of a Rosie on us and she's better than that. IMHO she was the best last week, with Darius being the weakest, but this week the roles were reversed. As soon as I realised she was singing The Power of Love I had one of those impending senses of doom things. I wish her all the best and I'm confident she'll be offered a great recording deal soon. I hope she has enough confidence within herself to take her time when deciding her options and isn't steam rollered into any old rubbish. In particular I hope she (and the others) are given the time to find the material to suit them instead of rushing to get something in the shops.

It was good to see them performing 2 different songs, but it's a shame they couldn't have allowed them a little longer on each. The last couple of weeks they've had the chance to really get into their song, so I felt quite dissatisfied by what any of them achieved this week. Whoever was responsible for arranging There Must Be an Angel for Will should be shot. It was terrible. I love that song and Annie Lennox, so I was always going to be hard to please, but I was left confused by what he was actually trying to acheive. Which ever judge said the backing vocal were too powerful for Gareth during Wake Me Up was right, but surely that would have been obvious during the week. There were about 10 of them - was that strictly necessary? George Michael made do with just Pepsi and Shirley!

As for Mr Darius? Well, I'd been going off him over the past few weeks, but last night he surprised me - in a good way. I still think he'll be going home next week, but who knows?

[kaphc]

I was also really sad to see Will looking so deflated after last night's show. I suppose that they have been doing the Saturday night shows week in, week out since before Christmas, so they must be fairly knackered now.

Darius is growing on me too, but he always seems a bit too image-conscious for my liking. I don't mean in how he dresses, but in what he says and how he potrays himself. He has obviously put a lot of thought into the whole "Pop Idol" experience and seems to be the most overtly trying to win votes.

To be honest, I wish next week was the last show and that they would announce the final three based on the number of votes they get. Having said that, as I'm away next weekend, I'm glad it isn't!

[Honey]

I am totally impressed with Gareth especially this week, because he made BOTH songs his own, no matter what the judges said! Pete Waterman said Gareth struggled with Whams 'Wake Me Up' but under the circumstances ie. having only three days to learn and perform it LIVE! I think he sang it brilliantly. I'm so pleased they picked up on how professionally he picked up the second song because what the band did was pretty shabby! Musicians should follow the performer and if as Nicky pointed out Gareth SUNG the segue (pronounced segway) in rehearsals, they would have been perfectly aware of this and should have listened to him, waited and then started the intro'. Of course it was almost certain that it was either the conductor or the director who brought them in too soon, who knows but it was awful for poor Gareth.
Simons comments about Gareth achieving a number one song with his version of 'Unchained Melody' were spot on, it was absolutely stunning!
Will is another huge talent and also unique as a singer, he always makes each song his own and in my opinion did exactly that this week. 'Must be talking to an Angel' was amazing I loved it, and 'Night Fever' was superb! I don't think he's slipped up at all and couldn't understand why the judges felt he wasn't as good as he can be.
I'm afraid I didn't like Darius's interpretation of either song. I've really tried to like him and still think he has definitely got better as the weeks have gone on, but it's purely my own taste and not any reflection on him or his obvious talent at all, he just doesn't do it for me personally!
Zoe will be a huge star one day she has definitely got 'it', but she did try and push too hard last night and I felt really sorry for her. Every other song she has sung in the series has been fantastic, I think the judges were very harsh, but what they said in essence was right for last nights performance.
I'm still convinced Gareth will win, he's got the overall appeal, he's very good looking, has a very appealing dimpled smile, has obvious vulnerabilities, a dreamy voice (even if it isn't that powerful) and an excellent interpretation of every song he sings. He's definitely my choice, so we'll just have to wait and see. I wish all of them, all the luck in the world and really hope they all achieve their dreams, they more than deserve to.