Is Shawn Mayer 'N Sync or Bye, Bye, Bye?

First the elimination. Here's what I said about Justin Gaston last week:

"(He) tried to take on "Hey There, Delilah" by The Plain White T's. Bad, bad, bad, awful, bad. If voting goes by ability, Gaston is gone."

He actually redeemed himself a little with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" -- I know, I'm as shocked as you are. It was one of two Cyndi Lauper songs selected by the final 10 during "pop goes country" week. Votes were based on his "Hey There, Delilah" performance though. He didn't get enough to stay on the show.

Now back to Shawn:

John Rich of "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" fame is mentoring the female performers and Shawn once again surprised him with her song choice - 'N Sync's "Bye, Bye Bye."

When she started rehearsing it, and tripped, Rich grabbed his cowboy hat. He was a little worried. He also described Shawn as a "double down, put all my chips on the table" performer.

"That's another risky call," he told her. "You might play the whole game that way. You might play your whole life that way for all I know."

Once again, I thought it worked more than it didn't work. The opening lines: "I don't want to be your fool in this game for two, so I'm leaving you behind," sounded authentically country to me and were especially good. She remained steady the rest of the way and actually worked out a little choreography with the dancers instead of letting them flop around her.

Jewel said she was shocked by Shawn's performance and thought she pulled it off.

"You really went outside of your comfort zone," Jewel said. Later she told Shawn "You're a girl that strikes me as sad a lot. I like that you were smiling a lot." She also hoped she'd still be contending during the "original song" week because, Jewel hinted, Shawn could get some attention in that round.

Shawn's biggest challenge might be Jeffrey Steele. While Rich worried about (but encouraged) her song choices, Steele thought she aimed too high for the second week in-a-row.

"I'm pulling for you," he said. "But it wasn't very country for me -- for my ears."

Steele thought she needed to show a little more vulnerability and predicted she would be going "bye, bye, bye" next week. He's the award-winning songwriter and producer and I'm just a guy at a computer, but, last week, I thought Shawn's biggest hurdle was that she seemed too vulnerable. And she didn't seem cocky this week, either, and I'm glad she didn't appear so overwhelmed by the moment.

Rich once again spent the most time with his feedback.

"I think the most country -- the most American -- thing about you is the fact that you aren't scared of anything," he told her. "I don't think your performance was perfect. I don't think it was necessarily over-the-top or the best one tonight. But I think what is great about you is you're not scared to take chances."

If she keeps improving each week, Rich said Shawn will have a shot at doing something great.

"The greatest of all time in any music genre were the risk-takers," Rich told her.

OK, now some quick takes about the extremes of the field.

Who I liked:

Melissa Lawson sang "True Colors" the other Cyndi Lauper song. I think she won the night. Very good song choice and execution. It was flawless.

Laura & Sophie sang "PYT" by Michael Jackson. You wouldn't think it would translate to country, but the duo did a fantastic, original version. That said...

Who I didn't like (non-performer category):

... Jeffrey Steele. Our producer-judge is guilty of gift-wrapping such a unique arrangement for Laura & Sophie. That's way above the duo's creative ability and I suspect the other artists don't get such heavy-handed shepherding. Oh, and lighten up on Shawn. If she's improving every week, give her the credit she deserves.

Billy Ray Cyrus. Katie Cook, who does the back stage interviews, is credited as a correspondent. What a huge mistake. She should be out front hosting.

Who I didn't like (performer category):

These are performers who should go home before Shawn, based on the performances so far.

With Gaston gone, Coffey has the worst vocals of the finalists. He sang "Umbrella" by Rihanna and for the second week in-a-row I was underwhelmed. Good performer, but it is a singing competition, right?

I was really surprised to see Tommy Stanley in the bottom two after what I thought was a really good rendition of "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)." But "Maniac" by Michael Sembello might be the worst song choice of the season so far. That's not good news when you're already in the bottom two. Coffey deserves to go and still might, but I predict voters will send Stanley home next week.

Pearl Heart did a bluegrass version of "Love Shack" by the B-52s. Maybe I just can't warm up to that shade on the country music spectrum, but I thought it was a pale comparison to the original.

Ashlee Hewitt sang "(You Drive Me) Crazy" by Britney Spears. She's a little overrated by the judges. Like Coffey, I don't think her vocals are all that strong.

I have no idea how much the judges' comments factor into the voting at the end of the show. If they play a role at all, Shawn is going to need to win over Steele, who hasn't really been on her side yet. Rich needs to start saying "you are great" instead of "you could be great."

I think she's safe for one more week.