Brianna’s a really interesting one. During the semis she did a great version of Regina Spektor’s “Fidelity” … that sort of territory is really where her home is. Her pitch wasn’t suffering then either. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you sing it’s got to be in tune, right?

I did neglect the mention the schizophrenic bossa nova stylings of Carl’s Coldplay effort … it didn’t work for me either. I’d honestly prefer to see him go over Brianna, but she’s always going to be the harder sell with middle Australia.

I agree with your comments about Lana wholeheartedly. Especially when you compare her efforts to Carl’s, she certainly gets into the spirit of the competition.

I want to like Brianna, I really do, but harsh as it may be to say this, it’s true: if she can’t keep pitch because she can’t hear herself sing, then she shouldn’t expect to win a competition like this. But I was expecting her to play to that a bit and do a bit of Bjork. Cliched, perhaps, but at least she’d survive another week.

Carl didn’t just cop out big-time (he thinks Coldplay are “rock”?!), he screwed around with the song in a way that really didn’t work for me. It felt a bit too Richard Cheese. I love Richard Cheese, but I don’t see him getting far in something like Idol either.

Lana really impressed me, more than any of the others. Not because she was great — she wasn’t — but because she showed a real willingness to get in there and give it a go even though she was out of her comfort zone. Because of this she’s my “one to watch” for the time being.