Top 8 Performances: Sanjaya Malakar

You've got to give it up to Sanjaya -- while LaKisha, Jordin, and Haley took the easy route, singing Latin/disco tunes, Sanjaya, once again, embraced the theme wholeheartedly by singing a Spanish language song.

But even beyond that, Sanjaya was good! Okay, maybe "good" is a bit of an overstatement -- perhaps Simon's comment of "not horrible" is actually more accurate. But relative to Mr. Malakar's previous performance, "not horrible" is the equivalent of a slam dunk!

Not only that, he looked confident, worked the camera, and didn't hit any egregiously bum notes. Could it be tht Sanjaya is becoming a real contender in this competition, as opposed to the joke he has been for the past 8 weeks?

Well, I wouldn't go that far. But he certainly didn't embarrass himself, and for Sanjaya, that's saying a lot.

What is this world coming to that I'm actually saying nice things about Sanjaya? Someone please get me out of this Bizarro Idol World!

GRADE: B-