Andy Capwell’s ‘American Idol’ Recap: Kelly Clarkson Night

The original American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, returned to the show to perform and mentor the final nine contestants on season 14. The contestants all had to perform a Kelly Clarkson song. The show was actually very good.

1. Nick: 'Catch My Breath' Nick did a good but not spectacular job with the song. The judges say he still need to loosen up some. I give Nick a solid B.

2. Jax: 'Beautiful Disaster' Jax strips the song and makes it her own. I really liked it. A

3. Tyanna: 'Mr. Know It All' Tyanna has an awesome voice and this was good but not great. The judges pointed out that it seemed that she didn't connect with the lyrics. B.

4. Joey: 'Miss Independent' She does the song in an old school jazz arrangement. It worked for me, but I think Joey really doesn't have the strongest voice. Keith really loved it, Harry seemed annoyed with her. B

5. Quentin: 'Dark Side' He does a good job. It seems like Quentin is gaining momentum. He was a judges wild card and has survived to make the top 8. B+

6. Qaasim: 'Stronger' Qaasim just can't sing. That's all I can really say. I'll give him credit that he admitted that it wasn't good. F.

7. Clark: 'The Trouble With Love Is' Clark is good and he knows it. He has a great tone and sounds different from anything that you hear on pop radio today. He was borderline yelling near the end. B+

That leaves Daniel and Rayvon in the bottom two. New this season, each contestant sings and then America has five minutes to save one of them via Twitter. Daniel was even worse than Qaasim was. Rayvon had one of the best vocals of the night. America saved Rayvon!

I usually put the video of my favorites of the night. This time, I am putting the video of the bad performances from last night.