My love is now tainted

Up next is Danny Noriega. He says his most embarrassing moment was when his friend tripped him on these huge stairs at the movie theater. He was walking down and she tripped him and he fell right in front of one of his crushes. He said he turned as red as a cute little tomato and then he ran.

Oh no... I was dreading this. Yesterday at work, my friend Cindy and I were talking about tonight and how excited we were that they would be singing 80s songs. We spent most of the night coming up with songs we thought they might sing - and she came up with "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell. I cringed and commented about how I hoped nobody did it because I just hate that song. But, here we are, and Danny is singing it. So, before I say anything about it, please know that my opinion is incredibly biased because I'm actually pained having to hear it.

He comes out in mostly black and they actually put purple highlights in his hair this week to match his shirt, I suppose - who knows? It's interesting - not really my thing, but it doesn't look bad.

But he does sound bad - real bad. Now, I love Danny and his little flamboyant attitude and normally, I love his voice, too, but I feel like this song is totally wrong for him - it just doesn't showcase his voice at all. He's got the performance part down - but the singing is rough. See, yucky songs just can't be fixed, even with a voice as nice as Danny's.

Randy tell shim it started out pitchy, but that he loved the arrangement. he tells him he needs more conviction, that when he came out, he was a little shy with it and Simon quickly says, "What?" because let's be real - Danny is many thing, but shy is not of them. But Randy clarifies and says he was shy vocally. Paula tells him he's a bright light in this competition, that he has a sensitive side to him, a spicy side to him, and that he's true to himself. But then she adds, "Take the purple things out of your hair." and I can't tell if he says "You like it?" or "You don't like it?" But either way, the expression on his face is hilarious and I just can't stop laughing. I've rewound it like 3 times already. It's probably just me, but it totally cracked me up. Simon then tells him he didn't like any of it, that it was horrible, the whole thing. Danny rolls his eyes and Simon continues, telling him it was absolutely useless. He said he hated the arrangement, hated the performance, hated the vocal. And then Danny does this weird thing with his hand and says, "Whatever" in this very flamboyant, Valley-girl kind of way, so again, that cracks me up too.

The thing that's so great about Danny is his flamboyance. And what I mean by that is that somehow, his attitude and sass comes across as funny or as jokes. You don't take him too seriously, so he can kind of vent his frustrations and it's not annoying the way Chikezie is - that's my opinion, anyway. I think his little attitude tonight may save him Thursday, because really, his performance wasn't great.

David Hernandez's most embarrassing moment was during a photo shoot. He says he had great hair, great clothes. He went home, got the proofs a few days later and he saw that he had a pea-sized booger in his nose in all the photos, so he had to have all the photos redone.

He sings "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," which was made famous by Celine Dion in the mid-90s, but apparently it was recorded by Pandora's Box in the 80s, which is why it qualifies for tonight. I never really noticed this before, but he makes really weird faces when he sings. It's a shame, too, because it's very distracting and he's actually doing really well tonight. I'm reminded of how blown away I was during Hollywood week when they first showed him. His voice has such clarity - it's not husky or raspy in any way - it's very pure. I happen to really hate this song - I'm reminded of Celine Dion's video, with her running through this empty mansion with drapes blowing in the wind and stuff. I always thought it was a stupid video and that the song was annoying. But having said that, he's singing it beautifully and I'm almost enjoying the song. Almost.

Randy tells him it was a nice song choice for him, that it was really nice except there were a few pitch problems, that he overshoots the notes and goes a little sharp. Paula tell shim he's getting into his groove and that he's a really good performer. Simon says it wasn't as good as last week, that he prefers it when he does more of a soulful song, but that he's 100% secured a place in the top 12.