'American Idol': Shania Twain to mentor, so what should the Top 6 sing?
By Andrea Reiher

April 22, 2010

Country is coming and Shania Twain is coming back to "American Idol" next week. FOX previously told Zap2it that she was not confirmed, so we're glad they got Shania locked in to mentor, as she was an excellent guest judge.

FOX also announced performances by Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts for the results show on Wednesday, April 28.

We do have to say that we wish the catalog was just country music and not specific to Shania. She's great, very talented vocalist. But her songs are in that beautiful-woman-pop-country vein and it really limits the contestants. We fear there could be some bad Kountry Karaoke in store. It will certainly be an interesting week, to say the least.

We definitely think the Idols need to steer clear of the really well-known Shania songs because we've all heard them a zillion times, plus then tend to be Women Power songs ("Any Man of Mine," "Honey, I'm Home," "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under"), though we would pay a lot of money to watch Aaron Kelly sing his little heart out on "Any Man of Mine." That should be like an "Idol" outtake.

Here are our suggestions for the Idols:

Casey James, "Crime of the Century"
This song has an old-school sound to it, very roughneck, very not-Shania. Casey could stick to his growly, guitar-playing groove within the theme. With lyrics like, "You came on like Jesse James/ You stole my heart like you were robbin' trains/ I'm gonna lock you up for life with me/ It was the crime of the century," how is this NOT a Casey song?

Lee Dewyze, "Don't"
This is the most Lee-like song of the bunch. He could make it decidedly not country and bring it into his lane very easily. Plus, it could show a more romantic side of him with lyrics like, "Don't fight, don't argue/ Give me the chance to say that I'm sorry/ Just let me love you/ Don't turn me away," which would probably serve him well as the under-the-radar-hottie.

Michael Lynche, "Forever and For Always"
"Wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face. Always." This one will have the women crying in the aisles. We all know he loves his wife and daughter, this a lovely ballad, plus it has the high stuff on "And there ain't no way I'm letting you go now," which will let Big Mike show off his gorgeous falsetto.

Siobhan Magnus, "God Bless the Child"
No, this is not a country version of the Billie Holiday song from 1941. This is Shania's song from 1995 and it's a doozy. The album version is done entirely a capella and with lyrics about hunger and homelessness and suffering children, Siobhan could have an amazing week on this song. She has the vocal chops to pull it off, we really want her to choose this piece.

Crystal Bowersox, "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing"
Shania's version of this song is just a little on the pop-y side for Crystal, but don't imagine she'd do a carbon-copy anyway. If she busts out the guitar and some lyrics like, "And it only hurts when I'm breathing/ My heart only breaks when it's beating/ My dreams only die when I'm dreaming/ So, I hold my breath--to forget," she should have a great week again. The chorus has a lilting up-swing on every other note, we'd love to hear Crystal's pretty upper register on that.

Aaron Kelly, "You're Still the One"
We don't even know for this little moppet, but since he seems to like tackling those big songs that he doesn't connect with and can stand there with his weird foot-stomping-swaying thing, this seems like what Aaron will pick.

What do you guys think of our picks?

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