This week, the contestants are choosing songs from the year they were born. After five solid weeks of enduring (classic and well-written, but) old songs that smell of moth balls and ben-gay, I was hoping for something a little more modern.  Instead, the best we’ll get tonight is something from 1991 by David Archuleta. But I guess this theme will have to do until they give us an iTunes Hot 100 week.

In the meantime, here are some things I would love to see happen tonight. Many of these things are not bloody likely, but a girl can dream:

**Carly giving a rip-roaring performance that brings down the house, thereby flipping us the proverbial finger for shamefully putting her in the bottom three last week.

**Brooke White being solidly anchored to her guitar, piano, or any other instrument.

**Michael Johns finally returning to his Hollywood week glory. Being born in 1978, he’s got a lot of cool 70s rock choices that could work well for him, like “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner . “Two Out of Three Ain't Bad” by Meatloaf would be awesome, but probably hard to condense .  Something totally unexpected might be fun, too, like Billy Joel's ’ “Just The Way You Are.”

**Jason Castro not singing in French. Get back to basics, boy!
Chikezie not trying to learn an instrument, even a simple one like a harmonica, in one week.

**David Cook dialing down the obnoxiousness just a notch or two. I actually would love to see David C win American Idol. But at this point, I worry about his likability factor. I like my rock stars with a little swagger, but I’m getting a little concerned about my David. The Keith Richards guitar poses, the pick throwin’, the smirking, the talking back to the judges, the flip comments to Seacrest. It’s all just a little much at this stage of the competition.

**David Archuleta showing a little more edge.  His main competitor for the number one spot is David Cook, whose musical style is quite current and accessible. If David A wants to stay in the hunt for the lead, I think he needs to go from an adorably cuddly kid to adorably hot boy-next-door, a la Zac Ephron.

**Syesha, Ramiele, Kristy Lee– I just can’t seem to muster the energy to care.

What do you think? Did I get it right? What are you hoping to see in tonight’s show?