We've been waiting since Idol's auditions in North Carolina to catch another glimpse of the Paris Bennett we love so much: the smooth, throaty voice singing Billie Holliday like Paris wrote the song herself. Beautiful. Yet week after week, she covered pop song forgetfulness in the hopes of being cool, and we died a little inside each time.

Finally, in Week 6 of the American Idol finals, our fav-fav-favorite is back--singing jazz standard "Foolish Things," simultaneously melting our hearts and giving us chills. Where has she been? No matter, we're so glad she's back.

(click "more" to keep reading)

When this season was planned, Week 5's "Songs By Queen" rock theme was obviously set up to give Chris Daughtry a chance to blow everyone out of the water. Then Week 6's "standards" were intended to take some wind out of his sails, and let Katharine McPhee and Miss Paris claim their moments in the spotlight. It's all about creating voting drama, you know. But after Daughtry's flop last week, challengers like McPhee, Taylor Hicks and our beloved Paris can start tasting victory--and with performances like this week, Paris can start licking her chops.

Although odds are still on Daughtry to win, we don't mind; the chat boards are lighting up with praise for the original jazzy version of Paris, and her devoted followers never want this side of her to go away. We want so badly for her to make a jazz album, which we will place next to our Michael Bublé collection. Will she succumb to the monsters of the pop music machine and record a forgettable piece of computerized fluff? We worry, as she is only 17, and her pop music choices have erred on the sugary side. Please, please let her choose substance over style, and make the music we really want to hear.