American Idol - The Top 10 Women

Another night of 70's... Hopefully not torturous.

HOLY CRAP Amanda's hair looks like she got stuck in an Aquanet spraying wind tunnel. Terrifying.

Carly Smithson - The beginning was a little weird, but she got much better. Again, I think that the band is too loud. I think that she did pretty well. Not as powerful as I would have liked to see from Carly, but a whole world better than last week. It's tough to sing Heart. Her voice is not so much a rocker's voice. She was so out of breath at the end, she really gave it her all. I agree with Simon, I have not seen her moment yet, but I think she is going to be around to see it. I am glad to see that she got to sing a song that she really loves. I like her dress a lot.

Syesha Mercado - Ok, I was slightly terrified of her baby cry. She had her best Beyonce on tonight. I would have preferred to see something more peppy. Me & Mr. Jones (changed slightly from the original), eh.... I think she went off key some, particularly on that long note at the end, but I could be wrong. Don't know about it. I was kind of bored. I like her headband, it was cool. But, yeah, I agreed with the judges. Instead of seeming smoky and sultry, it just seemed like a sleepy song. She did not stand out at all for me tonight.

Brooke White - Having already given up the surprising fact that she's never seen an R-rated movie, she let us see her little beauty school secret. If she keeps seeing what she can do with people's hair when she looks at them, David Cook's comb over and Jason Castro's dreads must have her just itching for the scissors... Onto the song. Not a surprising choice, since she has repeatedly been compared to Carly Simon.. I thought the beginning was really strong, and she fell off a little on the chorus. The verses are much stronger, and she did a nice job with the guitar, but knew when to cut it out to focus on singing. Mostly. But she should have focused on singing instead of strumming the chorus. I like her a lot, though, she has a little something extra that I find appealing. I could hear that song on the radio today and be happy with it.

Ramiele Malubay - She's so cute, I would love to see her do a little Hula. She has SUCH a big voice. She's got good control over it, too, and showed off some of her spunk. I was a bit distracted by her bangs slipping into her eye. I thought that she could have rocked it a little more, perhaps with a different song, one with more than 10 or so notes in it. It was amusing that she was worried about being nicknamed "Lullaby" instead of Malubay. All in all, not bad, but not fantastic. I hope that she is safe this week, because she has a lot to offer.

Kristy Lee Cook - Another good song. She is mighty shimmery. Her shirt looked painted on. Very Seven-of-nine. She had a crazy head twitch going on, I assume that was to emphasize that she really believed the song. Vocally, pretty dang good. Her voice sounded comfortable, and it let her show some personality. Good job. I want her to be good. And Simon, do we need to label everyone? Can't she be a country-ish pop singer? It is good to see her feeling better. She should be safe this week, and I am pleased with that.

Amanda Overmeyer - She really needs some serious help with the hair thing. Her face is so round, the big giant mop of hair is just so odd looking. Unfortunately, I don't think that this song was the best for her voice. In fact, I am pretty much done being a fan. She is very limited and very weak. This is a strong group of women, and maybe she would have stood a chance against the likes of Nikki McKibbin, but not against these ladies. Sorry, Amanda, I think you may have just screeched her way right out of this competition. Paula, I don't need her in this competition. Not at all. Not anymore. She is way out of her league now, and that's a shame because I came into this rooting for her. She sings totally from her throat, and that just leaves the whole thing sounding flat and forced. If she survives this week, I will be surprised. You have to be at least a little versatile to make it far on American Idol. Unless, of course, you are Ruben Studdard. Then you just have to wear a big "205" t-shirt and no one will say anything bad about you to your face. Because they are worried you might eat them.

Alaina Whitaker - In her "What you don't know about me" spot, we find that little Lulu has the eating habits of a four year old. In her song choice, we see that she probably wanted to be on last summer's Grease: You're the One That I Want. And she probably would have done well. She sounded pretty good on the song, but she got a little off on the higher notes, when she was trying to belt them out. Other than that, it was good. She didn't put a lot of flavor to it. The dress looked like a nightie, and she had some major Farrah-wings going on. I hope that she makes it through this week, because I think she has a lot of potential.

Alexandrea Lushington - Her hair looked like someone had flattened the top of it. And then someone did the same thing with the vocal performance. It was flat, it was sharp, it occasionally meandered onto correct notes. Very bad song choice. The low notes are WAY weak. Even though she knew it sounded rough. Randy, I don't know that's a safe choice. Boring, absolutely. Safe? Safe somehow means easily on key and just "nice" to me, not teetering on hideous. That sounded like a song Chikezie Ezie Listening would have done. Not Alexandrea who is cool enough for an accent over her E, but way too cool for the H she had at the end of it in early rounds. I don't know, Alexandrea. You are snazzier than that song. Yawn.

Kady Malloy - I was impressed by the opera singing, and I agree, the acoustics in a bathroom are generally fantastic. Did they even do a sound check? Or does Katy not know how to sing with a microphone? She was just barely audible, and the song seemed all over the place. I was sadly unimpressed. She got better as the song went on, but she did nothing to set herself apart on this song, sorry. I don't know how many notes she hit, but I daresay the notes she didn't hit outnumbered them. It never gelled. I agree with Simon (again), the tape of her is always so engaging, and then she blows it on stage. Bad bad song for her. She may have been having fun, but I wasn't.

Asia'h Epperson - Rocking the Celine Style extensions tonight. Unfortunately, I don't think her voice has the depth for a Celine song. She has the same problem that Amanda has (though to a lesser degree), where her voice seems to just lie in her throat. What was up with her voice totally disappearing on some of the chorus? I think she is in trouble. The end was decent, but the rest of it was really rough. I guess she is still sick, but... not feeling it. Her look is SO off this week, too (a little 80's for 70's week, don't you think?). I think Simon had a point - this song showcased everything Asia'h can't do, instead of showing off what she can do.

I am going to throw some votes to Brooke, Ramiele (I thought she was better than the judges did, even though I would have preferred a more versatile song, I don't want her to go anywhere), Kristy, and a couple for Carly (who I hope to see more of, I want her to wow me, I think she has it in her.)

Amanda deserves to go home. Other than that, it could be Kady (forgettable), Alexandrea (boring), or Asia'h (limited).

Overall, it was an ok night. While it was happening, I kept thinking that the girls were stronger than the guys, but now I am not sure. The main thing this year is that there is a distinctive lack of complete suckiness, no one is just embarrassing. I see a lot of potential in the group, but they need to take hold of it.

I hope that next week is a better theme. Is it going to be 80's? I of course would just about squeal if anyone sang Erasure, but I won't hold my breath.