Top 12 Women Perform

It's time for the Top 12 women! I have seen the song spoilers, and if true there are clearly some people who have a leg up on others (one specifically if true is a total kiss of death song..). Figure Skating short program is tonight too, which is important in my household (Go Mao-chan!)

Be back later...

Back....first skater is awful so i can watch Idol...i'm lnot quite live and behind blogging....first is PAIGE! She is singing "It's All About Now" by Free. (Basically aside from when Mao-chan or Yu-Na is skating my interest in the singer will affect how much skating I see.) This is so blah. Very so-so. Terrible song choice, total wedding singer song. Simon says as much although he seems to like her. Crowd doesn't even react to criticism. Randy and Kara really like her which reinforces what I think (that she is awful). Ellen loves it - she gives a total "it's all great and i said nothing constructive" Paula-ish criticism. Not a positive sign...

Next is Ashley Rodriguez! Ooh...Leona Lewis "Happy". Simon will be really happy or really pissy. She is pretty nervous. She is having a lot of trouble, it's not very smooth at all. Crowd loved it, me much less so. Sigh...Randy captures it perfectly, if you sing a big song like that, and such a current song, you need to rip it. And she really did not. Simon says she may be in trouble (is he trying to help her?)

Next is Janelle. (I don't know her well at all.) She sings WHAT ABOUT LOVE by Heart. That is a song that you need a huge voice to sing, and Janelle did not even come close to pulling it off. YICK. This show is not going well so far.

Next is Lilly Scott! She sings a Beatles song i do not know. It's typical Lilly, it's folksy, she sings in that soft whispery voice, and it's pretty nice. There is something lacking (i can't imagine her having some spectacular performance so far) but it's by far the best of the night so far. Simon concurs on almost all my points.

Katerlyn Epperly is next with OH DARLING (it's 60's time). I liked this. It wasn't the greatest vocal, and for some reason she has tons of makeup and her hair done up and looks terrible (as Kara points out) but it was a lot of fun. I hope she goes through,

It's Haley with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". I REALLY don't like it. It's sing-songy, she is screaming, and she has fully entered the "annoying teenager zone" occupied by Diana Degarmo and others in the past. Unfortunately it's her first week. Simon HATE it. Ellen has entered a zone herself, the "Paula Zone" of I LIKE EVERYONE. I hope she snaps out of it.

So far if we had to pick a Top 12 I want Kat and Lilly and everyone else can go home.

Lacey Brown with Landside by Fleetwood Mac. I didn't like this at all. (What the hell is with everyone?) Simon calls it depressing and indulgent, and Ellen says she hopes she is better IF she is back next week. Whoa...not good.

Crystal next with some Alanis Morrisette. She breaks out the harmonica. Not bad at all, at least she is showing some personality here. The best people this week, you got a feel for what they will do going forward. They have a style. Good vocals too. Randy liked the honesty (so he said 21,079 times). Ellen liked her (shocking!). Simon said there are thousands of people doing things like that singing outside subway stations like that. Haha...Simon wants her to be more original.

It's Sioban (apparently pronounced Shavonne) with Wicked Game, a song I despise (a song that was popular for a pretty girl in the video, let's be honest...). Strange song choice. It wasn't great but it was pretty good. (The song kind of made it hard to be fantastic.) If this was a better show this probably would have been lost in the shuffle but on this show it was not bad.

Note: Ellen is a terrible judge so far.

Next it's Michelle with Fallen by Alecia Keys. She's a very attractive girl - will her performance match? (Her look is very commercial.) I liked it. A bit safe (she probably can do more) but a very solid performance. Simon agrees she looks great and thinks she did well but it's too close to the original.

Next is Didi! One of my favorites and she is singing "The Way I Am" which I do not recognize by name. It's a bit dreary. Well sung but I won't remember this tomorrow. There are a bunch of people that I will confuse as to who sang what tomorrow. Simon agrees. Kara disagrees but agrees and rambles. Randy and Ellen I'm sure will say something pointless.

Katie ends the show with some Michael Buble. Why? 16 year olds singing Michael Buble? Eh...wrong song choice totally. She is lucky she was last, because more people remember the last performer and generally they get more votes. Kara says she hopes American gives her another shot - me too. But it wouldn't necessarily be fully deserved...

Hmm, predictions? Quite a few people are in trouble. Shows where a lot of people are so-so can sometimes cause apathy eliminations, as people just don't vote as much and everyone gets bunched together. Should be interesting...

Boys will definitely be better, they seem to be better, they had a day to watch and digest what happened, and can adjust accordingly if they are smart. See you tomorrow...