Top 10 Girls Recap

Once again the girls performed, and once again my mother fell asleep in the middle of the show (well OK, she was only asleep during Kristy's performance). I guess it was better than last week, but there were very few standouts in my opinion. Just like the guys yesterday, the girls are giving us facts about themselves America probably doesn't know.

This time we start out with Carly Smithson. She tells us that in addition to having a tattoo shop with her husband (We get it, Carly! You love tattoos! I hate them, so the more you bring them up the more annoying you get!) she works at an Irish bar. All the people who work there are Irish, according to her. Hey, there's another thing I hate: alcohol. Oh well. It's not like I'd ever vote for her anyway. She sings Heart's "Crazy on You." She actually sounds much better than last week, though the high notes are a bit strained once again (that seems to be a theme this year). Her tattoos are exposed for all of middle America to see, and the Ann Wilson influence in her singing is front and center. Overall I'd say she does a really good job, but I still want her gone. Randy says it was all right, Paula says it was good, and Simon says he doesn't feel like she's really connected with the right song yet. Carly says that if nothing else she wanted to be able to do that song on the show, since it's one of her all-time favorites. How convenient that it just happened to be on the short list of songs to choose from. Moving on...

We come to Syesha Mercado next. Last week she told us she was a "working actress," but for some reason she thinks we'll be surprised to know that she's done a lot of commercials. She can also do a good "baby cry," which would be perfect for her to break out when she gets eliminated. She sings Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" from a female perspective, changing the "Mrs." to "Mr." This girl has a really attractive face, but her singing is flat in the verses. There's just something underwhelming about her to me. Could it be because she's a retread of every oversinging diva wannabe out there? I should look into that theory. Randy says it was a bad song choice and just all right. Paula points out that the soft notes were off-pitch. Simon calls it indulgent and says he was put off by it. I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds Syesha offputting.

Next up is my favorite girl: Brooke White. She tells us she once went to beauty school and looks at hairstyling as an art form. She sings Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and accompanies herself on guitar. Like Jason Castro, what she lacks in vocal power she makes up for in personality. This performance is much more interesting than last week's and the best of the night so far. All the judges like it, saying it's the perfect song choice for her and that she connected well. They also get into the question of whether the song was directed at Simon, which makes for an amusing sidetrack. Brooke shows further class by thanking the band for backing her up. I love this girl. I want her to go far.

Our aspiring first Asian-American Idol winner Ramiele Malubay gets to chat with Ryan before her performance. He tries to speak with her in her native language, which seems to embarrass her. She tells people that she used to Polynesian dance, which doesn't seem that surprising. After Sanjaya told us he could hula last year this seems tame by comparison. She sings "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston, which is a good song choice for her considering how upset she gets when people are eliminated. She doesn't have the most powerful voice, but I don't think it's a terrible performance overall. My mother, on the other hand, doesn't like it, probably because she's too familiar with the original. Randy says it was just OK, Paula says it wasn't enough of a singer's song and Simon says it wasn't memorable. I think it could've been better, but Ramiele probably won't be going anywhere for a while.

Kristy Lee Cook is up next, and I'm really hoping she flops as badly as last week. She tells us she's a tomboy. I think we could've inferred that when you told us you were into cage fighting, Kristy. She sings "You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt, and frankly, her whole performance seems affected to me. The vocals are solid, but the whole "attitude" she's giving to the song seems forced. To be honest, this girl is so "perfect" she's downright boring. She's like a singing mannequin. Sadly, I think she's gained enough of a fanbase because of her early pimping that it'll take a really disastrous performance to keep her out of the Top 12 (please pull a Sundance, Kristy!). Randy says it was a 100% improvement over last week, Paula says she's "back," and Simon says she's hard to label but has a lot of potential. He suggests the country route, which Kristy says she would definitely be interested in. Yeah, as if you haven't been a country singer already. I thought it was obvious to everyone that country was her intended style. I guess I mixed up the internet information with the TV information.

With extra streaks in her hair, our resident rocker girl Amanda Overmyer performs next. She tells us she's a bookworm and loves reading biographies of rock icons. She sings Kansas' "Carry On Wayward Son" and it just doesn't work. Her voice is wavery throughout the performance and she has trouble staying on pitch. It's also ridiculous that she sings lyrics about being "a blind man" and "a mad man." I think Amanda's interesting, but she's more of a shouter than a singer. The judges give her some of the criticism she deserved last week but didn't get. Randy says it was a bad song choice because it had too much melody for her. So in other words, he's saying she can't really sing? Paula says she likes her moves, but agrees that it was a bad song choice. Simon says it felt contrived. Paula then says that Amanda's a really beautiful girl without all the excess makeup she wears, which is funny, because I was thinking the same thing. She has a really cute face. I'll bet if she wore less makeup, took the streaks out of her hair and went shopping wherever Brooke buys her clothes she could pass for a wholesome girl next door.

Next up is Alaina Whitaker. She tells us that she doesn't like to let the different food items on her plate touch each other. Hooray for OCD! She sings "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease. While Alaina is currently one of my favorite girls, I'll admit she doesn't have the strongest voice. The high notes are a bit awkward, and overall the performance is just mediocre. My mother comments that she's no match for Olivia Newton-John. Randy says it was sharp in some spots, but Paula likes it. Simon says she looks like her grandmother prepared her to perform and that it was too pageanty. Interestingly though, he says she's one of the dark horses in the competition. I know I certainly want her to stick around.

Now we come to Alexandréa Lushington. She tells us she used to be the poster child for the Atlanta Fire Department and that she's performed at Ground Zero. She seems to have changed up her hairstyle for this performance, which makes her look vastly differently to me. Dressed somewhat akin to a high school boy, she tackles Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now." Though her voice reminds me of someone with a stuffed nose and she hits too many bad notes, there's something about this girl I like. She seems like a true artist, not some cookie-cutter singer. Both weeks she's selected songs that you wouldn't expect a black teenage girl to pick. As I said last week though, I have a feeling many people in the "Idol" audience just won't "get" her. Truth be told, her voice hasn't sounded all there in her performances either. I think she could be in trouble. Alexandréa is visibly frustrated after she finishes singing, and Randy asks her why. All she can say is "It's over!" as if it were a positive. At least she knows it was off. Randy says it was too safe, Paula says she made it her own, and Simon says her vocals were too inconsistent. I just hope America will see the potential in this girl and save her from elimination.

Kady Malloy tells us before her performance that she can sing opera, and loves to do it in the bathroom. I'm not surprised, as Kady has said singing is her entire life. She's the second girl tonight to perform a Heart song, as she tries her hand at "Magic Man." I know how badly Kady wants to succeed, but this performance puts her in danger of leaving. From the beginning she's off-key and out of sync with the music. My mother says it's the type of performance where she can't wait for it to end, because it's so painful. Randy says she never found the notes and Paula says her lower register was off. Simon says that her intro clips are great but that her performances are disappointing. I have to agree. I want to like Kady, but there's just something missing with her.

Finally, we close with Asia'h Epperson. She tells us she was a cheerleader. Gee, I never would have imagined that. She sings "All By Myself," which is by Eric Carmen, dagnabbit, not Céline Dion! I would've been interested to hear mini-Eric Carmen tackle it yesterday. I guess what's good for the pimp spot guy is good for the pimp spot girl. As soon as she hears the opening lines my mother hates it, simply because she's always hated this song. I personally like it, but I wish people would give its writer and original performer more credit. Asia'h gives it a good effort, but she misses several notes, including a big one in the chorus. She ends it with a pretty good gospel-jawed flourish, but overall this performance is nothing to write home about. Randy comments that he knows she's been sick, and that he thinks she did a good job with it. Paula says the low notes were bad, but the ending was good and that's all that counts on that song. Simon says it's one of the diva songs of all time (please don't minimize the work of The Raspberries' lead singer that way, Simon), and that it was too big for her. After they show the number Ryan reminds us one last time that Asia'h was really sick this week. Yep, she's one of the pimped. I think there are enough people who like her that she'll be around for a while though.

Overall there were some OK performances, but most of these girls aren't living up to the hype for me. On the bright side, there were no mentions of the patently false "most talented group ever" line, but that's probably because they realized they weren't fooling anyone anymore. Anyway, if you've been reading these recaps regularly you know the drill.

Probably Going Home

Alexandréa
Kady

Also Vulnerable

Amanda
Alaina

Probably Safe

Carly
Syesha
Ramiele
Kristy

I'd Be Shocked

Brooke
Asia'h

Whom I Voted For: Brooke, Ramiele, Amanda, Alaina, Alexandréa. I couldn't vote for Kady this week, because I just didn't think she'd earned it with that performance. I'd rather see her stay than some of the plants, but if she goes maybe Alaina will pick up the "cute young blonde" vote.

I'm looking forward to the results. This show becomes more exciting the farther along it gets.