By: Mary Cavaliere

I was truly hoping the girls would show the guys up from last night, but I’m afraid tonight was more of the same.  I am a true hippie and a product of the 70’s, so I was a little disappointed in the music that was chosen for this week’s theme.  Most selections were not representative of this great musical era.  And there was no one performance to save tonight’s episode like David Archuleta did last night.

Tonight the Top 10 girls performed.  In the same format as last night’s blog on the guys, I tried to find something positive in every performance to balance my negative comments.  Here’s my yin and yang on each female performer this week:
1)    Carly Smithson ~ Positive:  The best vocal of the night.  Not many can do Heart justice, but she surely did.  Negative:  I enjoy her more with my eyes closed.  I just do not enjoy watching her sing.
2)    Syesha Mercado ~ Positive:  I give her props for taking a guy’s song and turning it into a girl’s song, regardless of what Simon says.  Negative:  She was a bit pitchy at times.
3)    Brooke White  ~ Positive:  A much better week for Brooke.  Although she doesn’t have the best vocals, as far as I’m concerned, this was the most enjoyable performance of the night.  Carly Simon was a perfect choice for her.  Negative:  Her lower register could use a little more work.
4)    Ramiele Malubay ~ Positive:  She has such a beautiful and sultry lower register, something that most of the other girls lack.  Negative:  A really bad song choice with a three-note range.  I agree with Paula.  She is capable of much much more.
5)    Kristy Lee Cook ~ Positive:  I thought her vocals were as good as Linda Rondstadt.  Negative:  She does this weird bopping around thing with her body that looks awkward and is distracting. 
6)    Amanda Overmyer ~ Positive:  I loved the outfit and the hairdo in spite of what Simon said.  Negative:  I was disappointed that the entire performance was difficult to listen to.
7)    Alaina Whitaker ~ Positive:  I disagree with Randy.  I thought Hopelessly Devoted To You was a good choice for her angelic voice. Negative:  She also could use some work on her lower register.
8)    Alexandrea Lushington ~ Positive:  I love this girl, but I could not find anything positive about her performance tonight.  It was simply “o.k.”   Negative:  What was with the camping shorts and vest?   
9)    Kady Malloy ~ Positive:  The girl can definitely do opera (and should probably stick to it).  Negative:  A really bad song choice for her. She is not capable of doing Heart’s music any justice. 
10)    Asia'h Epperson ~ Positive:  She hit some great notes during her performance.  Negative:  I thought she made a poor song choice that did her voice no justice at all.  She is one of my favorites, so I’m hoping being sick this week was the reason for her performance being less than I expected from her.  

If we’re using tonight’s performances as a reason to vote someone off, then a good majority of these girls could be in trouble.  I don’t know that I can even pick two that I think should go.  I can tell you who I think should stay, and that’s Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, Ramiele Malubay, Amanda Overmyer, Alexandrea Lushington, and Asia’h Epperson. 

Next week I hope Idol skips over the 80’s and chooses a theme that is a little more original.  If we really want to weed out those who can sing and those who can’t, why not a little Broadway????

You can read more of Mary’s television blogs at www.myspace.com/italiangirl57

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