Ladies Night

So it's a whole new competition now that the ladies have had their shot. Before this week, it seemed like maybe the men had the talent advantage in this year's Idol. After tonight, the men are all looking pretty darn weak. The ladies had the advantage of seeing the men raked over the coals last night, and they definitely brought their A game -- well, most of them anyway.

Stephanie Edwards started things off with a nice, soulful rendition of "How Come You Don't Call Me?" She has a good voice with nice jazzy overtones -- the kind of voice I typically tend to like. It wasn't a spectacular performance, but it was a good start. Definitely better than Rudy's "Free Ride" last night.

Things got a little bleak after Stephanie. Amy Krebs gave us an incredibly anemic performance of "I Can't Make You Love Me." It lacked any real soul or passion. That song is a heartbreaker. You have to feel it. I doubt Amy has ever felt anything close to what Bonnie Raitt was channeling in that song, and it showed in her lackluster performance. Amy could be in real danger this week.

After Amy came Leslie Hunt the Dog Walker (aka Crazy Eyes) who did a bland, karaoke version of "Natural Woman." Please! I could hear that at any bar in America. If you're going to take on Aretha, have the chops to do it and please don't make us sit through a vanilla pudding version of such a rich, velvety song.

Sabrina Sloan (aka "Black Cher" according to Julie) brought the girls back up to form with a nice version of "I Never Loved a Man." She at least made an attempt to capture Aretha's spark. I liked it. It wasn't the best performance of the night, but it was good enough to stand out and earn Sabrina a performance next week.

Antonella Barba may not be able to say the same thing. Her performance of "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" was riddled with nerves, pitch issues, and a general lack of stage presence. It was pretty hideous and perhaps the worst performance of the night if not for what came later. Between this performance and the pictures cropping up on the 'net of her on the toilet (http://www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com/pictures/20070220/anotella%20barba%20american%20idol/ab3.html), her time in the spotlight may be coming to an end.

It doesn't help that she was followed by Jordin Sparks who gave one of my favorite performances of the night with "Gimme One Reason." First of all, I love that song. It has a lot of spark without overwhelming a singer. Second of all, I love Jordin's spunk. I think she has what it takes to make it pretty far in this competition.

After Jordin came Nicole Tranquillo who came out and gave the absolute worst performance of the night, I thought. Her take on Chaka Khan was just yucky. It was all over the place and was shouted more than sung. I liked the comment that the song was "too urban" for her. Translation: Too Black.

Haley Scarnato broke out Celine's "It's All Coming Back to Me" again -- and it was better during Hollywood week. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't breathtaking. Probably okay enough for her to be around next week, but she could be in danger.

Melinda Doolittle -- who doesn't love her? Who isn't rooting for her? And I loved Simon's comment about how she has all this talent and none of the arrogance that's so typical of much of her competition. She is truly humble -- and truly gifted. Is she the American Idol? I don't know that I see it, but I also didn't expect Taylor Hicks to be the winner this time last year either. So who knows?

Alaina Alexander came out and took one of the sexiest, ballsiest songs of all time ("Brass in Pocket") and turned it into a Jessica Simpson-worthy cover. Simon's probably right that her looks may save her this week (although do men watch and vote for Idol?), but she needs to step it up next week. If she doesn't, I suppose Ryan will take care of her. Bravo to Simon for calling Ryan out on his obvious flirtation with Alaina. It was hilarious.

Gina Glockson came into tonight's performance as my favorite of the women. I still love her. Taking on "All By Myself" was gutsy. I still am haunted by Latoya London's breathtaking performance of that during this stage of season 3 (a version I downloaded and have on my mp3 player). Gina wasn't quite in Latoya's territory, lacking Latoya's skilled balance of power and vulnerability. And no, Gina, you didn't hit that note, but you came really darn close and gave a solid performance.

Of course, everything was completely blotted out when Lakisha Jones came out. I was dubious when Ryan said she was taking on "And I Am Telling You . . ." The power of Jennifer Hudson's performance still haunts me (and the soundtrack of Dreamgirls lives in my car so I can hear Jennifer belt it anytime I want). Personally, I thought the arrangement of the song was not that great and lacked a little of that power at the end, but damn. Good show. I don't think Jennifer Hudson has anything to worry about (sorry, Randy), but every single woman in this competition sure as hell does -- and you could see that realization on their faces when they showed the "holding room." If looks could kill, the sweet, humble, incredibly gifted Lakisha would have been dead on the floor before her phone number popped up on the screen. She's the one to beat, no doubt about it.

So . . .the best of the night: Lakisha (DUH!), Melinda, Sabrina, and Jordin. Worst: Nicole and Antonella.

Who's going home? My money is on Antonella and either Nicole or Leslie. Antonella MAY be able to ride that "cute best friend" schtick one more week, but her time has most likely come. Based on tonight's performance, I'm not sure she had what it takes to really be in the final 12.