Girls: The Good, the Not So Good, and Brenna

First, here is my ranking of tonite's performances and then I will go over each individual performance.

Paris
Katharine
Lisa
Ayla
Mandisa
Kinnik
Kellie
Melissa
Heather
Becky
Brenna
Stevie

First up is Mandisa. That was a strong, solid performance from her. It wasn't "WOW" but it was good for her. It showed off her powerful voice and personality. Not really sure she outsang Carrie's "Alone" but it was good. You can easily see that she's one of the better singers and will easily move on to next week (and into the Top 12).

Next up was Kellie. For me, this was the biggest surprise of the night. After listening to this performance I think she is NO WHERE near the level that everything thinks she is. This song was way too big for her. She doesn't have a strong enough voice to pull off the power notes. She really started to lose steam towards the end. And seriously, if we have to see clips of her breakdown and cry again I'm gonna be sick. She'll make it to next week but I think that she might have trouble as she gets closer to the top 12.

Becky O'Donahue. Damn, she's so fucking hot! Unfortunately, that's about it. She's pretty TV to see but not really great to listen to. She just has an average voice. It was an ok performance but she will quickly get beaten by the young singers with the power voices. I've said all along that singers with the lower, husky tones tend to have a hard time in this competition because America wants to hear high, power notes. Judging by her last note, she can't hit those notes the way America wants to hear. She should squeak by this week but unless she does a lot better she'll be out next week.

Ayla Brown. I was actually a little surprised by her performance. Her voice was stronger than I thought it actually was. I thought this was a great performance from her, even though she missed a few notes here and there. Listening to her right after Becky proves my point about how people like to hear the power notes instead of the husky tones. I also really liked how she was able to switch from the belting to soft falsetto. Good control. She's beautiful, athletic, talented. Is there anything this girl can't do?

Paris Bennett. DAMN!! This was definitely the performance of the night. It was like Tamyra and Fantasia's first performance. As soon as they were done you knew they were top contenders. She actually surprised me because after hearing her sing songs in the auditions I didn't think she had that much power behind her voice. I was very pleasantly surprised. Plus, I feel like she was the only one that actually performed tonite (rather than just sing a song). She looked like the next Fantasia! Definitely a top contender!

Stevie Scott. Man. Her performance was disappointing. As soon as it started I was hoping she'd quickly put some power behind her voice because everything sounded so soft and weak. Mixed with a slow song and you got a downer of a performance. Unfortunately it never picked up. Instead we hear her voice get weaker and weaker as it goes higher up the scale. For being an opera singer, she completely missed the song. Sorry Stevie, you're going home tonite.

Brenna Gethers. She is this year's Mikalah Gordon. She was annoying coming into the show and really did nothing to dispell that notion. All of her mugging and posing for the camera really made her look like an idiot. All of the attitude and talking back to the judges afterwards made her look even worse. Like Mikalah, you're either going to love this girl or hate her. It just depends on which side America will fall on. For me, I'm on the "I hate Mikalah" side. Vocally, she was just ok. From her attitude I was expecting her to be a lot stronger. Maybe it was the song choice but it didn't do wonders for her. Even some of the notes she hit in the higher parts started to sound like Mikalah as well. So with nothing really outstanding about her you have to wonder if it really was just for "great tv" to have her in the top 24. Well, unfortunately that "great tv" will end this week. I just don't think enough people like her and, despite there possibly being some worse performances, she'll be going this week.

Heather Cox. Bad song choice. All I kept hearing were the Idols from last year singing the song. It's great but too recent to last year's cast to be able to sing it without having everyone think of them. Vocally, she's not bad though. There were a few notes here and there but it was a decent performance. I'd like to see her try and show off her vocals more. Unfortunately, she's competing with Kellie for the "blond girl" role and I think people like Kellie a whole lot more so Heather will most likely go home soon.

Melissa McGhee. She stated what her problem is. She hasn't been seen at all. I think she may be the only one who we didn't know what she sounded like before tonite. That's going to make it hard for her to go through to the next week. I think she should be able to pull it off. It wasn't the best performance but I think it's enough to get by. She's got a good voice. I like her lower tones and she reminds me a lot of Joss Stone. There were some problems throughout but it was decent.

Lisa Tucker. We all know she can sing. That's nothing new. And she just went ahead and proved it again tonite. I thought it was an odd choice for her because it sounded very "old fashioned" but vocally, she was awesome. Another one of the top contenders but I still think Paris is better.

Kinnik Sky. She wins for best look of the night. She was beautiful and elegant. I thought this was a great song choice for her. It showed off the fullness of her voice. Again, a few pitch problems here and there but nothing horrible. She's another one that didn't get a lot of screentime before today but I think she made the most of her time. It should be enough to get her through next week.

Katharine McPhee. Easily the best singer of the women. It comes so naturally and easy for her. She did a great job of controlling everything. I found it a little odd to watch her because she just kind stood there and sang. I would have loved to see her move around a bit and feel free. She is only going to grow in this competition and will get stronger each week. This is why (out of the women only) I am predicting Katharine to win. We'll get a chance to see her grow and become something great. Paris is already great and with little growth throughout the competition she can end up being like Bo.

So Paris and Katharine are the top 2 so far. I am very excited to see what the men have to offer tomorrow because I wasn't as impressed with the women as I thought I would be. Hopefully the men will have a better showing.