American Idol, 12 women and results show

Stephanie Edwards. "?" The women were already better than the men two lines into her song. She sounded better than any guy who sang last night. Gobo said that he didn't think she was that great and it was a little boring, but it's still an entirely different show from when the men sang. Which is great. She also looked good on the stage. One gripe about Idol is that very few of the performers look comfortable in front of an audience.

Amy Krebs. "You Don't." Gobo pointed out "she has the mini Cooper haircut." By that he means Kaitlyn Cooper on the now-departed O.C. She was okay. She sounded nice. She was more charismatic than the guys, but that really isn't hard. I thought it sounded clear and she hit all of her notes, so that was fine. Simon said she isn't memorable, and he's right.

Leslie Hunt. "Natural Woman." I have been thinking that this girl seems really weird in the Hollywood round episodes. She just doesn't have the vocal range for a song like this. She didn't fail to hit her notes or anything, it's just more that this song needs a lot of power to really be a great performance, and she just didn't have it. Gobo thinks that she will be a much better country singer. Her father looked like he was going to get up and murder Simon after he critiqued her.

Sabrina Sloan. "The Way That I Love You." She did a really great job. She was charismatic on the stage and she really sang well. I liked her a lot.

Antonella Barba. "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing." This is going to be terrible. And it is. She definitely didn't deserve the last female spot. That other girl who didn't make it must be so angry. And this is a horrendous arrangement. It's actually almost tough to tell whether she was awful or whether the arrangement was just that terrible. Oh, and she got the Paula "you're an amazingly beautiful girl." I think that would make me cry right there. That's the ultimate kiss of death.

Jordin Sparks. Gobo thinks her outfit is a good one for a larger girl. I didn't like her as much as Sabrina or Stephanie, but I still liked her. Another good stage performer. Some parts of the song felt like they could be sung a little bigger, and some a little smaller, but I thought that all around it was enjoyable. Randy told her to pick bigger songs, which is probably good advice, although part of me worries she could become either one-note or a screamer. But I hope not--she definitely has potential.

Nicole Tranquillo. "Some Erykah Badu song." She reminds me of Melissa McGhee or whatever her name was from last year. They look alike. I don't like the tone of her voice at all. And she's super nasal. She's too screamy and she seems to be trying too hard. Paula really disagreed with Randy, which is almost unheard of at this point, so I guess she must have really liked her.

Haley Scarnato. "All Coming Back To Me." As soon as Gobo heard the first note he went "ugh." Which, yeah, I agree. This song blows. Except the video is absolutely phenomenal. She should totally act out the video. I bet Chris Sligh would be totally up for pretending to ride off on a motorcycle while Haley wears a flowy white dressing gown and wishes he weren't dead.

Melinda Doolittle. "Since You Been Gone." [Not the Kelly Clarkson song.] I don't have big hopes for her. She looks like she's 43. She sounds a little flat throughout the song. She doesn't deserve to go home tonight, but I didn't like this. I guess I'll give her another chance next week. I honestly think that the reason she's a background singer is that she is weird-looking.

Alaina Alexander. "Brass In Pocket." I fast-forwarded past her performance. While rewinding, I told Gobo I had a feeling we were going to feel like we wouldn't have missed anything had I not rewound. I think "Brass in Pocket" is a really tough song to pull off in a competition like this. Chrissy Hynde's voice is just so memorable, and Alaina isn't all that memorable, so she can't compare or make it her own. I bet Simon is going to tell her that it was ironic she was singing "I'm special." Gobo: "Bad song, bad dancing. Really bad dancing."
Okay, so Simon basically said what I thought, including the "I'm special" line.

Gina Glockson. "All By Myself." Interesting choice. LaToya hit this one out of the park when she sang it in her first top-24 round. I still remember it--she wore a white pantsuit. I actually think she has the potential to be an interesting singer, but I didn't think she did a great job with this song. She was a little sharp on the higher notes. And she was no LaToya London, although she is a very different singer.

LaKisha Jones. "And I Am Telling You." Again. Interesting choice, since there would have been Jennifer Hudson comparisons regardless. But she is doing really well. She sang it a lot better tonight than she did in her audition. She was really, really good.

I think this season is going to be a lot like season three, where there were three clear top singers (Latoya, Fantasia and Jennifer Hudson) and everyone else was an also-ran. And like that year, they are all black women. This year there may be four--LaKisha, Stephanie, Sabrina, and maybe Jordin. And maybe five if I can start liking Melinda as much as the judges did. I would send Antonella and Leslie home.

And now for the results (spoilers!):

Fantasia is singing! I really liked her (although I preferred LaToya that season because she had such great vocal range, I think Fantasia had a lot of talent and a truly unique voice), so I'll stop fast forwarding and listen to her sing. God, she won the competition, couldn't they put her in a dress that fits? She's singing something from "The Color Purple," in which she will be starring in April. The song was super boring to be begin, but at least it picked up near the end. But is that the best song she sings in the musical? Because if so, it doesn't make me want to get tickets on my next trip to New York.

Eliminations: First off, it's unfortunate that we just can't eliminate all guys. Or, really, all guys and Antonella. Because I would rather see each of the other women again than at least eight of those guys.

Paul Kim is gone. This is what he deserves for doing his best to slaughter "Careless Whisper." Luckily, "Careless Whisper" is indestructable. No big loss--he was one of the worst two of a bunch of not-very-good guys.

Amy Krebs is gone. No huge loss, although Antonella was really the worst. It's too bad that they wouldn't do a different song for her.

Nicole Tranquillo is gone for the girls. I can't even really remember her. I guess that is why she won't be sticking around. She was actually a lot better at the song than she was the night before. It's really a shame because she was a LOT better. It's really unfortunate that Antonella sticks around for another week (but not surprising, considering the extensive coverage she got in the first rounds--more than anyone else in the top 24, except maybe Sanjaya).

It looks like Sanjaya was also the beneficiary of the excessive camera time, because he's sticking around too. Not only that, but he was in the top four boys. Which is just...insane. Rudy Cardenas is going home, and again, no big loss. But it should have been Sanjaya.

Not looking forward to watching Sanjaya or Antonella next week. Or most of the guys for that matter. Oh well!