'American Idol 6' - Top 12 Girls - Part 1

In a way, tonight's Girls Night Up was shorter than last night. That's because they spent more than a few minutes recapping last night's show. Argh. For the sake of expedience as I'm also tied up with Lost tonight, I'm using graphics from the American Idol website instead of digital photos I've taken myself. I formatted them and loaded them to my FTP space earlier today to make it faster to get them up tonight.

First up tonight was Stephanie Edwards singing Alicia Key's "How Come You Don't Call Me." I thought her performance was better than any of the guys last night although at times it seemed a bit strained to me.

The judges were thrilled. Randy said she sang it with conviction. Paula gushed as only Paula can gush. Simon said it was a million times better than any of the performances last night.

Off to a good start, I say.

Amy Krebs hit the stage next with Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." Now, some folks won't get the reference as it's one of those age things, but some will -- I can't hear of anyone with the name of "Krebs" without thinking of Maynard G. Krebs. There. I said it. Oh, I'm surely remembering reruns.

I wasn't thrilled by her performance at all. I think the judges liked it more than I did, but they weren't enthused either. Randy called it a safe song, too safe, and Paula agreed with him.

Next was Leslie Hunt who made a rather fatal error of trying to sing Aretha. At least, I thought it to be fatal. She sang "Natural Woman" better than I do when I'm in the shower, but that's not saying much.

The judges were much more gracious with her than I would have been. Randy did his sighing bit and then said it was "just okay." Paula went off on a tangent about song picks without saying what she thought about the performance. Simon just said, "that was not great." Um, all right. It sure wasn't. I think Leslie's days on the show may be numbered if she makes it through tomorrow night's cut.

Yikes! FOX has a bad photo of Sabrina Sloan up on their website. She's much more attractive than this photo. She also went for an Aretha Franklin song - "I Never Love A Man The Way I Love You." I feel she blew Leslie's Aretha out of the water. This girl's a contender!

The judges were also excited about Sabrina's performance. Randy exclaimed, "We finally have a competition!" Paula gushed and gave her a standing ovation. Simon declared it the best performance of the night so far. Would that declaration last through the night?
Jersey Girl Antonella Barba sang "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." That's a song I remember coming from Aerosmith, but it's possible there have been other versions. Oh, so not good. I think she may have bought her ticket home.

Randy blatantly said, "That wasn't good. It was bland." Paula once again avoided the subject -- "You're a pretty girl." (Say what?) Simon said she did serious damage to the chances of remaining in the competition. I agree with him.

She is a pretty girl with a nice smile, though.

I haven't been too impressed with Jordin Sparks so far during the competition. Tonight she raised my opinion a notch with Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason." While I don't think she's going to be the winner and might not make the top twelve finalists, I think she showed great personal strides in how she sang and handled herself on stage.

I think the judges basically agreed with me. They spoke of her natural talent, song choices, and pushing herself. They didn't think she was great, but she didn't fail either.

Part Two with the remaining six girls is here. What did you think of the girls vs. the guys?