Girls Night Recap

OK. I thought that, overall, there were several good (a couple of great) performances last night. As always, there were a couple of dogs.

Here's what I thought:

(1) Mandisa. I like her. I thought her performance was OKAY. She got a lot of praise because (A) she was first and (B) they don't want to dis her again to quickly. Paula (who seemed really, really just out of it--even more so than usual--and whose hairstyle made her look like she was a fembot on 'ludes) said that Mandisa's performance of "Never" trumped Carrie Underwood's performance of "Alone" last season. Huh??? No way. It was good, but not that good. Gimme a break.

(2) Kellie Pickler. She's sweet and adorable and I want her to do well because she seems like she deserves a break. However, she was only so-so. I heard someone refer to her as the "poor man's Carrie Underwood" and I think that about sums it up. Even I, who really want to like her, couldn't get even a little excited. Hopefully, she'll do better next week (I can't imagine any circumstance that would have her voted out at this stage).

(3) Becky O'Donohue. Again, she was nothing to get excited about. I thought that "Because the Night" was a bizarro choice of song, even if she does have some bland childhood memory that is centered around it. I think that the main reason she got this far is that she is drop-dead gorgeous (there's no questioning that), but I think that will only carry her so far (see that Vegas chick from last season who got axed in the final night of this round).

(4) Ayla Brown. UGH! I HATE her. I can't explain it, really, but she just seems so ... insincere. Calculating? Bland? Whitebread? I don't know. I was already really not liking her, but when she said [after her performance] that she felt "complete", it was all over for me. ICK! She is just BO-HO-HO-HORING. She won't get voted out this week, but she should go soon. Blech. I need a mint.

(5) Paris Bennett. LOVE HER! Love the shoes, love the bag, LOVE it! I thought she was great in spite of her little bouncy dance (that may or may not be as irritating as Fantasia's "BOBO" dance of two years ago). At least she avoided showing her bodacious ta-tas on national television. I thought she was great and that it's been "brough'en!"

(6) Stevie Scott. YAWN. She's gone. She was, as Simon would say, "utterly forgettable". Maybe she was OK during the auditions, but who would know? She was as bland and milktoast as anyone I've ever seen. She couldn't have had less confidence and I thought she pretty much sucked. There. I said it.

(7) Brenna Gethers. She's the only one I hate more than Ayla Brown. She is freakin' horrible. Even if her voice was unbelievable, her posturing would be pretty hard to tolerate, but she's only OK. It's one thing if you have attitude and spunk, but not when it's so unbelievably contrived (not to mention b--chy) and just there for her to get TV time. I was already hating her when the show began, but when [during her little videotaped spot before her song] she pulled the "we were so poor and singing got me through some really hard times, blah, blah, blah" thing I was done with her. She may very well have had a hard life, but after all of her "bling bling and shine on" crap it seemed really icky. I wanted to brush my teeth after she was done. HATE ... HUH!

(8) Heather Cox. I think that she, along with Stevie Scott, will be the first to go. She wasn't good enough to be remembered and she has no sort of personality (either good or bad) to come to her rescue. I can't think of much to say about her because she was just BORING. There was no there there, you know?

(9) Melissa McGhee. I thought she was pretty good. She started out a little rough, but "she worked it out (dawg)". I don't think she was the best by a mile, but she was good enough to make it to next week.

(10) Lisa Tucker. Are you kidding me?? A 16-year-old singing Jennifer Holliday??? Awesome! I thought she was terrific. The only thing that could hamper her is that she's got that LaToya London factor of being almost TOO good, you know? She'll definitely make the finals and will likely get pretty far, but probably won't win because people will assume she's so good that she'll have tons of votes (and not). I thought she was great, though.

(11) Kinnick Sky. Until last night, I can't say I had ever seen this girl. I don't know what the judges' deal was, but I thought she was really good! I agree that she might've been sharp in a couple of places, but I thought she sang a difficult song and sang it very, very well and very elegantly. Oleta Adams is no small hurdle to clear. She'll get through no problem. Or should, anyway. I'd really like to see more of her.

(12) Katharine McPhee (not McGhee). It'll be interesting to see if there is any vote confusion between her and Melissa McGhee, but she is clearly a force to be reckoned with. I was a little annoyed by her jerky body movements, but I thought she sang great. Clearly a ringer.