Sorry this recap is up late. We’re still not well here at my house. My recommendation? If you come across anyone who seems vaguely sick, AVOID THEM! The germs going around this year seem especially ferocious. So, I watched American Idol last night, but I was half asleep on the couch and in no mood to take notes. So far, today’s a better day.

Up first, Carly Smithson singing “Crazy on You” and admitting to working in an Irish bar. I wasn’t very impressed with Carly last week, despite all the hype, and my opinion didn’t really improve this week. I know it’s a Heart song, and that requires “rocker” singing, but really Carly just sounded like she was screaming to me. The judges were more impressed this week than last week but still didn’t sound blown away.

Syesha Mercado was up next. Her “surprise” was that she’s done commercials in Miami (seriously, the girls’ “secrets” were unbelievably bland). It was kind of fun to see her baby cry– well, fun, or weird– I’m not sure which. Syesha sang a twist on the song “Me and Mrs. Jones”. Instead of Mrs., it was Mr. This really bothered Simon for some reason, but it didn’t phase me. I still think Syesha did a really solid job with this song. For some reason the judges wanted just about everyone to be belting out things last night, but I appreciated the slower, more mellow tempo of this performance.

We all know now that Brooke White is a self-described beauty school dropout (at least that one was a bit interesting). She made an excellent song choice, choosing to sing “You’re So Vain” and accompany herself on the guitar. The judges (including Simon) all thought the song was about him– well, if the shoe fits… They could hardly complain about the song choice, since they’ve said since the beginning that she reminds them of Carly Simon. I really like Brooke. She is, in fact, one of my favorites, but I’m not sure she has the star power to stick it out to the end. Can you imagine the final two as David Archuleta vs. Brooke White? Wow, there’s a really squeaky clean pair. They’d have to compete to see who could outnice the other.

Ramiele Malubay’s surprise is that she does Polynesian dance– are we really supposed to be surprised by that? She sang “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. I thought it was okay. It wasn’t boring. It was entertaining. The judges didn’t like it, saying it wasn’t really a “singer’s song” and insisting that she should take more risks. Ramiele did crack me up when she said she had changed her song because she wanted to sing a slow song but decided not to because she was afraid people would start calling her Ramiele Lullaby. Hey, Ramiele, quit reading the message boards and just sing.

Kristy Lee Cook is up next, admitting to being a tomboy. Wow, that blows me away, seeing that she does martial arts and rides horses, and here I thought she was a girly girl. She sang “You’re No Good”. Okay, I’ve finally figured out what is odd about her performances. Her dancing/moving/performing is at a completely different tempo than her singing. It’s confusing. She’s dancing SEVERAL beats per minute faster than she’s singing. If you close your eyes, it’s not bad, but if you watch her it’s the auditory equivalent of feeling sea sick. It’s just wrong. Other than that, it was MUCH better than last week, but I could still do without Kristy Lee Cook in the top 12. The judges also thought it was better than last week but still weren’t blown away.

Amanda Overmeyer shows us that she’s smart, by admitting to being a book worm (for some reason this is appealing to Simon, versus David Cook who admitted to a very similar fact and was made fun of). She sang “Carry On My Wayward Son”, and I’m sorry to say it, but it was dreadful. Horrific. REALLY, REALLY bad. I was hoping Amanda would stay around longer, but now not so much. Randy pretty much summed it up. The song had too much melody in it for her. Do you know what that translates to? You need to sing something that doesn’t require singing. Yikes.

My brother would be proud of Alaina Whitaker– he doesn’t like his food to touch other food, either. I don’t ever recall him choosing to actually use different forks for different food, though. Alaina sang “Hopelessly Devoted to You”. She needs to either never wear a strapless dress, or she needs to learn to stand up straight. Other than that annoyance, it was an okay performance. It wasn’t fabulous, but it wasn’t horrific. The judges are similarly unimpressed and unhorrified– yeah, I made that word up. I need David Cook’s thesaurus.

Alexandrea Lushington was up next. She was the poster child for the Atlanta Fire Department since her Dad worked there. She sang a really weak version of “If You Leave Me Now”. I think she is much better than she demonstrated with this performance. She tried to look current, but she didn’t do anything to make the song current. It was just a really dreadful choice of songs. She didn’t look very pleased with it, either. The judges didn’t quite know what to say, except Simon who stated it clearly enough. “It was boring.”

Kady Malloy sings opera. Actually, she sings opera rather well. In fact, she looks a lot more alive singing opera. Hey, Kady… singing opera’s not a horrible career choice. She sang “Magic Man”, which was not as bad as last week (barely) but still not great. I don’t understand Kady. She comes across in the packages as so interesting and unique and then her performances come across as so, well, dead. The judges seem confused about what to say to her. How do you critique the fact that someone seems like a zombie onstage? Be more alive?

The final performance of the night is Asia’h Epperson who was a cheerleader throughout middle school and high school. I can see that. Asia’h sings “All By Myself”. If she could just have sung the second half of the song, it would have been okay, but the first half of the song was clearly too low for her range. Of course, if she’d sung that higher, she’d never have gotten the end notes. I have to agree with Simon here. The song was just too big for her. It did make me feel kind of bad for her, though, given how many contestants get criticized for not stretching themselves enough. She tried to stretch herself, and she gets told “know your limits”. It’s a fine line.

So, here’s my roundup of the ten girls.

1. Brooke White
2. Syesha Mercado
3. Ramiele Malubay
4. Alaina Whitaker
5. Asia’h Epperson
6. Carly Smithson
7. Kristy Lee Cook
8. Alexandrea Lushington
9. Kady Malloy
10. Amanda Overmeyer

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