Taking a quick glance at the poll, the four people that you say will be leaving this week are:

1. Sanjaya Malakar – 55 votes
2. Antonella Barba – 48 votes
3. Haley Scarnato – 21 votes
4. Jared Cotter – 8 votes

We’ll see how it goes, that may be a pretty good guess on those going home. I think Jared my slide by in front of Phil or Sundance though.

• Blake Lewis and LaKisha Jones - SAFE!
• Chris Sligh – SAFE!
• Jordin Sparks – SAFE!
• Phil Stacey - SAFE!
• Jared Cotter – VOTED OFF! (The poll has its first winner!)
• Melinda Doolittle and Brandon Rogers – SAFE!
• Gina Glocksen and Chris Richardson – SAFE!

Time to spotlight Carrie Underwood and her journey through the nights of American Idol, selling 5-time platinum albums and winning lots of Grammy’s as well. Good performance, she’s a great country singer and will have a long career in music.

• Antonella Barba – VOTED OFF! (The poll’s second winner!)
• Stephanie Edwards – SAFE!
• Haley Scarnato – SAFE! (SHOCKER!!)
• Sabrina Sloan – VOTED OFF! (BIG MISTAKE!)

I’m happy for Haley, I think she’s got an audience and isn’t that bad, but she’s not better than Sabrina. Not sure what the final result totals for votes were, but I’ve got to imagine it was a close one.

Next it’s going to be between Sundance and Sanjaya. I sure hope America doesn’t get another one wrong and vote Sundance off and move Sanjaya through to the Final 12. I have a feeling if Sundance makes it to the Final 12, it will be the push that he needs to really start rocking out to what his real style of music and he starts to shine.

Tonight is the 200th Episode of the show. They announce American Idol’s Idol Gives Back. It’s interesting to see that Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell go on a trip to visit Africa to what appears to be a children’s school. This American Idol charitable organization is going to send people all over the country as well. Efforts to help improve the lives of people that are still trying to work out of Hurricane Katrina in Lousianna and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We’ll look at this some more and get more details with another post later. This is a great effort that American Idol is taking on and I really appreciate and admire them for it.

• Sanjaya Malakar – SAFE!
• Sundance Head – VOTED OFF!

I think this is another mistake, but we’ll see. I think he just had too many performances that were just so-so and not enough for people to remember. He didn’t get back into his southern rock kind of style that he really needed to capitalize on to go further in the competition! Simon had a great comment when Ryan asked him what happened, Simon said “the volume was turned down!”

I think Jared, Sabrina and Sundance should have all made it. We’ll see. I’m sure there are plenty of people hoping for some kind of Wild Card option to get one of these four back into the competition.

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First of all, why is Ryan Seacrest dressed like Mike Meyers as Deter from Saturday Night Live?

Jordin Sparks
Football is a huge part of her life, not a surprise given that her dad was an NFL player for the Seattle Seahawks. Jordin has picked “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benetar. She’s not doing too badly with it, but I don’t think the judges are going to like, at least not Simon. She looks about 5 years older tonight, and still really reminds me of Kimberly Locke.

• Randy: it’s like a different show when the girls sing, not your best performance, better than all the boys from last night, but not her best performance
• Paula: the energy she brought to the stage was explosive, she’ll be here a long time
• Simon: not quite as enthusiastic as the other too, a bit manic, and shrieky in the middle. 100% she will be here next week

Sabrina Sloan
When she was in high school she wanted to be the next Katie Couric. Sabrina is nailing a powerful song tonight that’s for sure. She’s bringing it vocally

• Randy: not his favorite performance, but she did well with the performance
• Paula: one thing that’s consistent, she can “sing, sing, sing”. Amazing instrument and looks beautiful tonight
• Simon: she’s a great singer, but lacking the emotion, a little bit robotic

Antonella Barba
Has played violin since she was 5 years old. A “no tone” ella is the one to go home this week according to the poll. I’m not saying she’s not talented, but she’s just not at the level the rest of the performers are at this stage. Boring. Let’s see what the judges think.

• Randy: pretty good song choice, still a little pitchy, he thinks she’s a better singer than she’s shown
• Paula: right song choice, with her range she needs to watch out, she’s “magic” in the higher range
• Simon: “you’ve gone as far as you can go”. She’s surrounded by some pretty amazing girl singers. Doesn’t think her voice is going to get any better. He actually mentions some of her media circus and says she’s done well maintaining herself through it all. He just wishes she could sing better

Haley Scarnato
She was a gymnast when she was younger. She dislocated both shoulders and left gymnastics. Another song I don’t recognize, but one thing this song does is allow Haley to show-off her vocal range and strenght. Sounds like she cracks and gets pitchy on a couple of notes. According to our poll, she’s one to go home this week. So far, it looks like it may be her and Antonella as the weaker performances.

• Randy: interesting song choice, okay, not jumping up and down. Just didn’t have any pizazz to it
• Paula: may not have been our favorite song, but she sang it well
• Simon: thought it was horrible, doesn’t feel like she’s made enough of an impact in the competition. He didn’t know her name

Join us for the second part after the jump in the next post.

Post from: Crushable

Jordin Sparks: 17 from Glendale, AZ
Another dedication to a sibling. This one goes out to her little brother. Oooh, not starting off to strongly yet. I’m not real familiar with this Christina Aguilerra song. Her performance is picking up a little bit, but still a little rocky in my opinion. She did much better last week and I think the judges are going to notice the difference.

• Randy – really emotional about her brother, good song, pitchy moments, 17yrs old amazing where she is at that age
• Paula – something about her that’s infectious, good-good human being, one brilliant girl that has the ability to come into her own
• Simon – not her best, but compared to a lot of others, it was excellent. 17yrs old, massive potential and great personality

— Commercial Break —

Stephanie Edwards: 19 from Savannah, GA
This one goes out to her mom and dad who pushed her to even audition in Memphis. This sounds like it would be a challenging song to sing. The rhythm of the lyrics are at a different beat pattern than the accompanying music. Difficult. She’s doing a good job  with it though. She’s a great singer though and I don’t think this song choice does a very good job of showcasing her talent. Except for the very end, where she could really shine with it.

• Randy – looks hot and sang her face off. A little too Beyonce like
• Paula – fantastic, brilliant.
• Simon – agrees with Paula. She’s not just taking part, she’s coming out and putting her mark down. Terrific performance.

— Commercial Break —

Leslie Hunt: 24 from Chicago, IL
Dedicates the song to her grandpa who passed away recently. “Feeling Good” different version than Michael Buble though. I believe it’s Nina Simone if I heard Ryan correctly before the last commercial break. Leslie is doing better not “flapping” around the stage. Adding a little scat to the performance, and it’s not working at all for me. Simon won’t like it.

• Randy – definitely on the pitchy side, acapella beginning was nice, was just alright
• Paula – loved it, she’s being you
• Simon – says Paula sounds like she’s scatting. Getting a little lost in the competition because of the huge voices that are going before her

Haley Scarnato: 24 from San Antonio, TX
Dedication to her fiance that’s back in Texas and isn’t good with her being away but understands. The most upbeat performance of the night singing “Queen of the Night” by Whitney Houston. The abundance of energy isn’t enough to overshadow the mediocre performance in my opinion. She can sing and this is another bad song choice of showcasing her actual abilities.

• Randy – wasn’t great. Vocally it just wasn’t on point
• Paula – leaps and bounds above last week
• Simon – “A” for effort. Little bit manic verging on insane. Vocally came out badly. 1 of 2 or 3 vulnerable girls tonight

— Commercial Break —

Sabrina Sloan: 27 from Studio City, CA
Another dedication to a grandparent, Sabrina puts it out there for her 86 year old grandmother. This is a good example of picking a slower song but singing it the way it should be. Another Whitney song, but this time the vocalist’s skill is coming much closer to the song choice. A couple of areas where it gets a little pitchy on the higher end, forceful areas. The end was a little squirrely as well.

• Randy – some moments she lost touch with the pitch, big song, showing the voice
• Paula – big voice, showed it last week, she loves her
• Simon – very good, don’t confuse power with shouting and it was on the edge. She’ll be back next week.

After those performances, I think the following girls are on the bubble:

• Gina Glocksen
• Alaina Alexander
• Antonella Barba
• Haley Scarnato
• Leslie Hunt

I believe it’s going to be Antonella and Leslie Hunt heading home this week though.

Post from: Crushable