IDOL UPDATE: TOP 12 GIRLS....GRADES AND WHO MOVES ON?

Season 11 American Idol TOP 12 Girls

I fully expected the 2nd LIVE night of Idol featuring the TOP 12 Girls to be better than the guys performances the prior night, and the girls did NOT disappoint! One thing is clear, there's more talent on the Girls side of the competition than the Guys......hands down, no doubt, though I'll change my opinion and say the guys may have more diversity. I also know that America is going to have a MUCH tougher time pairing the girls down from 12 to the TOP 5, and it's a shame that some of the girls only had this one opportunity to show how good they really are, because there are at least a half dozen girls I’d love to hear sing again than judge on just one single performance.
With all that said, here's my thoughts on the BEST of the ladies side of the ledger and who really deserves to be in the FINALS......drum roll please.......

Jessica Sanchez

BEST OF THE NIGHT.....tough call here as it was close, but I'll go with Jessica Sanchez over Elise Testone.......only because if she sounds this good singing "Love You, I Do" with sore vocal chords from an all week sickness, WOW!....what can she do feeling healthy? GRADE: A...not an 'A+' because her voice did disappear in a spot or two in the early part of the song.
RUNNER-UP.....and almost as good with an amazing rendition of Adele's "One and Only", was Elise Testone......she gave a bluesy and powerful performance, and did Adele proud! GRADE: A.....and a lock for the FINALS!

BEST OF THE REST......
Shannon Magrane.........sings "Go Light Your World", a song I'm sure many besides myself were not familiar wih, but she sang very well and showed why she should be one of the TOP 5 ladies in the finals.....still think she looks and sounds like a young Katherine McPhee.....GRADE: A-
Hollie Cavanaugh.......sings Christina Aguilera's "Reflection", a big song to take on for such a young & petite girl, but after a shaky start, she really picks it up and does a tremendous job with it....hard to believe that, like Jessica Sanchez, she's got such a strong voice...love the British accent she has too...GRADE: A-
Jen Hirsh......also sings "One and Only" from Adele, and does a different version than Elise Testone, and not as good, but still shows, as EI assistant Kathy says, "a firm and solid voice, with good control"....Solid performance overall....if America doesn't vote her in, look for her to take one of the 'wild-card' spots....GRADE: B+
Hallie Day.....sings "Feelin' Good" and although it's not as good as Jennifer Hudson would do it, it's still pretty good, with nice control and range in her voice, and I think she has one of the best voices in the competition......hopefully gets voted in, if not, then a wild card pick candidate...GRADE: B+
Skylar Laine....our country girl surprisingly chose to sing "Stay With Me" by Rod Stewart & Faces, and she puts a ton of energy into it....she's a mini Reba McIntyre, a 'rockin' country girl' as Randy called her, but vocally she's not nearly as strong as many other girls.....GRADE: B
Erika Van Pelt......sings Heart's "What About Love" and there's just not enough power behind the song for me....she needed to put more into it, so it was just OK for me....GRADE: C+
Chelsea Sorrel......sang a Carie Underwood song "Cowboy Casanova" in the dreaded first spot and she did it pretty well, but it was easily forgettable....I think she's one and done...GRADE: C
Brielle Von Hugel......sang a boring version of Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay".....very shaky start to the sing, screamed more than sang at the end, so the only portion of the song she did well was the middle....sorry Brielle, but that ain't good enough to make it through to the next round, no matter what your big mouth momma says....GRADE: C-
Baylie Brown......sang Lonestar's "Amazed" and it was just not very good from start to finish! Prettiest girl in the competition, but good looks aren't going to be enough to get her through to the finals with all the talent the ladies have going on....GRADE: D
Haley Johnson.....sang a rather odd rendition of Annie Lenox's "Sweet Dreams" and I'm sure wherever Annie was, she felt the pain.....it was a poor song choice, horrible arrangement, and the whole thing was just, as Randy put it, a 'nightmare'....GRADE: D-

So....this is tough, really tough, but my TOP 5 Girls would be: Jessica Sanchez, Shannon Magrane, Elise Testone, Hollie Cavanaugh and Hallie Day

Wild Card Possibilities: Jen Hirsh, Skylar Laine or Erika Van Pelt....guaranteed by Eddie that the girls lock up at least 2 of the 3 Wild Card slots....book it!

Who Will America Probably Pick? Jessica, Shannon, Skylar, Hollie and Haley.....and if for some reason Elise is left out, she's a 'wild-card' lock for the judges picks tonight!

Speaking of our Idol judges.....I think the judges did a much better job with the ladies than the guys, and actually judged more critical when needed. I do think that it was quite unfair to the guys though for them to answer Ryan's question on who was the BEST of the night for the ladies, obviously influencing the voting for the girls, something they did NOT do for the guys at the end of the show on Tuesday night.  

I’ll be blogging more thoughts throughout the weekend after the TOP 13 FINALISTS are announced LIVE on FOX tonight…..so stay tuned…..more from Eddie Idol…..after tonight’s show on FOX!