What a disappointment

The girls are up tonight and after the guys did so well last night, I just can't imagine that the girls will be better. Ryan says that the flu has hit the Top 24, but he didn't mention it last night when the guys sang. Is it really possible that all 12 guys are healthy? Or is he perhaps preparing us for bad performances? Let's find out.

First up is Kristy Lee Cook, the horse trainer, who sold her best horse to travel to Philadelphia to audition. I liked her a lot in her audition, but when she again relied on "Amazing Grace" during Hollywood week, I felt like she had cheated a little bit, so I'm not sure how I feel about her going into tonight.

Huh... she chooses Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me." It's really weird, because she doesn't have a soulful voice - she should have tried a more country song. I don't know - her voice is OK, but I'm kind of bored by it. It's just not the right song for her. Not a great start tonight.

Randy tells her it wasn't her best performance, that she had some pitch problems, which I honestly didn't notice. He said it was a little rough around the edges. Paula says that's OK since she's sick and the first one out. Simon says the song didn't suit her, that it's a song really designed for someone who's going to belt out a song. He says her performance was robotic and that she didn't make an impression.


Next up is Joanne Borgella, the plus-sized model from New Jersey. She sings Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer" and it starts out really rough - it's a little low for her range and it makes her voice sound very thin. It's really not good at all - she actually goes out of tune a bit in some spots. It's hard to come up with anything to say even, because her performance didn't lend itself to any commentary - it was bland, maybe a touch of boring. I had a feeling the girls would pale in comparison to the guys, but I didn't think the difference would be so marked.

Anyway, Randy says the first part was weird but that she worked it out toward the end. He says her voice sounded shaky and unsure. Paula says she liked it but she didn't love it. Simon says he didn't like it at all. He says that this is the part of the show where they have to come out and nail it and what she did was a very average cabaret version of the song.


Alaina Whitaker is next and I haven't really formed an opinion of her yet and I'm not sure if that's because there are so many strong personalities out there that she gets lost in the shuffle, or if perhaps she just hasn't shown us too much of her own personality. Either way, I find that she's a bit forgettable.

She sings Spiral Starecase's "More Today Than Yesterday." Didn't we hear this yesterday? We did - I think Chikezie Eze sang it... Well she sings it much better than he did. She was actually very good, kind of a breath of fresh air after the first two performances, which were kind of disappointments. She has a very clear tone to her voice and seemed to be very comfortable on stage. I can't say she blew me away, but I enjoyed it.

Randy says that this season is all about the young ones, because here she is, just 16, and while it started out a bit rough, she sang with such conviction and confidence that once she got started, she had it going on. Paula says she nailed it and Simon says he think she's very good, that it's the first time tonight that he hasn't seen any nerves. He says she'll sail through to next week after that performance.