Dinah Washington should have sung “What a Difference a Week Makes”, because one week was all that was needed to kick these girls out of Suckytown. While there were a few flubs and a few shaky performances, overall the girls took this week to reflect on the judges’ commentary and pulled out some pretty interesting performances.

Crystal Bowersox is up first–I wonder if she wants to get it over with in case she has to go back to el hospital. I don’t know what kind of IV drip that girl was on but she wowed me this week. I grew up listening to CCR (thanks, Dad!) but I’m not too familiar with this song. She really made it sound current and I adore her ability to sing a song without a million vocal tricks and still sound amazing. Crystal makes singing look effortless, and that is why she is awesome.

Dear America: please put Haeley Vaughn out of her misery and send her home this week. It’s kind of sad when you’re upstaged by Miley Cyrus. I find her voice very screechy and still have a problem with her enunciation. Could you hear her deep breaths every time she needed extra air for a longer note? I was afraid the poor girl was having an asthma attack with all her wheezing. And I was irate at the judges for telling her that she needed another year before she was ready for this competition. Then why in the world did you pick her instead of someone more vocally mature? They conjured Hurricane Haeley but don’t want to deal with all the aural damage she’s causing.

Twangy girls from Amarillo are super cute, and Lacey Brown is no exception. She’s got funky hair and a sweet southern drawl, but she’s much too meek and insecure to compete with vocal powerhouses and “true artists.” She just kind of gets lost. I’m pretty disappointed that she took Kara’s advice literally and sang “Kiss Me,” which is kind of a grating song anyway. She’s a little quiet and a little too karaoke, and while I think she’s lovely and artistic (I could see her running a quaint little coffee shop, where she sings and teaches furniture decorating classes), she may not be cut out to be a recording artist and performer.

I don’t know what it is about Katie Stevens, but I find her kind of “meh” in a season of a few “wow” girls. It’s not like she can’t sing, but her little girl demeanor strongly clashes with her old-fashioned voice. Something just doesn’t fit right, and I would have as much trouble picking a song for her as she does. Maybe Michelle Branch’s “All You Wanted” or even the Jonas Brothers’ “Lovebug” would be better, younger choices.

I’ll start by saying I have liked Didi Benami since the show started, and I don’t know why she chose “Lean on Me” when she can pretty much sing anything. I admit it was a poor song choice, but I didn’t hear the bunk vocal that the judges did. I thought she was mostly on key and the natural rhythms of her voice tweaked the song a little bit. It definitely would have been better if she did an acoustic song, since her voice totally clashed with the soul vibe of the music. But I think she’s one of the best singers so I want her to stay.

I was seriously afraid when Michelle Delamor sang a (gag) Creed song. She didn’t change the song at all, she just put her R&B voice over a rock track. Sure, she took a risk, but the vocal fell flat for me. There’s a reason R&B singers don’t sing screamy rock songs like that. Maybe she should try country next time–we already know there are lots of songs that cross the country/R&B boundaries (see: “I Will Always Love You”, “Proud Mary,” “I Swear,” Ray Charles)

I always want to call Lilly Scott Lilly Allen because she’s a similarly quirky/indie artist, albeit one with a few more personal problems than our silver-haired songstress. “A Change is Gonna Come” is a pretty frequently done song here on Idol, just last year covered by runner-up Adam Lambert. And even though she closes her eyes and doesn’t look at the camera, Lilly Scott has something special. She’s one of the few girls that I can honestly say I would go out and buy her album.

Katelyn Epperley broke it down this week and turned an already steady piano track into an even more stripped-down ballad. I’m not a huge Coldplay fan, mostly because I get annoyed with Chris Martin’s robot voice after a few minutes, but “The Scientist” is one Coldplay song I actually get. It might have made Ellen sleepy, but I was captivated. Every note was precise, and she made weird John Mayer-esque faces, so that has to mean she’s doing something right. My only problem with Katelynn is that she doesn’t stand out to me as much as some of the other girls, and I typically forget about her by the end of the show. I hope she does something next week that makes her really memorable (and not in a falling-off-the-stage kind of way).

I don’t think that Paige Miles is using her voice to her advantage. I get that she wants to be kind of a soul-pop-rock chick, but choosing these up-tempo songs that she’s practically yelling does her no favors. Girl, there are such things as slow and mid-tempo rock songs. Paige, meet the power ballad. You might like it. Oh, and the kindergarten-teacher vibe your giving off isn’t working either. But I think you’re a great singer, so hoping to hear something better next week.

So we all know Siobhan Magnus is a bit of a space cadet, but did we know she could give us a powerhouse Aretha vocal? I certainly didn’t. While Siobhan definitely did a Simon “sound-alike” you can’t deny the girl’s vocal ability. And how adorable was she when she gave Kelly Clarkson credit for the glory note she learned while singing one of her songs in the shower? If she could just focus that voice into something a little more rock/contemporary, we might have ourselves a winner.

What do you think, Idol watchers? Who did you vote for last night? Who should be on the chopping block? Haeley and Lacey are my obvious choices to go home. I think Paige and Didi might be at risk but I would prefer to lose Katie or Michelle.

Tags: American Idol Top 10 girls