My Take: American Idol - Top 20

Twenty left and this time only three hours of performances - woohoo! Let's talk boys first... I definitely think Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh (he's married??? to a really cute girl??? shocker!), and Phil Stacey have secured their spots for the top 6 boys. Now who will be the other three??? Tough, very tough… part of me is worried that Sundance Head is a sure thing because he had a lot of buzz in the early audition episodes. He’s OK – but not my favorite. I think if it was up to me, the other three spots would go to AJ Tabaldo, Brandon Rogers, and Chris Richardson. I don’t think Chris has all that great of a voice, but he’d be good for the eye candy factor. Plus, is he pretty much the only tall one amongst the sea of short guy singers??? Jared Cotter gave a pretty good performance of "Let’s Get It On", but he’s kind of weird to me. He sort of reminds me of a turtle, he’s got so much eyebrow action going on, and personally, I found that hand down the face thing at the end of his performance kind of creepy. Nicholas Pedro is sort of dull and lately, so is Sanjaya Malakar. I mean, seriously, his last two performances could have been used to put a baby to sleep! And this sounds horrible, but in this week’s episode, his hat combined with his soft voice was sort of giving me the Michael Jackson vibe, which you know, is not a good thing these days!

As for the ladies, it’s a little less complicated. I think Melinda Dolittle, LaKisha Jones, and Jordin Sparks are safe for the top 6. I would love for Stephanie Edwards and Sabrina Sloan to join them, but I don’t know if all the "diva-ness" will cancel them out. For a little bit of rocker action, Gina Glocksen would be fun to watch too (btw – totally agreed with Simon... what was up with the red prom dress???). But to be honest, I would be OK if Gina got replaced by Leslie Hunt – sure, she’s a little awkward with her movements, but she has a different and cool sound. I think she’d be fun to watch, too. That means I’m ready to say good-bye to Alaina Alexander, Antonella Barba, and Haley Scarnato. Although, I’m worried – what if all the buzz around the photos keeps Antonella in? That would be unfortunate, because she has not had one good (or even decent!) performance since making the semi-finals. She sounded great during her initial audition but have not heard anything spectacular since then.

Finally, here are some video clips of my favorite performances this week:

Blake Lewis "Virtual Insanity"


Melinda Dolittle "My Funny Valentine"


Stephanie Edwards "Dangerously in Love"


OK, what are your thoughts? Who were your faves this week???