Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The elimination of Janell Wheeler and Ashley Rodriguez should prove how wide open the competition is among the females for the six spots in the season nine American Idol finals.

I figured both had an excellent shot of making it.

Of course, it might have helped if Randy or Simon had raved about their beauty, gone on and on about what lovely ladies they are, complimented them on being eye candy as well as ear candy.

Of course, all that would be inappropriate. Because this is a singing competition.

Hmm. Remind me again why we have to put up with Kara DioGuardi as an American Idol judge.

On with the rankings. The number behind each contestant’s name is where I had them ranked a week ago.

1. Crystal Bowersox (1): MamaSox — that’s her nickname — brought out her guitar and her harmonica and turned in the best single performance of round one last week. But like Simon said, something more unexpected than Alanis Morissette would be welcome tonight. Meanwhile, a huge thank you to whoever posted “Farmer’s Daughter” on YouTube. I’ve been missing the song since Crystal scrubbed her MySpace.

2. Michelle Delamor (3): She provided one of the best glory notes of week one, at the close of her rendition of Alicia Key’s “Falling.” The judges were lukewarm; I thought it was one of the best performances of the night.

3. Lilly Scott (4): After she sang last week, Simon said what I thought after watching her latest Idol video interview. Where’s the spark? Where’s the charisma? That said, her distinctive sound should get her into the finals if she performs as well as she did last Tuesday.

4. Katelyn Epperly (8): Last week, she got scolded by Kara for ditching her natural look for a little black dress. Much more important: Her rendition of the Beatles’ “Oh, Darling” was a highlight of the show. Two more performances like, and we might see her in the finals as well.

5. Didi Benami (7): Hmm, the 23-year-old from Los Angeles gets my vote for the shrewdest contestant. She scored major brownie points with a very nice version of Kara’s song “Terrified” on the opening day of Hollywood. Then she opens last week’s interview by saying what I’m sure everyone at home was thinking: that people had seen enough of her tears.

6. Katie Stevens (9): Well, the teen from Connecticut has her marching orders. Sing something young. Personally, given her age (17), I thought Katie handled the Idol pressure very well in week one. She sang pretty well too. Let’s give the gal some credit.

7. Siobhan Magnus (11): I haven’t warmed up to the 20-year-old from Massachusetts yet. Perhaps it’s because of the Hollywood Week whining. But she did a decent job last Tuesday with “Wicked Game.”

8. Paige Miles (10): Idol tried to do Paige in by giving her virtually no airtime prior to the semis and making her sing first last week. Well, she survived, though I still think she’s a long shot to make the finals.

9. Lacey Brown (6): Based on last week’s “Landslide,” she should be gone. But I sorta agree with Kara (yikes, did I just type that). I think Lacey’s capable of better, so I’m glad she’ll get a second chance to show viewers what she can do.

10. Haeley Vaughn (12): That infectious smile must have scored points with viewers, because her singing sure couldn’t have. Wow, was that bad. And she’s still around. Go figure.