Idol Season 9, Top 12 Females

With a couple exceptions, the best singers rounded out the end of the show, leaving everyone before them in the dust. My list, in order of performance quality:

1. Katie Stevens ("Feeling Good" by Michael Bublé) - She made the hairs on my neck stand on end. Her voice was very powerful, but expertly controlled. I didn't hear any pitch problems that Randy mentioned. Other performers were more unique, but none of them quite had the power and control. I think other performers will probably do better than her in coming weeks, but she's definitely finals material.
2. Crystal Bowersox ("Hand in My Pocket" by Alanis Morrisette) - She showed great talent with the two instruments and a great voice, integrating them all well in her arrangement. Better than any real-life street performer I've seen. Ought to squeak by into the finals.
3. Didi Benami ("The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson) - Very sweet and captivating performance. This one particular performance reminded me a bit of Megan Joy from last year--Meagan at her best, that is. I'm hoping Didi shows more variety and doesn't follow Megan's tiresome quirky-warbly-voice-on-every-song gimick. She'll probably be in the finals, but will need to be great to stay long.
4. Siobhan Magnus ("Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak) - She built from a mediocre start to a pretty good ending. Hauntingly beautiful. I expect she'll have even better performances to come.
5. Lilly Scott ("Fixin' A Hole" by The Beatles) - Very nice performance from a very unique artist. Definitely one of my favorite performers to make it several weeks into the finals. To do so, she'll have to be very careful in her song selection to showcase her strengths.

The other performances were mediocre to horrible. On a side note, I thought Haeley Vaughn did much better than she was given credit for. However, it's hard for me to pinpoint exactly how to describe it, but something about her pronunciation, enunciation, timbre, or whatever grates my nerves when I hear her sing. It could be, as one judge suggested, her tendency to smile so much while she sings. I wonder if some intense coaching could help her to smooth out her technique.