American Idol 2011 - Live Shows, Week 1 - The Girls

1. Ta-Tynisa Wilson - Only Girl (In the World) (Rihanna)
Pitchy from the off, and it didn't improve. Yikes. JLo summed it up (unintentionally) with "It's good that it's over, right?" I'm with Randy again (although he was too generous). JLo is proving to be a fucking imbecile by championing the mediocre. Worked for her, I suppoose.

2. Naima Adedapo - Summertime (from Porgy and Bess)
Horrid up-tempo jazzy version with lots of nose-wrinkling and camp strutting. A good voice though, but not for me.

3. Kendra Chantelle Campbelle - Impossible (Christina Aguliera)
A very good performance of a meh song. A potential contender.

4. Rachel Zevita is singing “Criminal” by Fiona Apple
She threw everything into that performance, but her body was writing cheques her voice couldn't cash. To listen to, it was bloody awful.

5. Karen Rodriguez – Hero (Spanglish) (Mariah Carey)
A pretty confident performance, and a nice voice. Didn't overdo the trilling too much. Can't say the bilingual thing added anything though.

6. Lauren Turner - Seven Day Fool (Etta James/Jully Black)
Of all the songs in the world, have no idea why someone would choose that, but she did it well. With a decent song she could be amazing.

7. Ashthon Jones - Love Over Me (Monica)
Another mediocre song performed well. Cracking voice, confident performance.

8. Julie Zorilla - Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)
Demonstrating that she has a very limited range, and changes made to the song's melody were clearly more out of necessity than design. She won't last long.

9. Haley Reinhart - Fallin' (Alicia Keys)
An obnoxious performance, but undeniably good. Well, Randy denied it...

10. Thia Megia - Out Here On My Own (Irene Cara)
Stunning voice, showstopping performance. Best so far, male or female.

11. Lauren Alania Suddeth - Turn on the Radio (Reba McIntyre)
Competently bland. More good than bad though. Could be an enjoyable watch.

12. Pia Toscano - I’ll Stand by You (The Pretenders)
Great voice, another confident performance. Definitely one to watch.

My pick for the top 5:
Pia, Thia, Ashthon, both Laurens.
Wildcard: Kendra