Tonight the top 12 girls perform for our votes for the first time this season. We’re hoping to see an improvement on Hollywood week. Fingers crossed.
 
First up tonight is Paige Miles, who we’re pretty sure is Idol cannon fodder. She sings “All Right Now” and we kind of feel like we’re eavesdropping on someone singing badly in their car. This is not a good start to the season, and we hope it’s not indicative of things to come. Our rating: 4/10
 
Ashley Rodriguez is next with “Happy.” We loved her audition and she was our early favorite, but this is just terribly disappointing. The song is way too big for her, and the vocals are all over the place. It’s like she can’t find the right key. No, no, no. Our rating: 4/10
 
Janell Wheeler also makes a bad song choice with “What About Love.” We see her as more of a Colbie Caillat type of singer, and this is just way too big. She doesn’t have a huge, belty voice, so the whole thing comes across as meek and overly nervous. Our rating: 5/10
 
Lilly Scott’s choice of “Fixin’ A Hole” seems like a good one, but it starts a bit rough. Once she gets going it improves, though. While we’re not totally sold on the song, we do like her and we hope she sticks around so we can see more of what she can do. Our rating: 7/10
 
Katelyn Epperly sings “Oh Darlin’”. Seems strange to choose such an ancient song on a week where the contestants can sing just about anything, but she does have a good voice so we can forgive it. And, actually, she does quite well with this style of music. We’re not sure why she feels the need to dress like Sandy from Grease, but okay. Our rating: 8/10
 
Haeley Vaughn’s rendition of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” is just as excruciatingly bad as everything else we’ve heard her sing so far. She tries so hard to make her voice sound bigger than it is, and it just comes out as screaming. We don’t like it. Our rating: 4/10
 
Lacey Brown sings “Landslide,” which is one of our all-time favorite songs. Unfortunately, she completely destroys it. Destroys it so much, in fact, that it’s literally painful to listen to. Dear God, how did she even get past the first audition? It’s really shaky, way off key, and she sings through her nose. Bad, bad, BAD. Our rating: 3/10
 
Michelle Delamor commits the cardinal sin of singing a terribly overdone song: “Fallin’.” But having said that, she handles it much better than most people we’ve heard try to sing the song. She does come across as a carbon copy, or at least a wannabe carbon copy, of Alicia Keys, but at least she can carry a tune, which is more than can be said for most of the others we’ve seen so far tonight. Our rating: 8/10
 
Didi Benami’s “The Way I Am” sounds like a weird hybrid of about six different artists. We’re not sure how we feel about her. This song is kind of dull in comparison to the original, but we’re willing to give her another shot and we don’t want to see her get voted off this week. Our rating: 7/10
 
Siobhan Magnus sings over music that’s almost inaudible. And that’s bad, considering her voice. It’d be better for her if the music were drowning her out. She starts off way too low, then goes way too high, and it’s just a really weird song choice: “Wicked Game.” There’s something about her that really creeps us out, and we can’t forgive it since she can’t sing either. Our rating: 3/10
 
We practically cheer when we hear that Crystal Bowersox will be singing “Hand In Our Pocket,” another song we love. And she certainly does it justice. Is she original and unique? No, not really. But she’s GOOD. And that’s something, considering what we’ve seen tonight. This is our favorite performance of the night. Our rating: 9/10
 
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Katie Stevens closes the show with another highly overdone song: “Feeling Good.” She’s got a good voice, but this comes across as pageanty and old-fashioned. We’re not totally sold yet, but we definitely don’t think she should go home this week. Our rating: 7/10
 
So, it’s over for tonight. That was underwhelming. Maybe if we’re lucky, the guys will step it up tomorrow night.