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Last night was the final round of female performances on “American Idol” before getting down to the final 12 overall, and once again it was a night laced with mediocrity. The good thing is that it’s getting much more tolerable being an hour long instead of 2 hours or even 90 minutes. Here is the Marley recap:

THE GOOD

There was really only one great performance worthy of goose bumps and that was Nashville’s own Mandisa. After a hilarious video clip where she talked about sucking her thumb until she was 24 (24???) Mandisa reminded America why she has gotten this far and why she will possibly win it all when she sang “I’m Every Woman.” We have all been waiting for Mandisa to belt it out and pull away from the pack, and she clearly did that last night. Simon said it best: “You made everyone else look ordinary.”

THE IN-BETWEEN

Paris Bennett started things off last night, and while little Paris is a favorite in the Marley household, we agreed with Randy Jackson that she was just “ok” vocally last night, singing Gloria Estefan. But Paris is a compelling performer and that is going to count for something in the votes.

Lisa Tucker sang a Tiffany Taylor ballad. The coolest thing about this 16 year old was that they showed a clip of her saying Jimi Hendrix is an idol and that she is learning electric guitar….proceeding to play the lick from “Purple Haze.” This chick is now super cool in my book and probably will be to all the pimply faced boys that are now going to vote for her. She did a decent job singing last night but didn’t blow anyone away. However, Simon said that Lisa is “super talented” and will “sail through to the next round,” and I agree.

Katharine McPhee was rumoured to be pregnant after wearing that maternity looking top last week….see, it wasn’t just me. But she squashed those rumours and even wore tighter clothes to accentuate that fact. Katharine sang Aretha Franklin’s “Freedom” and did a pretty good job….vocally, Katharine is amazing. I’m just not sure she has the goods as a performer to take her into lofty territory.

Gigantic Ayla Brown sang a contemporary pop song by Natasha Bedingfield and took a risk in doing so because not everyone knows the song yet. She sounded pretty good but is going to lose points with that Paula Abdul looking hair flip she had going on. Still, Ayla brings it every week and will probably make it at least one more round.

Kellie Pickler did Melissa Etheridge’s “Only One” and countrified it a bit. Kellie is a dark horse in this competition because she may not have the best voice, but it’s damn good and she is cute has hell. She’s also got this silly country girl humor going on that makes her even cuter. Simon took things ten steps further by calling Kellie a “naughty little minx” and saying he liked her even better than Carrie Underwood. I agree wholeheartedly and I’m sure the folks on Music Row are salivating at the prospects of singing Kellie whether she wins “American Idol” or not.

THE BAD

Melissa McGhee sang Heart’s “What About Love” and did a pretty good job. But the problem, aside from her belly fat sticking out again, is that there is only room for six females in the finals. Melissa is just not at the same level as everyone else mentioned above. Oh, and Melissa, you might want to lay off the smokes.

Kinnik Sky talked about how her favorite food is chitlins, which is basically pig intestines…..ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. Way to lose votes, Kinnik. Then she really punched her ticket home by taking on Alicia Keys’ “If I Aint’ Got You.” Um, Alicia is practically in the category vocally of Stevie Wonder…..there is just a whole ‘nother level that mortal humans can’t compete with. Needless to say, Kinnik bombed badly and should be the first to leave on Thursday night.

Tonight we have the guys…..Mrs. Marley thinks lispy Kevin will survive one more week but I disagree…..or maybe he will blow everyone away tonight. Well folks, that’s why they play the games. See you tomorrow…..