American Idol- Final 16

This week was the final part of the three week semifinal round and just about anyone who watched, will tell you that this season, and especially this week, the female contestants are far superior to the male contestants.

Last week, for the second consecutive time, I correctly predicted three out of the four eliminations.

So without further adieu, here is I how I ranked the males, based solely on their vocal performances on Tuesday night:

1. Chris Sligh
2. Sundance Head
3. Chris Richardson
4. Brandon Rogers
5. Blake Lewis
6. Jared Cotter
7. Phil Stacey
8. Sanjaya Malakar

It goes without saying that Sanjaya is not up to par with the others but I just have the feeling he will find his way into the Final 12.

Phil was really good last week, but has also shown a good deal of inconsistency. When he is bad, he can be very bad, and he was kind of bad last night. I think it will surprise many if it happens, but I am going to predict that it will be Phil Stacey who will be watching himself on a video montage tomorrow night.

Joining him may very well be Brandon or Jared, and based on the fact that he just did not seem to stand out enough last night, and may not be able to pull in the votes, my second prediction of an eliminated male contestant will be Jared Cotter.

And Sanjaya will be one lucky dude at least for another week.... even though he deserves to go and improve his singing ability outside of national television.

Compared to the guys, the females who performed tonight were far, far better. There is some serious talent here:

1. LaKisha Jones
2. Melinda Doolittle
3. Stephanie Edwards
4. Sabrina Sloan
5. Jordin Sparks
6. Gina Glocksen
7. Haley Scarnato
8. Antonella Barba

Haley will be saying goodbye. If I were in Vegas I would put money on it actually. It is not that she is untalented, but two out of the three weeks she has been performing, she sounds just like Kathie Lee Gifford singing on a Carnival Cruise ship. She just is not American Idol caliber.

Without a doubt, based on singing peformance, the now infamous Antonella deserves to leave. Suprisingly, I actually think this will be the week. Not only was she bad, she was a little boring, on a night when so many other girls brought their A game. Had Antonella sang a different kind of song, or perhaps wore a different kind of outfit, or maybe acted a little sluttier, she probably would make the final 12. Instead, she tried to play it safe, and might have seen her 15 minutes of fame come to end. But thanks to Antonella Barba, most of the contestants next year, will probably take part in deliberatly leaking all sorts of questionable pictures and videos, simply so they can become household names and milk their moment in the spotlight for all its worth.

So Antonella, enjoy returning to college, if that is what you really plan to do, and hopefully you will get a chance to sing one day at some ceremony at the World War II Memorial that you seem so fond of. However, if you reach the next round and deny a space to one of 6 really good female singers, that may be a national tragedy.