Ladies show guys how it’s done on ‘Idol’

LaKisha Jones, 27, Fort Meade , Md.: Jones said she’s terrified of animals. That may be so, but she clearly has no fear of the judges, the stage, Ryan Seacrest or anything else associated with “American Idol.” She sang Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing,” though clearly if the subject is talent, she has a lot. The judges all expect her to sail through to the finals. Simon even said she looked beautiful after criticizing her appearance last week.
Grade: A-
Stay or go? At this point, the best bet for getting Jones off the show may be to make one of the next few theme weeks a “Singing at the Zoo” road trip. Beyond that, she’s in no danger.

Gina Glocksen, 22, Naperville , Ill.: Glocksen has a troll, a stuffed pickle and a pillow she relies on for luck.  She must have thought she needed all the knickknacks she could get when she found out she’d be singing between early favorites LaKisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle. But the charms apparently worked, because she went out rocking to Evanescence’s “Call Me When You’re Sober.” The judges were thrilled to see her with an edge, and Simon shocked her with a compliment: “This is the girl we wanted at this stage of the competition.”
Grade: A-
Stay or go? Glocksen isn’t safe by any means, and if the teenage-boy vote keeps Antonella Barba around for another week, she may well be the one who gets voted off instead. But if that happens, at least she’ll have gone down swinging.

Melinda Doolittle, 29, Brentwood , Tenn .: This just in: Melinda Doolittle can sing. Oh, wait. Everyone knew that already. It’s becoming routine to hear her sing well, and she closed the show with a flourish with her version of Peggy Lee’s “I’m a Woman.” She might have borderline OCD issues, as she said in her introductory video, but they sure don’t affect her pipes. Nor did they hinder her performance. Simon called her “A little tiger … I thought we had a pussycat.”
Grade: A+
Stay or go? “A million percent we’re going to see you next week,” Simon said after the song. He’s right.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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