'IDOL' WATCH: The Top 8 Women

Ladies night tonight featured the top eight women remaining on "Idol." On a night that Simon called "the worst night to go" and is widely regarded as one of the more important nights in the competition, several contestants came out strong, while a few made terrible choices that may spell the end of the show for them. It seemed a generally safe night for many of the contestants, but was entertaining nonetheless.

The night began with another poor showing from Katie Stevens, who still has not seemed to be able to find her niche in the competition. Stevens sang Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson and the song all but swallowed her up. Stevens lacks Clarkson's power and she was unable to sustain the song. Randy put it perfectly when he said it "paled in comparison to the original." After several lackluster performances, Stevens may be nearing the end of her run on "Idol."

Siobhan Magnus had another great showing this week and, although she lacked the big notes she excelled at last week, Siobhan made some great choices. She sang The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals and began the song a cappella before opening up and being joined by the band for the duration. Randy, Ellen, and Kara loved the choice and each was impressed with Siobhan's courage to take risks every week. Simon was less impressed, saying her interview, look, and the song choice didn't mesh into a cohesive personality for an artist. Siobhan should have no trouble making it to the top twelve.

One of the better song choices of the night came from Lacey Brown, who sang The Story by Brandi Carlile. It was exactly the type of song you hope to hear from an artist like Brown, fitting her personality perfectly. Lacey was able to play to the audience and the cameras and gave an all around solid performance. Each of the judges felt it was an excellent song choice, fit Brown to a T, and was all around a much better showing than last week.

Katelyn Epperly's performance was rather underwhelming on a song that should have been up-tempo and fun for the audience. Carole King's I Feel the Earth Move is the type of song that should draw an audience in immediately, but Epperly simply seemed to be phoning it in. It was odd in a week that is so important to her future on "Idol" that Epperly would come off so disinterested. Hopefully, audiences will be able to look past tonight and focus on Epperly's better performances from the past.

Didi Benami gave an excellent performance this week, singing Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac. The song is an extremely difficult one to pull off, but Benami was able to pull it off beautifully. Simon and Kara were supremely impressed; Simon called it "ten shoulders above anything we've seen tonight." Benami seemed to get back on track with tonight's performance and will, hopefully, be at the top of her game for the remainder of the competition.

The weakest performance of the night came from Paige Miles, who sang Smile by Natalie Cole. The song completely missed the mark, leaving the audience feeling cold and uninterested. It was unclear what the barrier was in Miles' performance; she said it was a very emotional song for her, but the emotion failed to come through. Miles made a huge mistake this week and it may cost her her spot in next week's show.

As always, Crystal Bowersox was spot on. Bowersox is clearly the most seasoned and comfortable performer in the group and her prowess is clear each and every time she performs. Tonight, she sang Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason, a more contemporary song than we are used from her. The song did a lot to give her a more modern feel and she worked hard to accomplish this, changing from her normal acoustic guitar to an electric one and picking a more up to date song. Bowersox is the clear leader in the competition at this point and, as Simon put it, "it's [her] game to lose."

Lilly Scott closed out the night, singing a nice, pop version of I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline. The song seemed somewhat safe, as it didn't really show anything new from Scott. She is one of the better performers of the bunch, so she shouldn't have to worry on Thursday, but the song didn't do much to help her earn new fans. Kara made an excellent point, as it took skill to make a Patsy Cline song feel contemporary, and it was by no means a bad performance from Scott, it just seems as though she will need to take a bit more of a risk in the future if she wants to win.

The performances tonight showed some nice versatility from many of the performers. This will be an essential skill as the competition progresses, since the upcoming weeks will each have certain themes that the performers must adapt to.

Paige Miles seems to be the sure bet to head home this week, but the second spot is a bit more unclear. If I had to pick someone, Katie Stevens seems to me the most likely to leave the show. With severAl Weeks of poor choices behind her, Stevens may have lost the lead she earned in Hollywood and looks to have the biggest potential to fall from the competition.

Tomorrow night, the remaining eight men take the stage. Like many of the girls, I have high hopes the gentlemen will take the judges advice and come out strong. The episode will begin an hour later than normal, starting at 9:00pm/8:00pm CST. Thursday night will follow with the results and leave the competition with the final twelve contestants.

"American Idol" is a reality competition to find new solo musical talent, created by Simon Fuller. It debuted June 11, 2002 on the Fox network and has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. It is currently the #1 TV show in the Nielsen Ratings and is one of only three that have been #1 for five consecutive seasons. The cast of "Idol" includes judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen Degeneres, and host Ryan Seacrest.

The program aims to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nation-wide auditions, and subsequent viewer voting. Through telephone voting, America has chosen past winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, and Kris Allen.

Several "Idol" contestants have been seen on the Broadway stage, including Barrino (The Color Purple), Hicks (Grease), Clay Aiken (Spamalot), Diana DeGarmo(Hairspray), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Tamyra Gray (Rent, Bombay Dreams), and Constantine Maroulis (The Wedding Singer, Rock of Ages).

"American Idol" airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights on Fox at 8PM EST.

Photo Credit: AmericanIdol.com