The word on the boards seems to be that Simon was right when he claimed that the women laid down the gauntlet this week. Read the comments below from the MyIdol Message Boards for more on the Top 12 girls performances. If you have something to add, we encourage you to do so! Start a thread or write a recap using the MyIdol Message Boards. If we like your fan recap, we might even use it for our official Americanidol.com show recap. Or we might just use a pearl of wisdom or two for our Idol Grapevine. Either way, were looking for your take on American Idol.

While Dolittle and Lakisha certainly ripped the competition to shreds, let us not forget probably my most favoritest performance of the night - Miss Stephanie Edwards. She went first so it's easy to forget that she tore down the house. When she fell to her knees, I leapt to my feet. Amazing. "Icoffman

Singing fourth was Sabrina Sloan, singing Never Loved a Man the Way That I Love You by Aretha Franklin. Song Choice: Whoa! Now thats what they mean by song choice. It completely worked for her voice. "dchambers59

Amy Krebs = 6 out of 10 / Before I get to the meat, I want to say that I thought she sounded all right...she didn't do badly. However, she sounded like someone singing karaoke. I have heard many females sing better than this in bars. "heathalvarez

The taped intro for Nicole Tranquillo focused on her fondness for group performances. Seconds into Chaka Khans Stay, it is easy to see why. How do I say this tactfully? Nicole lacks the soul for a cut like that. "onemanswarm

Gina Glocksen, 22, Naperville, Ill.: Really hard song to sing and she sang it well. She has a big voice and she chose a song where she could show that off. "sportsgirl33

Jordin Sparks was fun and I love her voice. She will stick around. At only 17 she has quite a future before her and I look forward to seeing her grow. "Loriann

Our last performer of the evening is our single mom, Lakisha Jones, aged 27, from Michigan. Her hair is much more becoming than in auditions and her dress works. She gives her daughter an amazing performance to remember her fourth birthday. She belted out, "And I am Telling You, Im Not Going, and we believe her. "Deanie79

Melinda Doolittle - song: Since You've Been Gone - another Aretha Franklin classic but she pulled it off. Lots of personality and confidence and she is definitely a frontrunner for me. The judges take: Randy thought it was Da Bomb, Paula thinks she is a frontrunner, and Simon said incredible. My grade: A. "crislovesmusic

Alaina Alexander-I'm glad she's got Brass In Pocket, cuz she'll get no platinum on her wall. "ibrmg

Leslie: I liked her performance; it was very strong, maybe a little too strong. Simon said she performed like she was embarrassed and ungainly. Simon, you should be embarrassed by those comments. She was actually quite good. I started to wake up at this point. "spaceyfi7

Antonella Barba " First of all, I must say that this girl is some kind of gorgeous! That being said, this was horrible. Absolutely everything about it was horrible. Her voice sounded bad, she was out of tune, she didnt perform very well, she picked the wrong song, she looked nervousetc. I wish I could be nicer than that, but I cant. "Guyfromnowhere

Haley Scarnato is a band singer from San Antonio. We get another Celine song, "It's all Coming Back to Me Now". Her voice and tone are very nice. She needs to work on her phrasing. The tempo drags...don't know why these girls are slowing down in the middle of their songs"? Love her voice though...she will sound great with the right song. This wasn't it. "karledan

Its like watching season three all over again, when we had 'power belters' like Fantasia, Latoya, Jennifer, etc, cuz now we have at least 5 big voices out there. "idolise_me_again