After witnessing the multi-hued splendor of Tuesday's boys' night, last night's all-girl competition on American Idol was something of a letdown, each contestant virtually indistinguishable from the pageant-ready hopeful who came before her. Even Carly Smithson, the focus of some controversy for having already released a major-label album only to see it flop spectacularly, failed to impress an even-ornerier-than-usual Simon Cowell, who diverged from his two articulation-challenged co-judges to (rightfully) observe, "there's so much hype about you...so much expectation...there's a buzz about you...everything about it for me was a letdown."

Still, if Idol is still clinging to its label as the ultimate manifestation of teenybopper-marshaled democracy in action, then it's not Simon, but We, the Text-Messaging People who shall decide if Smithson's record sales will ever inch above the half-thousand mark. According to the often-accurate voting predictors at DialIdol.com (possible spoilers), at least, it looks as though she'll have another week to prove to America why she deserves to be their next Gaelic Idol.

• AmericanIdol.com

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