Idol 37 - Stephanie Edwards

37. Stephanie Edwards

Season 6, 11th Place

Stephanie was another one that got no airtime prior to the Top 24, but I had seen her picture and I was reminded a little bit of LaToya London.

So, I actually expected her to be a very good, poised singer like LaToya - which wasn't exactly a good thing. I just kind of figured that she'd be a "been there, done that" contestant that had very little value. But when her package was shown right before her first live performance and it showed a clip of her audition, my thoughts immediately changed. I thought her voice sounded so cool and jazzy on God Bless the Child and I wanted to hear more.

Right after that she slayed every guy from the previous night with a hip and modern How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore? which instantly propelled her as one of my major favorites of that season. I seriously freakin' loved it! Then, the very next week she came out and sang one of my favorite Beyonce songs, Dangerously in Love and did her some serious justice.

The next week she gave another strong performance with Sweet Thing, and at that point I was so sure that either Sabrina Sloan or her would NOT make the finals, and I desperately wanted both of them to make the Final 12. Sadly, Stephanie prevailed and Sabrina didn't.

Now, coming into the Final 12, it was very clear that Stephanie was a dead woman walking. I mean, the judges gave her first performance during the Finals rave reviews, but they were pretty wishy washy after that and that's when she was eliminated Top 11. Well, the main factor in Stephanie's early demise was that she was too similar to so many other girls in Season 6. Think about it - the arguably 5 best of the Top 12 girls that year were Stephanie, Melinda, LaKisha, Sabrina, and Jordin. And they all had one thing in common - they were all black. It was basically "diva" heavy.

Obviously they all couldn't have made it to the end of the competition. Melinda and LaKisha were the early frontrunners, so they were already pegged to go far. Sabrina missed out on the Top 12 and that just left Stephanie and Jordin to be the "dark horse" among these ladies, and Jordin had the advantage of airtime. So, Stephanie lucked out.

I honestly think that if she had waited for Season 7, Season 8 or even Season 9 to audition, she could've been a serious frontrunner. She's young, she's current, she's pretty, what's not to like? I know the judges love the big voices coming from the divas, but Stephanie definitely could've brought something different and unique to the competition. Hey, if Lil Rounds was a frontrunner, why the heck couldn't Stephanie be one?

Idol is famous for its big-voiced "divas", but we've never really seen a modern RnB black female singer do well on the show. Sure, there's Jordin Sparks, but she's kind of more Pop-R&B, while Stephanie is definitely more mainstream.

Favorite performance(s): I absolutely loved her performance of How Come You Don't Call Me? Loved her tone, her demeanor and the whole vibe was just awesome. By far one of my favorite performances of that Season. Also, I thought Dangerously in Love was quite underrated. I think it was a terrific song choice. No, it wasn't quite as good as the original, but I loved it anyways. She definitely seemed very passionate while singing. Love Hangover and The Sweet Thing were also pretty good performances. Great job!

How Come You Don't Call Me?

Dangerously In Love

The Sweet Thing

Love Hangover

#36 - Her brother is Grammy Winner Johnny Lang