American Idol's season six winner Jordin Sparks and first runner-up Blake Lewis are hitting the studios to record their individual debut albums. With possible release dates as early as Thanksgiving, America will learn soon enough if the latest batch of Idols are "turkeys" or not.

Jordin said, "I'm trying to mix everything together. I'm loving all the songs I'm recording, so hopefully that will come off the album when you listen to it and you'll be able to feel the emotion."

Their American Idol experience may have ended early, but being booted from season six before the Top 12 apparently did not truly signify the end of the road for semifinalists Sabrina Sloan or Sundance Head. In fact, according to an Entertainment Weekly exclusive, both of them have signed a contract with Universal Motown to record a CD of duets together.

What's up next for our recently ousted Idol contestants?

According to AOL's exit interviews, Antonella Barba WILL NOT be posing in Playboy. She did, however, tell People, she is "not opposed to acting or modeling or something." And she wants to "do pop music," but would add her own style to it.

Meanwhile, Sundance is heading back to Texas to get a band together. He told People, "I'm going to throw down everywhere I can do it and just be a road warrior."

Sundance doesn't hold a grudge against Sanjaya, whom he thinks will "go far" especially if he gets some "confidence in his vocals."

Sabrina Sloan and Jared Cotter also went home last Thursday night. They both told AOL that they were shocked to be going home so soon. To read more of the Idol exit interviews with the ousted contestants, click here.

(S06E14) After last week's boring first impression, the guys needed to step it up this week and show us something big. Did they succeed?

Well, overall the guys were definitely better this week, but nobody even came close to Lakisha's show-stopping performance last Wednesday. In my mind, the ladies remain ahead, and this is still their race. However, at least the guys picked better songs, and showed a little personality tonight.

So who's going home?

According to the comments here and here, I was not alone in my assessment of Sundance and Antonella's poor performances this week on Idol. Many of you thought those two would be going home. And perhaps they would have -- if Vote for the Worst didn't champion them both this week.

To me Antonella and Sundance represent two of the biggest disappointments this year. They both received quite a bit of early buzz and way more exposure than some of the other semifinalists. And yet, both have given lackluster performances since hitting Hollywood.

(S06E11) Tonight we moved past the horrible auditions and the Hollywood meltdowns into the part of the competition that many of Idol's critics call "Karaoke Time." I think it's a given that all of the semifinalists are talented singers, having beat out thousands of others, and holding their own during Hollywood Hell Week in order to get to the Top 24. But staying in the competition is going to be tough. They're going to have to go beyond lame or even "safe" Karaoke renditions. They really need to kick some butt big time and shine.

Now that we have a complete list of American Idol's Top 24, it's time to try to predict who will make the Top 12. I'll admit it's a bit early to make educated predictions. After all, how do we judge contestants we've never seen sing?

Honestly, this initial list is really just a compilation based on "gut feelings" or "first impressions." Let's face it, we're totally judging books by their covers.

(NOTE: If you're looking for 2008's Top 24, go here)

(S06E10) It's "FINAL JUDGMENT" time, Ryan says, hoping to charge us up for tonight's episode. The singing is done, and now those who survived the Hollywood Week hazing, will find out if they've made the final cut.

I can't believe they build an entire episode around "announcing" the Top 24. It's really just a list of names that could have been posted online after last night's episode. Better yet, they should announce the list of names online with links to video of each and every performance to date, so the curious can check out the Top 24 contestants in more depth, if they wish.

Instead, they try to build suspense in this episode and it just isn't happening. We haven't really made strong attachments yet, so we're not heartbroken when cuts are made. And the only real surprise is where they've been hiding SEVEN out of the Top 24. Before tonight, we've never laid eyes on 5 out of the Top 12 Girls, and 2 out of the Top 12 Boys.

Without Idol releasing a complete list of last night's Top 40 contestants, and with so few contestants getting airtime, it's difficult for me to even figure out who's who, let alone predict just who will make tonight's Top 24. I think that the Idol producers purposely keep things vague, otherwise we'd pretty much be able to compile our own list of 24 (based on who DID get airtime), and wouldn't need to tune in for tonight's episode.

From re-watching last night's episode, and searching other sites for their observations, I've been able to piece together a list of people who (probably) advanced to the Top 40. But I'm really not sure, so if you have definitive information, feel free to share.

(S06E09) After four long weeks of auditions, we've finally made it to the infamous "Hollywood Round." Ryan tells us that 172 contestants are just five days away from becoming finalists, but "those five days are going to be a nightmare."

It might be a nightmare for the contestants, but at home, we are spared most of the mayhem. In fact, Idol speeds through most of the singing completely and a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff, as well. Where's the emotional build-up? Where's the drama? Where's Simon's nasty comments? Where's the angry outbursts from exhausted rejects pushed to the brink of insanity? I can't get a handle on who's who or who's singing what. Before I blink, people are being sent home.

It seemed that word got out during American Idol's Memphis auditions that the real ticket to going to Hollywood was telling the judges that you just welcomed the birth of a new child.

Maybe editors were called back to recut the episode in hopes they could make the judges appear compassionate after all the media backlash they received last week for being too harsh to the Bushbaby.

When we first hear the line "My name is Sundance Head", you think it's some kind of cruel joke or an excellent name for someone working in the adult entertainment industry. This man was no joke and left the judges no time to tease him when he brought out his serious talent.