Last night’s first 12 finalists started out VERY strong. Then it became laughable, and then Gokey brought it home. A typical night with American Idol!
Before the show last night, I honestly thought that 6-8 of the singers from this round could be in the Top 12. But so many of them proved me wrong as they let song choice and their nerves get in the way.
In no particular order:
Alexis Grace – the little blonde girl with a case of the blues. I liked her during the audition process, but she WOWed everyone last night, didn’t she? She definitely proved why she was there, in case anyone had any doubts.
Ann Marie Boskovich – looking older than her 22 years (and not in a good way), she picked a horrible arrangement (she should have done the Carole King version, not the Aretha version). It was bland and boring.
Anoop Desai – yeah I get that it’s cool that a nerd can sing (see: Clay Aiken), but this song was NOT the one he should have sung. Sure, he sounded fine – but on a night when all but three are getting cut, you don’t want to sound FINE, you want to sound AMAZING.
Brent Keith – Brent himself echoed my thoughts after the song ended: Country fans are gonna love it. Will they love it enough to push him to the next level? No.
Casey Carlson – I’ll admit I didn’t watch the twitching, winking, doing-her-best-imitation-of-Elaine-on-Seinfeld performance, but what I HEARD wasn’t good. You NEVER, NEVER sing The Police. EVER.
Danny Gokey – I agree with Simon. It was GOOD, but it wasn’t great. But Danny was a shoo-in for the Top 12 anyway because the producers focused on him so much during the audition process. **NEXT SENTENCE IS A SPOILER** DialIdol predicts he was the top vote-getter of the night.
Jackie Tohn – I liked her Elvis song. The outfit was atrocious, and she seemed very gangly onstage (although still fun), but I liked it. But after Alexis sang it became apparent that Jackie will have to wait for a wildcard spot in a few weeks.
Michael Sarver – Michael, Michael, Michael. You massacred an AWESOME Gavin McGraw song. You needed to bring the roughneck into that song, and you didn’t – you made it a true MOR song. **THE NEXT SENTENCE IS A SPOILER** Dial-Idol claims he was the 3rd highest vote-getter behind Gokey and Alexis, which means he may claim the third spot which should go to someone else who did better.
Ricky Braddy – RICKY! He did an AWESOME job and my hope beyond all hope is that he makes it to the Top 12 through wildcard. I don’t know the song he sang, but it didn’t matter because I liked it. He did a great job and I’m really rooting for him!!
Stephen Fowler – you sang Michael Jackson? Really? That’s too bad – NO ONE has done well with Michael Jackson on this show. Big mistake.
Stevie Wright – oh honey. You poor thing. I’m sure you are a great singer, but it’s the end of the road for you. Yes, you are only 16, but other teens have done really well on this show (see: Princess), so it CAN be done.
Tatiana Nicole Del Toro – as expected, this didn’t totally suck since she IS talented. But I agree with the judges that her toned-down personality was awful, and her complete lack of awareness in her pre-performance clip was astonishing. I PRAY the judges don’t pick her for the wildcard. PLEASE.
MY picks to go through: Gokey, Alexis, Ricky
Most likely to go through: Gokey, Alexis, Michael Sarver
I am in total agreement. The new format made me nervous because I thought the way they formed up the groups wasn’t going to be fair. Amazing how it did bring out the best of the best. I believe I’ll be content with the results. We’ll see if it works out as well with the remaining groups.
I agree with you 100%, too. Tatiana gives me the creeps – there is something off with her personality.
Ricky did really well and I like that Paula pointed out that he got the shaft TV-wise during Hollywood Week. Maybe that will help him.