American Idol

It seems like I like more contestants on American Idol this season than ever before. It oughta make each episode a little more nerve wrecking, especially the elimination shows.

In years past, there have only been, like, 4 or so I really like out of the top 12. This season, though, I honestly like every contestant. Sure, I have my favorites (Hint: They’re the ones pictured in the post!) but I don’t dislike any of them.  For me, it’ll come down to individual performances each week.  A few could jump right in here with my favorites.  I’m keeping my eyes and ears on Megan Joy and Kris Allen.  If they cause me to sit up and take considerable notice, I’ll add their lovely faces to this post!

Last night, I personally thought Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Alexis Grace, Jasmine Murray, and Matt Giraurd had the best performances.   I thought Lil Rounds and Cris Allen sounded great, but I didn’t like them quite as well as the rest.

Alexis really took on a huge song, and I loved her performance.  Her voice is one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard – and, come on, I listen to music practically 24/7.  She’s fresh, unique, and I think she’ll be there at the end – IF people keep in mind that it’s a singing competitition!  You know how it goes, sometimes people tend to treat it as a popularity contest and just flood the studios with calls for their “guy” or “girl,”  irregardless of who had the better night.

Adam was born to be on stage, wasn’t he?!  The boy has the charisma and energy of the legendary Elvis Presley and I would pay good money for them to have another Elvis night so we could see what Adam would do with an Elvis song.    I expected him to have a great night with Michael Jackson’s music and he definitely did.

Someone that pleasantly surprised me was another favorite of mine, Danny Gokey.  I had no idea how he’d do with Michael Jackson night, and I was blown away.  His energy and level of fun were contagious and I smiled during the whole performance.  His voice is absolutely exceptional and he has one of the greatest personalities the show has seen since Bo Bice, Bucky Covington, and Kellie Pickler.

Lil Rounds has another one of the best voices in the competition, but something about the performance kept me from being overwhelmed.  She’s still a favorite, but there was something not quite as good as some of the others.  She looked stunning, no doubt, and sounded great – but, I don’t know.  Maybe I expect perfection from her.

Jasmine was adorable.  The judges were incredibly harsh with her, I thought.  I know it’s kind of different, hearing them live, but I just don’t understand what they thought was so wrong.

Someone I’ve been kind of on the fence with is Megan Joy.  I love her look, and her voice has a lot of potential.  While her stage presence isn’t quite as polished as some of the others, I actually like it.   It just shows that she is a complete newbie – an unprofessional, which is what this competition is all about.  I want to love her, but right now it’s just a strong like.  I totally hated her performance last night – the song choice was WAY wrong and the overall performance was just unfortunate.  Sadly there were probably a lot of people, like me who were on the fence with her – and she didn’t do anything to make us move in the right direction.    I’m almost 100 percent certain she’ll get another chance, though, and I’m also pretty certain she’ll do a much better job.

She does have one peculiar little swishy move that I would love for her to ditch.  After one performance, Ryan asked her why she did it and she kind of got an attitude – she was all like, “I don’t remember doing that.”   If she goes back and watches her performances she’ll see that she did do that again and again.  And again, and again…  If it’s a good trick, by all means, keep pulling it out of the bag – but if it’s annoying (it is), throw it out.

Speaking of out.  Back to Adam Lambert.  I am overjoyed that the fact that pictures proving him to be gay didn’t dampen his fans’ enthusiasm one bit.  It shouldn’t!  What matters is what the contestant does on the stage and, later, in the recording studio.  Adam’s meant to be a star and that’s that.

I also see a lot of star potential with Matt Giraurd and Allison Iraheta.  They have great, flawless voices and I love each one’s onstage  presence and style.

My only wish for Matt is that he’d do whatever he can to separate himself from the Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke comparisons.  When judges and fans start making comparisons, they begin to just see an imitator of the original.  Matt has the talent (big time!) to be his own  guy, and put forth his own sense of style and presence.

He does resemble Justin, but I’d love to see him pull away from dressing and performing so similarly to him.

Little Miss Allison is a contestant I hope will be around for many weeks.  She’s a breath of fresh air and her voice is incredible.  It catches me off guard every single time.  Each time she opens her mouth, it’s like WHOA!  Where’d that husky voice come from?!  She has a lot of power behind her voice and I’m anxious to see how it  holds up.  She’s like a baby Kelly Clarkson, and we all know how successful she’s been. (On a side note, I am SO excited about Kelly Clarkson’s new cd!  She’s back in a big way and her critics had better get ready for a steady diet of crow.)

Like I said, I honestly like all 13 of these contestants and  find myself pulling for each one to do well.  It’ll be sad to see two of them go home tonight.  Personally, I have a feeling that we’ll have to say goodbye to one of these guys:  Jorge Nunez, Michael Sarver, or Kris Allen.  Anoop Desai (who I didn’t think was nearly as bad as the judges said) seems to have a pretty loyal fanbase, so he might escape this week.  I’m afraid that it’s just a matter of who’ll leave with Jorge Nunez.

I KNOW I’ll cry when he leaves.  What a sweet person!