American Idol Season 9 - Top 11 (Elimination)

Good to see Randy is back to booing Simon at the beginning of the show. Last week was an aberration. Nice use of Autotune on the guys for "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go." It's great to see that a collection of America's greatest singers need help hitting notes.

I have had a few hours to think about yesterday's debacle of a show and I do blame Miley Cyrus a little. It falls on the mentor to get good performances out of the contestants. She could have helped them more. Or gotten her dad to.

Bottom 3:

Katie Stevens - It was not good for me but it certainly wasn't bad enough to go home. (Relatively.) I'm not sure what I want from her other than to not knock out one of the top performers (Crystal, Siobhan, Lee, Didi, Huey Lewis).

Tim Urban - I should have gotten this right. I rushed myself to finish the blog. He was in the Bottom 3 last week. It was obvious. I hope my readers will let me...slide? Nice.

Paige Miles - It was one of the worst performances I've ever seen on Idol. It was bad from note one. She had to go home. What's unfortunate was how good her exit performance was. Once Simon said she had no shot at getting the save, it was a total transformation. Nerves can be a cruel stagemate.

Final Thought: I was wrong to put Andrew Garcia in the Bottom 3, prediction-wise. He has a strong following. He needs to stick to his acoustic guitar and entertain all of his fans until he is voted off because, right now, he's terrible. At least when he was fooling around with acoustic guitar, I didn't have to fight with my thumb and the fast forward button. He's in Lil Rounds territory. Really early frontrunners who struggle get beaten to a pulp by the judges and stop being who they are. Their performances resemble someone who got on stage at karaoke and had a friend secretly pick the song. My gut is telling me Tim will be next followed by Katie. Then we could get a surprise of Big Mike. I feel like he's going home earlier than people realize. As the judges keep pointing out the overdramatic stage mannerisms, America will not be able to ignore them and then stop voting so they will go away.

American Idol - Top 11 (Part 2)

I don't understand the public. Let's get right to it. I don't want to think about this more than I have to.

BOTTOM THREE:

Allison Iraheta - Let me begin by saying, "WHAT??" She wasn't her usual stellar but she doesn't deserve to go home. She shouldn't even be scared of going home until the Top 5. Fortunately, she was safe and sent back immediately. America, send home people that can't sing the alphabet or a phone book.

Michael Sarver - Is becoming a down home country boy or girl the way to go if you want to stay in this competition? Does no one remember that he got this far by impressing the judges with his soulful R&B skills? Now, he's the newest contestant on (Screw Motown I Want To Be A) Nashville Star? Apparently, nice guy's finish second to last. He's the weakest singer in this competition (it's close with him and Scott). He should go home. Alas, he did not.

Alexis Grace - The judges said she was one of the ones they talked about using the "Judge's Save" on. Unfortunately for Alexis, even I agree that it's too early to use it. I give her so much credit though. She sang for her life. Even the notes she missed were full of passion. This was a huge mistake. She will go down with Sabrina Sloan, Nadia Turner, and Kimberly Caldwell in the Idols who left too soon category. (I left off people who made it to the Top 5. We all know Chris Daughtry and Tamyra Gray left too soon.)

Final thought: Scott MacIntyre does not belong in the competition anymore. I'm sure it's a thrill for him but some of the notes he hits sound like he is hearing impaired and not vision impaired. If he could see, he would have been voted off last week. This is not Disabled Pianist Idol. Tonight was garbage and Alexis deserved better.

American Idol - Top 11 (Part 1)

It's country music week on American Idol. Yee to the haw! Randy Travis helped out the Idols by smiling, looking around awkwardly, and drawling.

Michael Sarver - "Ain't Goin Down Til The Sun Comes Up" - It was fun. There were a lot of words. He's a nice guy.

Allison Iraheta - "Blame It On Your Heart" - I didn't care for it. The judges liked it and she'll be fine. Randy thought it was dope. I don't think 16 year olds should be associated with drugs.

CQriss Allen - "To Make You Feel My Love" - First off, that video image of him on the floor as they panned up to him on the stool was fun house weird. I thought it started off real strong but got a little boring. The judges loved it and I assume he'll be safe.

Lil Rounds - "Independence Day" - She can sing but why did the stylist make her look like a WNBA player showing up at the red carpet? Sittmone didn't like it and embarrassed himself by mispronouncing Lil's name repeatedly. Being British doesn't require you to add letters to a name, Simon. Sound it out. Now, take a lift to the booth and put on a jumper, ya wanker.

Adam Lambert - "Ring Of Fire" - Randy Travis was speechless and I can see why. That was creepy. I thought it was awful. I just want to punch him in the face but I don't think my wife has enough makeup remover for my fist when I get home. Randy Jackson thought it was current and fresh. He said it was like Nine Inch Nails doing country. That's current? Why not Devo?

Scott MacIntyre - "Wild Angels" - Boring. Boring. Boring. I'm tired of the judges not treating him like the other contestants and it's not fair that I rip him apart because of it. I'm actually sure he wants to be treated like anyone else. That got real.

Alexis Grace - "Jolene" - This seems like a stumble. There was a falsetto that made me cringe. Regardless, she's too good to get voted off yet. Maybe the judge save?

Danny Gokey - "Jesus Take The Wheel" - This was awesome. I don't know why Entertainment Weekly hates Danny Gokey. Put the go in Gokey? How can you be so mean? He killed this song and he has gone two weeks without mentioning his wife.

Anoop Desai - "You Were Always On My Mind" - I like that Anoop likes to have fun and did Bobby Brown and Beat It but he can sing. It's about time he sang in this competition. I think this will get him out of the Anoop Dawghouse(?). Does that exist? Am I using that right?

Megan Joy - "I Go Walking After Midnight" - Spiggles dropped her last name. I'll allow it because she's awesome. I think the coolest thing about this is that she had the flu and I didn't know. She sounded great.

Matt Giraud - "So Small" - He did a fine job. There was a piano.

I don't know if they are doing a bottom three but, if so, I think it will be Michael, Scott, and a surprise Alexis. I think Michael will go home. He's the weakest one. This really is the best year of Idol. I have people I want to go home (Adam, Scott) but none that outright stink.