B-but Paul McDonald is such a cutey! And there's a lot more talent around this time than last year.

Ty-Tynisa Wilson - Horrible song selection. Only Girl (In the World) only works as a studio recording. It wasn't a screech fest like Rihanna does it, but it wasn't very far from it either. Again The Dawg is the only reasonable one among the judges. Why is Tyler such a vay-jay? Not even Paula loved this many people in all her 8 seasons.

Naima Adedapo - Besides the ending (which was damn good) it was very karaoke.

Kendra Chantelle - Such a vanilla performance. Not bad, not good.

Rachel Zevita - It was mediocre, it kinda fell apart while she was circling the judges table... But her outfit made me think of her like a child tramp. Way too much makeup.

Karen Rodriguez - She want for the Hispano votes. Too bad they were probably busy watching soap operas on Univision. Nicely sung.

Lauren Turner - James didn't go out on stage with his drag outfit yesterday, but this girl did her best impression of one tonight. Awesome vocals.

Ashton Jones - Sounded like a druken karaoke show to me.

Julie Zorrilla - You don't do Kelly on the Idol stage unless you can blow her into the outer space. Julie imploded on stage.

Haley Reinhart - Don't know why, but this was again a terribly vanilla performance. You dig it while it lasts, but after it ends it's not memorable and you don't care if you never hear it again.

Thia Megia - Great voice. Boring song.

Lauren Alaina - Very good. Gives off Kelly Clarkson vibe to me.

Pia Toscano - Really good performance.


So overall:

9/10
Thia Megia
Lauren Alaina
Lauren Turner

8/10
Pia Toscano
Karen Rodriguez

7/10
Naima Adedapo
Hailey Reinhart
Kendra Chantelle

5/10
Rachel Zevita
Julie Zorrilla

4/10
Ty-Tynisa Wilson
Ashton Jones

Yeah. The girls were good. Much, much better than last season.

I think it's safe to say you just don't do Kelly, period. It's never, ever worked in the favour of anyone on this show. I've only ever seen a Kelly song done well ONCE on a talent show, and it didn't happen on Idol.

lol be.redy funny you mention that, Rachel Zevita reminded me of the girl from Orphan.

Scottie is in. No surprise there. The 4 guys that didn't make it in the top 5 guys, Jordan, Clint, Jovani, and Robbie, are not surprising either. Of those, I think Robbie should definitely get a shot at the top 12. Maybe Clint.

In

Scottie duh
Pia duh
Lauren Alaina - I was a little worried cause the girls were so good.
Casey duh
Jacob duh
Karen YEAH! I was not confident in that at all despite loving the performance. dialidol sucks
Paul good for him. Quirkiness is good, sometimes.
Thia was not confident in this because it was not a showy performance, just a great vocal. Good for her.
Haley
James



Out (unless wildcard)

Clint
Jordan because he said he's sing a different song. I really don't want him in though.
Jovany
Julie
Robbie
Ta-Tynisa
Ashthon
Brett
Lauren T.
Naimi
Tim
Rachel
Stefano

I assume they're only going to let 4 perform.

My picks...

Ashthon
Lauren T.
Julie
Robbie

J-Lo is going to cry.

Wildcard competition.
6 will sing, 2 will make it.

Ashthon - very good, but beatable. It won't be an easy choice unless the other two mess up.
Kendra - very good, but I think they'll pick the "diva" over her, though I think I actually like Kendra more.
Lauren T or Julie for sure will be the third...

Stefano - amazing (why didn't he do that 2 night ago?) Will be tough for the other two to beat him. With vocals and tone like that, very deserving to be in the top 12.
Jovanni - this was actually very good, but not as good as Stefano. I can't see them picking him over Stefano.

Third could be Clint, Tim, Jordan, or Robbie. It's really a toss up...

Or not. The third chance for the girls is Naima. No second chance for Julie surprises me.

I gotta think if they pick only one it's going to Ashthon, though I'd prefer Kendra. I can't see Naimi making it, though it was a very good vocal.

It's going to be Robbie or Stefano, probably Stefano. I'd love it if they put both through and made it a top 13. I love the tone of Robbie's voice.

I don't understand the love for Naimi, otherwise I think the judges, and voters, did a good job.

I haven't been watching up to this point, but this seems like a good group of finalists, or at least a big step up from last year's debacle.

Yes indeed. There is a lot of diverse talent this year. Should be fun to watch.

I"ll rank them in terms of how large I see their current fanbase, then by how much I like them.

1. Scotty
2. James
3. Casey
4. Lauren
5. Jacob
6. Paul
7. Karen
8. Haley
9. Pia
10. Thia
11. Ashthon
12. Stefano
13. Naimi

Based on how much I like them (talent + likability)...

1. Karen
2. Scotty
3. Lauren
4. Stefano
5. James
6. Paul
7. Casey
8. Thia
9. Jacob
10. Haley
11. Pia
12. Ashthon
13. Naimi

All 13 have a lot of talent. I can't remember a top 13 with this much potential.

I guess we have Ashthon (and possibly Naima? Idk, she just irritates me... lol) as cannon fodder this year. LOL! Oh, Idol.

Ok, I watched. Heh.

Go Paul!!!

I might watch the first performance show next week. Why not...give it a test run.

Some bad picks for the boys. I almost got the whole girls lineup if it wasn't for awful Ashthon going through.

I only missed Stefano (who is worthy), Haley (she's okay), and Naima (I still don't understand what they see in her). I would have much preferred Lauren Turner over Naima. Even Kendra over Naima.

I think Lauren Turner missing the cut is a real shame.

I still haven't seen the Wild Card run so I'm still basing all of this on their first round performances.

I like the top 12 + stefano.

I think they are all quality singers so hopefully they can all put out excellent renditions of whatever they do each week.

I was reminiscing about idol on youtube and found old group performances from season 2, I think. That was some good stuff with Locke, Studdard and Aiken.

I'm gonna say that a female will win this year. Crystal may have been to polarizing for the AI audience but most of these girls are right up the AI voting audience.

I picked 10 people going into the elimination, and all 10 made it. The other 3 I didn't really mind if they stayed or not (Stefano, Karen and Lauren)

Lauren was okay. Nothing special with that song.

Casey is clearly more of a performer than a singer or vocalist I should say. I'm gonna go crazy if he picks songs like that every week. Plus, if he wins he's the next Hicks.

Ashton took the judges advice and went to Diana Ross. Uh oh, her first time singing this song. Didn't she pick it? I don't even know the song .

I didn't get Paul's performance. His movement is a bit spastic. I liked his suit though. Hated Ryan parodying him .

Pia is my favorite so far. I like powerful singers who hit big notes. She needs to do Lauper's All Through the Night. I want to hear that end note go on forever. This girl is just a pleasure to hear. I did think the song was too repetitive though.

Who else Steven Tyler should be in pirates of the Caribbean?

Hailey did not impress. She did an okay version of the song but it did not make me forget Leann Rimes.

I enjoyed Lusk's performance overall. He kind of made it his own. Can't say I'm a fan of bringing put these extra singers .