Good Job American Idol Audience

Very pleased. They picked the right winners: Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, and inevitably, Adam Lambert. Adam is a wildly talented singer, but his image is too slick (see photo above). I hope the AI stylists will help him. I'm in love with Kris Allen, think he's great, but he doesn't have a chance of winning AI. Since the 3rd choices have been men so far, I'm beginning to think that the judges will pick women as wild cards. From this group it will probably be Megan Joy Corkrey.

Even though I usually prefer the men singers, in this season I think the women are stronger.

American Idol: Second Group of 12 Ratings

These rankings are a compromise between who I really liked and who I think the audience will pick. They are in order of worst to best. All in all, I thought this week's batch was worse than last week's.

1 Jeanine Vailes sang This Love by Maroon 5 horribly. She was off-key, unpolished, and unconvincing. The judges hated her. This was an easy pick for worst.

2 Matt Giraud sang Viva La Vida by Coldplay. The judges liked him slightly more than I did. I thought he sounded whiny, and his movements were jerky. I also hate this song.

3 Kai Kalama sang What Becomes of the Broken Hearted by Jimmy Ruffin, a poor song choice in that it sounded dated. He has a weak voice and horrible facial expressions. His tempo sounded off as did his phrasing. The judges thought he was ordinary.

4 Jasmine Murray sang Love Song by Jasmine Bareilles. I liked her better than the judges did. She seems like a good, basic r&b performer. The judges thought she was off pitch and too young for the competition.

5 Matt Breitzke, the welder, sang If You Could Only See by Tonic. Totally mediocre and forgettable.

6 Jesse Langseth sang Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Cairns. This was one of my favorites. I love her voice, but she doesn't have a chance. The judges thought she was forgettable.

7 Mishavonna Henson sang Drops of Jupiter by Train very nicely. I liked her a lot, too. She was very self-assured for an 18 year old. But her performance left the judges cold. They thought she was too serious, and that is probably the kiss of death for the audience vote.

8 Nick Mitchell the comedian sang And I am Telling You. This was a very entertaining performance, and he has a great voice. I would love to see how he develops as a performer. All the judges but Simon were entertained by him, but none thinks he will go on.

9 Kris Allen sang Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson in a polished, confident manner. His cuteness might get him through.

10 Megan Joy Corkrey sang Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae. The judges love her and think that she's saleable. I thought her voice was weak. She is also amazingly beautiful and will probably be put through.

11 Allison Iraheta sang Alone by Heart in strong rocker fashion. The judges loved her. She is a wonderful singer but an awkward personality.

12 Adam Lambert sang Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones, also in strong rocker fashion. He is a sure winner, but thinks a little too much of himself. The judges thought well of him too.

Ryan Seacrest finally explained the judging set up. The boy and girl with the most votes will go though. The next biggest vote getter, of either sex, will also go though. Later the judges will pick three wild cards to make up the 12 finalists.

I Got it Right - Almost

Alexis Grace and Danny Gokey made it into the top 12. In my opinion these were far and away the best performances of the night. To my surprise, Michael Sarver also made it. He is one of the dullest AI performers I have ever seen, but maybe he has in -person charisma based on the judges favorable reaction to him. I am not sorry that my number 3 pick, Jackie Tone got sent home.

I must have the rules wrong though. It looks like the audience voted for the top three performers. The judges must have a wild card pick coming from each group to round out the final 12. I predict that their wild card from this group will be Anoop Desai. Do you agree, disagree? Comment and let me know.

American Idol Top 36: Rating the First 12 Performances

In this year's American Idol format, the finalists have been narrowed down to 36. They will compete in 3 groups of 12. Each group will have one girl and one boy winner selected by audience vote and one wild card winner selected by the 4 judges. Last night the first group of 12 sang for their place in the final competition of American Idol, Season 8. Since I have authorial rights in this blog, I figured that I could rate them. Tah Dah! Here are my rankings of the contest among the first 12, listed from worst to best:

12 Casey Carlson sang "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by the Police. Eww! It was horrible. Her movements were jerky, she looked like a Barbie doll and sang like Barbie would if she could sing.

11 Stevie Wright sang "You Belong to Me" by Taylor Swift. More likable than Casey Carlson, she was awkward and had no vocal control.

10 Roughneck Michael Sarver sang "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw. Good voice, colorless performance. The judges liked him a lot more than I did. He could be a wild card.

9 Rick Braddy sang A Song For You by Leon Russell. I thought his performance was forced, puling, and insincere. The judges liked him.

8 Afro topped Stephen Fowler sang "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson. I really wanted to like him, but agreed with the judges that it was a mediocre performance and a poor song choice.

7 Brent Keith sang "Hicktown" by Jason Aldean. An OK country performance, not my favorite genre.

6 Anne Marie Boskovitch sang "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin, a bold song choice. The judges didn't like her, but I did.

5 Likable Anoop Desai sang "Angel of Mine" by Monica. Both the judges and I wanted to like him more, but it was a solid R & B performance, if not stellar.

4 Drama queen Tatiana Del Toro sang "Saving All My Love for You" by Whitney Houston. This contestant could not have been more obnoxious during the previous phase of the competition. But what a great voice. A solid performance too.

3 Jackie Tohn sang "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley, and she channeled the King. Impressive and entertaining performance, but this girl has a little too much personality. See drama queen above.

2 Alexis Grace sang "Never Loved A Man" by Aretha Franklin. Stellar!

1 Danny Gokey sang "Hero" by Mariah Carey superbly. Toss up between him and Alexis. The judges liked him better.

Well, did I get it right? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.