American Idol - Top Twenty

Personally I think that at this point in the game forcing the vote to eliminate the bottom two boys and the bottom two girls is unfair. The girls have more talented members than the boys so far and it is a real disservice to the ones that are better than many of the boys but will still be kicked off because it has to be even. Why does it have to be even between genders anyway? I get it on So You Think You Can Dance – it’s pretty difficult to keep having waltzes and tangos if all the contestants are boys, but this is a SOLO singing competition. There aren’t going to be any love duets, so how about we kick off the four with the lowest votes period? Anyway, here’s the run down:

Michael Johns – shouted the whole song. I may have to admit that he isn’t as good as I originally thought – one more chance and I won’t be able to say “he could do better” anymore.
Jason Castro - Boring song, and he still has the dreads. Ick.
Luke Menard – He’s a little too full of himself for my taste. Yeah, you’re good looking, get over it. But he was pretty good – I didn’t think he was good at all last week, so I was impressed this week.
Robbie Carrico – not good. It sounded karaoke, big time. And get a brush.
Danny Noriega –I’m not going to judge his performance because I have an inexplicable fondness for Danny so I probably think he is much better than he actually is. I will say that he should probably be singing on girls night.
David Hernandez – awful. Was he trying to look angry or seductive at the camera? And was he wearing a jacket AND a hoodie, or did his jacket have a hood? The judges liked him but I thought it was bad all over.
Jason Yeager – Actually sounded pretty good, but the whole ‘frat boy at Club Med on spring break’ performance was over the top.
Chikezie – Didn’t he have a last name before? I didn’t know he got so big in just two weeks that he could go with the single moniker. Anyway, he was really good, but the back up singers were awful. Whatever notes they were singing did not go at all with the one he sang – they really ruined his performance.
David Cook – Did you see him wink? Gross. But he was pretty good, definitely an improvement on last week.
David Archuleta – Definitely the front runner for the boys if not the whole show. He chose a nice slow song that took all of the theatricality out of his performance and just left the talent. Brilliant.
Carly Smithson – She has such a big voice and she really uses it well. I like her.
Syesha Mercado – She was really quiet this week, and maybe not as good as last week, but still good.
Brooke White – I thought the song was in a little too low a register to really let her voice shine. But she still gave a great performance.
Ramiele Malubay – Not nearly as good as last week. And her tank top / skinny jeans combo made her look like a giant fatass, which I’m sure she is not.
Kristi Lee Cook – Love her. I can’t wait to see her when a real stylist has gotten a hold of her – she’ll be gorgeous. In the shiny outfit she wore last night she definitely looked like a tomboy from a small town all dressed up for a night at the local pool hall.
Amanda Overmyer – She lost it this week. Her vocal was not good (she knew it too, you could see it on her face) and the bouffant with the blond halo made her face look like the sun. Probably not the look she was going for.
Alaina Whitaker – started out beautifully and then went a little off key for the rest. And she has a huge hurdle to overcome because she’s just not quite as pretty or as memorable as the other two blondes.
Alexandrea Lushington – Apparently she was late to the show from a recent hike through Runyon Canyon Park (in high heeled boots no less) and only had time to change one earring before running out on stage. I guess she sang too – the judges seemed to imply that she did but I was struck deaf by the clothing. And she looked so quirky and cute last week. Well, we still got quirky.
Kady Malloy – she was not stiff like pencil this week, she actually almost fell down the stairs. Which unfortunately affected her voice a bit, I think.
Asia “extra h” Epperson – Something threw her off at the very beginning – I don’t know what it was but you could see it happen. She lost the note and started doing her practiced motions at the wrong time (at one point I thought “why is she stroking her hair?” and then she sang about the telephone and started to raise her hand again and I realized she was just totally off her game), but she did sort of recover by the end. And her skirt didn’t fit – the high waist and pencil cut would actually have been very stylish on her, but the wrinkles around her hips indicated that it was one size too small.

Verdict: The boys improved somewhat and the girls had some stumbles. I say it’s going to be bye-bye Robbie, David H, Amanda and Alaina.