Here’s what critics around the interwebs are saying about last night’s American Idol 12 Hollywood Rounds Pt 4, featuring the girl’s last chance solos and the unveiling of the Top 40 – Read my recap here.
American Idol: Manic Pixie Dream Contestants – BOY OH BOY is American Idol desperate for a girl to win this year. They open tonight’s show by reminding you, in big red letters, that the last female winner was Jordin Sparks back in 2007, back when we were still fretting over our MySpace Top 8. Back during the Bush administration. Back before the White Boys With Guitars ruled the land. You can’t blame them for wanting some variety, plus the ladies just tend to sell better. (With their collective tallies of zero, Taylor Hicks and Lee DeWyze have ruined the boys’ average.) – Read more at Vulture
‘American Idol’ recap: The judges pick the top 40 – Whether they’re better than the guys or not — and so far, on the whole, they do seem more talented — the young women competing on this year’s “American Idol” are all long shots for the win. After all, as we were reminded in the show’s opening moments, there hasn’t been a female winner in six years, not since Jordin Sparks took the contest in Season 6. Of course, that didn’t keep the 47 women who survived Hollywood Week’s group round from doing what they could to position themselves for an eventual win by making it, at the very least, into the top 20 women — on a night the guys would suffer cuts too. – Read more at The LA Times
‘American Idol’ recap: Ladies Night – American Idol is not f—ing around. A girl WILL win this season, they’ll have you know — and the three ladies you love the most so far and will support throughout season 12 with all your being are Angela Miller, Candice Glover, and Janelle Arthur. Votes for anyone else will go right into the trash! Not really, but wow, heavy-handed much? This episode was light on the performance footage of the girls’ solos and concluded with some desperate and wonky sing-offs between two guys (oh hey guys, how’s that holding cell been treating you for the past week?) and two girls at the end. We have an official Top 40 contestants — 20 guys and 20 girls. I’ll list them at the end of this recap. – Read more at EW.com
American Idol Recap: This Is 40 [Updated] – Thirty-nine talented young singers stand on the precipice of superstardom. And so does one kinda crazy chick who has only one drum stick (musical, not chicken) as well as the potential to turn American Idol bandleader Ray Chew’s job into the kind of situation that might pique renewed interest in a revival of Discovery Channel’s recently departed Dirty Jobs. Yes indeed, tonight’s final installment of Season 12 Hollywood Week put the women through their final paces, narrowed their numbers to a lean 20, and — if the “we need a girl to win this year, PLEASE!” intro is to be believed — gave us a glimpse at the show’s Great Y-Chromosome-Free Hope. – Read more at TV Line
‘American Idol’ Recap: Top 40 Revealed – After Wednesday night’s disastrous episode of Don’t Forget The Lyrics, er, American Idol, the show insisted on reminding the audience how many years it has been (six) since a girl has won the Fox singing competition. To which we say: all right already, we get it. There hasn’t been a female winner since Jordin Sparks took the crown in season six, but after the Hollywood group rounds debacle of vocalists badly botching lyrics even though they were written on the back of their hands, there is a reason viewers are skeptical. – Read more at Hollywood Reporter
‘Idol’ Top 40 Revealed! And You’ll Never Guess Who’s One Of Them… – A couple weeks ago, on what was THE weirdest episode in “American Idol” history, a bug-eyed, big-haired, booty-poppin’ lady named Zoanette Johnson delivered perhaps the most controversial televised National Anthem performance since Roseanne Barr’s…and somehow, against all odds and logic, she was granted a golden ticket to Hollyweird. And this Thursday, zany Zoanette wowed America again, when she shockingly advanced to this season’s top 40. – Read more at Reality Rocks
‘American Idol’ Recap: The Beginning Of The ‘Zoanette Era’? – “American Idol” is pushing hard for a female winner this year. Not since Jordin Sparks was crowned winner way back in 2007 has a woman worn the “Idol” crown, and it seems like producers are getting antsy. Thursday’s episode, which centered on the women of Hollywood week, opened by asking the question, “can Season 12’s ladies reclaim the title?” and later called this year’s females “the most talented bunch of ladies we’ve ever seen.” Let the conspiracy theories start flying, but it seems like “Idol” will do everything in its power to not let another guy win this year. – Read more at MTV
Catfights And Spotlights: “Idol” Brings The Ladies To Hollywood – A lot of the reason that this season of American Idol has seemed so much better than previous years is the pacing. A week was shaved off the audition episodes, resulting in the axing of the often-excruciating “Best Of The Rest” audition episode, which seemed to be the producers’ way of squeezing in extra “funny” contestants and indulgent asides from the judges. But the expansion of Hollywood Week to not one but two weeks’ worth of episodes—one devoted to the male contestants, the other to the female hopefuls—caused me to pause. – Read more at Popdust
‘American Idol’ Recap: The ‘Zoanette Era’ Begins – This “American Idol” contestant continuously defies expectations by putting in stranger performances each effort. Her vocals are on the border between kind of great and exceedingly over-the-top. She played a song that she made up on the spot about the judges, playing drums proficiently in the process. She is… the most interesting “Idol” contestant in the world. Apparently we’re within what’s being called the “Zoanette Era” at the moment. At least, that’s what Nicki Minaj is calling it. And with good reason — from her audition to her recent solo performance, Zoanette Johnson has been one of “Idol’s” craziest. – Read more at Billboard
‘American Idol’ Hollywood: More cuts coming – Now it’s the guys’ turn: Last week, the guys got narrowed down to 28 — though Randy Jackson told them there’d be one more round of cuts. Now, they’re all brought back on stage to learn their fate. Nicki Minaj says the judges have not completed their deliberations. Adam Sanders sings a Celine Dion song but asks that the band lower it a step. That impresses Keith Urban: “He knows what he’s doing,” Urban whispers. No matter, though, it’s still too over the top — except when it’s just under the note. – Read more at USA Today
