American Idol Top 8 Wrap Up And Predictions

Who Should Go Home: Scott MacIntyre
Who Will Go Home:   Eep!
B3: Scott MacIntyre, Anoop Desai, Kris Allen (or maybe Lil Rounds) – Either Scott or Anoop will go home. (If Kris Allen is eliminated, I could see the judges finally using the save.)

Guys, I have no idea who to pick for the Idol pool.   I’ll probably make my pick at the last minute.   I feel certain it will be a guy, but that’s about it.

I may eat my words about Scott MacIntyre making the Top 5.   Thing is, up until now, Scott has been inoffensively amateurish, but not terrible.   Last night, he stepped right into trainwreck territory and probably did not pick up any casual votes. That performance was made up of all kinds of fail–from the song choice, the ill-advised high notes, and his weird guitar playing.   But still, Paula and Kara couldn’t bring themselves to criticize him. I love Scott’s intelligence and sense of humor (it’s my punk rock side!) but his singing–not so much.

But Scott isn’t splitting votes with anyone, and he’s the new Vote for the Worst pick.   Kris, Anoop and Matt are splitting votes, so I think it’s possible one of them could go.

I don’t think it’ll be Matt Giraud, because his performance of “Part Time Lover”, even with a few pitch things here and there was relaxed, soulful and for the first time, Matt didn’t sound like a poor man’s copy of someone else.   With his next-to-the last performance position (for some he was last, but I’ll get to that), and the judges generous praise, I think Matt is safe.

After 3 weeks of wonderful performances, Kris Allen laid a turd last night.   It was a bad song choice and a terrible arrangement.   Performing out amongst the swaybots was a mistake too.   I think he might have had problems hearing the band–and his guitar could barely be heard. But I have a hard time believing all the good will and hype that’s built up over the last several weeks could send him to the bottom.   He might be in the bottom 3, but I don’t think he’s going home.

It may be a little too late for Anoop Desai.   He began with an apology to Kara DioGuardi for popping off at her last week, and then followed it up with a lovely performance of   “True Colors.”   But Anoop has been losing steam the past few weeks, plus he was plopped right in the middle of the performance order–he could have been forgotten by voters.

Lil Rounds hasn’t had a decent performance since the finals began. She’s got a decent voice, but no artistic identity.   You can see her trying so hard to please.   I think the competition is wearing on her confidence and I don’t know if she’s going to recover.   She was boring last night, but she wasn’t terrible.   Both Scott and Kris sucked harder, if I’m being honest.   But the judges laid into her, and wouldn’t let up. No wonder she was crying.   The time they took to chew her a new one contributed to the show running late last night. Somebody should have stopped that shizz.

Despite Lil’s disappointing performance, I don’t think she’ll go home tonight.   If she’s splitting votes, I think it’s minimal, and she may have gotten some casual pity votes after the judges’ tongue lashing.

Another great performance from Allison Iraheta last night–that girl has got something special. Unlike Lil, she’s more than a decent set of pipes. Her musical instincts and ability to convey the emotional message of a song are incredible.   She’ll be safe this week, because the judges actually paid attention and critqued her performance. I wouldn’t lay the blame for Allison’s inablity to connect entirely at her feet, Simon.   Treating Allison with disrespect (critiquing her clothes instead of her performances, playing with crayons during her performances) might have something to do with it, ya know.

I feel like I’m in a minority here, but I thought Danny Gokey put on a good performance last night, and I actually liked his arrangement of “Stand by Me”. So kill me now.   Still not loving his gravelly-as-rocks vocals, but I thought his phrasing and performance hit the spot.   For once, he didn’t annoy me in some way.   He scored second to Adam on Dial Idol last night–despite the fact he performed first.   Danny is a force to be reckoned with, I would not count him out of this race.

There’s been talk on the blog about Adam Lambert getting prime performance spots nearly every week of the competition. Last night, at least, Adam’s performance was pimp-spot worthy. The producers can and do use the pimp spot to help contestants, but it’s not the only consideration.   The producers need to close up the show with something that will keep viewers from picking up their remotes.   Making performance order fair and ending the show with say, Scott MacIntyre, who’s never had the last spot, would’ve had viewers diving for that clicker. Not something the network wants, it’s safe to guess.

I’m not saying Adam hasn’t been pimped–the special lighting and Simon’s standing O might have been a bit much–although, I think Simon was using shorthand ’cause he didn’t have time for a proper critique. There’s more than one way to pimp a contestant.

The irony, of course, is that lots of peeps missed Adam’s performance due to the inability of director Bruce Gower to pace a live show correctly. (And it isn’t the first time–both the Top 13 and Wild Card shows ran over–it’s inexcusable)   So, in the end, no clear advantage for Adam. His near-perfect performance was the highlight of the night. No other performance would have closed the show better.

Maybe they’ll make time to run Adam’s performance in it’s entirety tonight for the folks who missed it. I can tell you, I got a ton of thank you emails (and traffic!) from people who had been desperately looking for an online video of Adam’s performance.

ETA: If by chance Kris Allen is eliminated tonight, I think there is a possibility the judges would save him.   A strong possibility, in fact.

About mj santilli 34832 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!