American Idol Top 8 Best to Worst

Last night’s Season 8 American Idol started off with pictures of the judges when they were babies and you children.  Have to say I thought Randy’s pic was the cutest.  The final 8 contestants performed songs from the year the they were born.  

Over all I was not impressed with the show tonight.  By this point in the show, they should be really strong… and the majority of them were anything but.  And as a side note – hearing the year they were born, really made me feel old.  Okay, you know the drill – here is my best to worst and prediction on who will be the next contestant to go:

  • Adam Lambert – birth year 1992, performed Mad World by Tears For Fear.  Adam was the last performance of the night; and let me tell you… they saved the best for last.  He is nothing short of phenomenonal!  He sat in a lone chair singing in a tender and haunting voice and then stood up half way through the performance. Since Idol was live and he was the last to perform Simon was the only judge to critique Adam.  And Simon simply gave him a standing Ovation – he really didn’t need to say anything.  Adam was hands down the best of the night.  I in fact, thing Adam’s version was better than the original.
  • Allison Iraheta – birth year 1992, sang Bonnie Raits’ I Can’t Make You Love Me.  She was great as usual.  At first I thought the song was a bit mature for a 16 year old but she has a smoky and well sixteen or not… a sexy voice.  So the song worked.  She gave a solid vocal performance.  Randy even compared her to Kelly Clarkson.
  • Matt Giraud – birth year 1985, sang Stevie Wonder’s Part-Time Lover.  Before I go any further I want to state that in my opinion the six remaining contestants were not even close to Adam and Allison.  Matt did a good job.  He did a soulful performance and did okay.  I thought he was pitchy at time, though.  The judges however, thought vocally, Matt was one of the best… Simon said he was a million times  better than last week.
  • Danny Gokey – birth year 1980, sang Mickey Gilley’s version of Stand by Me.  Okay, I hated this version.  I’m sorry, I  just didn’t care for it and I so wanted to.  The audience loves him, of course.  Randy says, he doesn’t like the arrangement, but he made him love it.  Kara said the same thing he did his own thing and did it well.  I wonder if the praise is because they know that viewers love him.  Simon says, "beginning good, middle lazy and ending great".

I think Matt and Danny pretty much tied for third place.

  • Kris Allen – birth year 1985, sang Don Henley’s All She Wants To Do Is Dance.  I’m not crazy about the arrangement.  I don’t think it was his best performance to date and the consensus among the judges was that the music was overpowering.  I think Randy summed it up best – "I was listening to the music more than you… I lost you". 
  • Anoop Deseai – birth year 1986, sang True Colors by Cyndi Lauper.  I loved this song.  I was a Cyndi Lauper fan back in the day.  And really expected to love Anoop’s version because ballads and slower songs are his forte… but I didn’t.  It was okay.  It was boring and lackluster.  The judges like him with the exception of Simon – who I agree with, "it wasn’t fantastic, but it was good".
  • Lil Rounds – birth year 1984, sang Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It  – to me if sounded like she never ever hit the right note – what is wrong tonight?  Paula said just what I said she would – some compliment on her looks because she really sounded bad.  I’m really worried.  Simon ghastly copycat version… he really trashed her.  Start to become original.  Randy said she just wasn’t clicking.  Give her a chance she will show she is an artist! 7
  • Scott MacIntyre – birth year 1985, sang The Search Is Over by Survivor – I really thought he was bad.  His high notes went sour and I simply find him boring.  I think last week was his one and only good performance.  When Paula remarked that she found it strange that he chose to play the electric guitar over an acoustic guitar, Scott said, "my punk side coming out".  Okay, the song wasn’t even remotely "punk" and would have sounded better with an acoustic guitar.  I will say it is impressive when a contestant can play any instruments, much less two or more.  

I think Lil and Scott tied for last place, really.  But I think Lil has much more vocal talent than Scott, so I would like to see her stay.  I think she deserves one more chance.  That being said, I will not be surprised if Lil will be the one to leave tonight.

If you haven’t noticed the females are dropping off like flies from American Idol.  With the only two females left, Allison and Lil, I do hope that Allison makes it to the top three.

Be sure to check out Season 8 American Idol tonight at 9:00 pm EST on Fox.  And see how right (or wrong) I am.  And please share with us your prediction – who do you think will be the next to leave?  And don’t forget… you can download the songs they sang last night as well as the previous weeks at Apple.com.