Okay, I’m bracing myself for the inevitable spoilers to hit the net about what songs American Idol’s top 13 finalists will be signing on tonight’s Michael Jackson-themed performance episode, and rushing to post with my own request list before they do. I immediately eliminated "Man in the Mirror," "Rock With You," and "Who’s Lovin’ You" from consideration, seeing how Kris Allen, Stephen Fowler, and Matt Giraud respectively tackled those numbers during the semifinals. (Which doesn’t mean some ill-informed contestants won’t go there anyway. Ugh.) And I eliminated "Ben" and "Billie Jean," thanks to Nikki McKibbin slaughtering the former, and David Cook offering the definitive Idol rendition of the latter, in previous seasons. With that in mind, here are my picks. Do post your own, or at least mock my selections, in the comments section below.
Allison Iraheta: "Scream" (Am I the only one who loves this song?) (Yes.)
Adam Lambert: "State of Shock"
Jasmine Murray: "I Just Can’t Stop Loving You"
Kris Allen: "The Way You Make Me Feel"
Matt Giraud: "I Want You Back"
Alexis Grace: "It’s Your Thing"
Lil Rounds: "Human Nature"
Scott MacIntyre: "Butterflies"
Anoop Desai: "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
Megan Corkrey: "Off the Wall" (dance, girl, dance!)
Michael Sarver: "Another Part of Me"
Jorge Nuñez: "Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’" (could be a-mah-zing or could be disastrous, I know)
Danny Gokey: "Say Say Say"
More on ‘American Idol’
‘American Idol’: Our Advice for the Top 13
‘American Idol’: Tracking the Top 13 Finalists with our Idol Tote Board
‘American Idol’: Q&As With the Top 13!
‘American Idol’ recap: Boys Gone Wild Card!
‘American Idol’ recap: Rage Against the Machine
EW’s ‘Idol’ Headquarters
‘American Idol’: Randy Jackson denies report that he dined with Adam Lambert
addCredit(“Jackson: Eamonn McCormack/WireImage.com; Idol: Michael Becker/Fox”)
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I love Scream! It was awesome. Oh and great choice for Anoop. He could show off so much sex appeal doing that number! MJ has so many good songs but it will be so easy for the 13 to choose something bad for them. I am scared and excited all at the same time!
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” is honestly one of the best most fun songs ever, so I hope someone sings it. PYT is perfect for Anoop and i hope someone sings “Human Nature”.
Say, Say, Say could be good, but if it’s considered a McCartney song instead of a Jackson song, could there be rights problems? I have a feeling that none of them will be so selective in their choices and will go for the obvious songs like Bad, Beat It, Billie Jean, Black and White, and gods help us if someone goes for Thriller. Smooth Criminal (esp. Alien Ant Farm’s take on it) could be a cool choice. Are Jackson 5 songs fair game?
uhhh justin guarini pretty much got eviscerated by simon for singing pyt (SONG CHOICE!!) bc there wasnt enough singing
Allison Iraheta: “Blame it on the Boogie”
Adam Lambert: “Dirty Diana” or “Beat It”
Jasmine Murray: “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”
Kris Allen: “Can you Feel it?”
Matt Giraud: “I Want You Back”
Alexis Grace: “It’s Your Thing”
Lil Rounds: “Do You Remember the Time?”
Scott MacIntyre: “Out of my eyes”
Anoop Desai: “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
Megan Corkrey: “Off the Wall” (dance, girl, dance!)
Michael Sarver: “Another Part of Me”
Jorge Nuñez: “Dangerous” (I need a laugh in there somewhere).
Danny Gokey- Clearly, “Say, Say, Say” or “The Girl is Mine” (in a single person interpretation of course)
Good choices actually. I was actually hoping Anoop would choose “Baby Be Mine’ because i think it would show off his vocals better than PYT..but it could work.
I loooove MJ, but these picks are never going to happen for these singers. Sorry. Love that you picked “Butterflies” though, that song is AWESOME!! I also would like to see Anoop sing “Jam”….
OMG Orville is right. I believe that McCartney did get back some of his songs, including “Say,Say,Say”.
my pick for Adam was also Dirty Diana…but maybe we’re expecting that cause its a rockish kinda song?
Danny Gokey will probably sing: “She’s Out Of My Life”
You’re not alone — “Scream” rocks.
gerritv- THAT’s funny. I love Scream too. I’m hoping someone sings “Stranger in Moscow”- it’s a lovely song. I like either PYT or Baby Be Mine for Anoop, and I’m glad you brought up Butterflies- that CD is largely overlooked but it had some great songs on it.
You know someone is going to try to do Billie Jean ala Cook and fail miserably. Kind of hope it’s a pimped one that tries to do it.
“Thriller” complete with zombies for Gokey. “The Girl WAS Mine” and “She’s out of my life” are other possibilities.
I HOPE someone covers :You Can’t Win” the song they added into The Wiz for Michael Jackson.
Lambert could really turn that one out. But anyone with soul can do it.
I love “Scream” too! Alison would rock it out.
What about “Stranger in Moscow”? Kind of a weird beat but I’ve always liked that song too.