8. Scott MacIntyre: (Last week: No. 9) Love the singer, but the singing? Well, not so much. It’s true, his stripped-down rendition of "Just the Way You Are" was his best performance of the season, but it still had all the relevance of a Beta Tape Player in a Blu-Ray world, and contained more than its share of bunky notes. Since the judges pumped up the praise during "Top Downloads" Night, they don’t need to worry about looking too cruel during "Songs from the Year You Were Born" Week. Isn’t Top 8 enough for the inspirational contestant?
7. Lil Rounds: (Last week: No. 7) Is she one of this season’s strongest singers, or an over-hyped shouter who keeps picking songs that are too big for her limited voice? The judges keep taking the former stance, but Lil’s too-flat, too-strained "I Surrender" supported the latter opinion. It can’t hurt her chances that she’s one of only two remaining women, but Lil needs a breakout week to reverse weeks of dying buzz. The tragic array of hairstyles ain’t helping, either.
6. Anoop Desai: (Last week: No. 5) After an awesome "Always on My Mind" and a solid "Ooo Baby Baby," ‘Noop Dawg slipped backward with a decently sung but tepidly performed "Caught Up." Inconsistency is a problem, but so is his image. Needs to prove he’s more than Joe Student singing an R&B ballad. Why not try delving into the alternative genre, and go for a radical style upgrade — might we suggest a buzz cut? — to make America take a second look/listen?
5. Matt Giraud: (Last week: No. 6) His off-pitch, almost maniacal cover of "You Found Me" was his biggest disaster since the "Viva La Vida" Incident. But Matt has a history of following up blunders with top-notch performances. Needs to take a lesson from season 7′s talented Carly Smithson: The more desperately she wanted to win, the less fun it looked like she was having on the Idol stage, and the crueler Simon got with his feedback. In other words, how can anyone enjoy Matt if he’s not enjoying himself?
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4. Danny Gokey: (Last week: No. 4) The judges went back to their knee-jerk praise after his heartfelt but overbaked "What Hurts the Most." And while the polarizing personality hasn’t missed many notes in the competition — save for those so-so verses in "Jesus Take the Wheel" — he needs to realize not every song should be driven like a Monster Truck rumbling through a rowdy arena. A little originality in his song arrangements wouldn’t hurt, either.
3. Allison Iraheta: (Last week: No. 2) Landed in the bottom three for the second time in three weeks after the judges spent 90 percent of her critique ragging on her wacky plaid dress and spiky fuschia hair rather than her lovely vocal performance of (and decent guitar-playing on) "Don’t Speak." Would love to see her nail her Top 8 performance, but worried the judges might try to stone her if she threatens their pre-ordained Adam-Lil-Danny final three.
2. Kris Allen: (Last week: No. 3) Another week, another gorgeous vocal — and this time while tickling the ivories instead of strumming his guitar. Oddly enough, though, despite the fact that Kris’ "Ain’t No Sunshine" was the best of the week, the judges remained muted with their praise. Since when did the combination of great looks, great voice, and a great personality become so hard to love?
1. Adam Lambert: (Last week: No. 1) Riding so high that he manages to look cool (and maintain his top slot) even after choosing Wild Cherry’s "Play That Funky Music." Would love to see him dial it back and give viewers a second glance at the emotionally connected artist who gave us that devastating cover of "Tracks of My Tears," but let’s be honest: he could probably belt "Macarena" and still sail through to the finale.
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Predict who goes home on ‘Idol’ this week!
Glad that at least Paula is on the Allison bandwagon. Paula’s the only one last week who commented on her singing and playing and not on her outfit. Loved it when she told Simon that she was sure he was wearing crazy outfits at 16 too. so true so true.
Please vote for Matt Giraud!
The “over-hyped shouter” is Adam Lambert. Lil Rounds is just a bad singer.
I don’t understand why Alison keeps landing in the Bottom 3. She easily has one of the best voices on the show. Lil was terrible last week but they barely mentioned it. How they dress shouldn’t impact how the judges feel she sang. It’s not America’s Top Model or a beauty pagent, it’s a singing competition and her singing has consistently been Top 3 worthy not Bottom 3. The judges have been helping Lil out with their positive comments now they have to do the same with a singer who can actually sing. As of right now the Final 3 for me based on consitency would be Adam, Alison and Kris.
I do hope these board readers are correct and the final 3 are Adam/Kris/Allison.
What will it take to get Kris to #1?
i agree scott should leave
I would love for a judge, preferably Paula, to knock down Lil and Danny a few pegs. They both know they’re judge favorites and the cockiness they have is so blatant.
Anoop and his cocky attitude needs to go.
Huh??? Shouldn’t Kris be at the Top Slezak!? Last week was Adam and now adam again after Kris gave such an outstanding performance?? Come on, you are supposed to be impartial…besides looks like Kris is voted no.1 on the readers’ list though..
I don’t wish for Anoop and Matt to leave yet. I believe they can power up back some kick ass performances. And Anoop wasn’t being cocky, Kara was dissing him unfairly. If you were thrown under a bus like that, you would snap too.
However, Lil and Scott, time for you to go.
Lil will eventually be gone, no matter how much the judges praise her, but I am shocked and scared to see how Danny, who shows absolutely no originality and constantly screams his songs, never gets any bad comments from the judges. It will truly be a miracle and an inspiration when they take the blinders off and realize that he isn’t that good.
still pulling for Anoop!
Adam, Kris and Allison will always be my final three, no matter where they ultimately finish.
adam is the best by far.
for those who don’t know music,he is hitting great notes & awesome ranges with his voice.however he needs to step back from oversinging. but still hitting the right notes.
he can sing anything & make it sound awesome.
kris is also good,he is cute,but after the comment on vwtw.com about him making monkey faces during his singing,that is now all I can think about.
allison is amazing,think she should have waited a few more years to try out bc of her age.
danny sucks,he over sings & is overhyped by the judges.
matt is ok but kinda underwelming.
anoop has good voice,but boring & cocky.
lil is overhyped by the judges.
adam all the way.I live to see what he will do next.
Yea right, will see. Adam is so out of this ball park. The word Brilliant is not used so often for no reason.
Adam’s 15 minutes are about up. He’s essentially the theater geek from your high school who has learned to play camera angles. Kris has staying power. Allison needs to get a grip but she can make it to the top three. Lil Rounds will go home soon.