7. Lil Rounds: (Last week: No. 7) Got publicly dumped by Simon Cowell last week — during Allison’s positive critique! — then wound up in the bottom two after experiencing her usual onslaught of pitch problems on "The Rose." True, the overhyped belter at least tried to do something original with her Bette Midler cover, but it would take a Disco Night miracle for her to crack the top five. No matter how Lil performs, let’s all pray she keeps her trap shut during (and after) the judges give their feedback.
6. Anoop Desai: (Last week: No. 6) Delivered a lovely, pitch-perfect vocal on "Songs of the Cinema" Week. Unfortunately, his choice of the schlocky, tepid "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" led to yet another bottom-three encounter. Now, heading toward Disco Night, ‘Noop Dawg will have to prove himself capable of delivering a convincing uptempo performance, something he hasn’t done since his Wild Card take on "My Prerogative" nearly two months ago. Last call for a radical style upgrade to convince America a vote for him is not a wasted one?
5. Matt Giraud: (Last week: No. 4) Yes, he got the lowest number of votes from Idol voters after his cover of the insipid "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" fell to pieces on the bridge. But as the recipient of Idol’s first-ever "Judges’ Save," he carries a much-needed boost of emotional momentum heading into Disco Night, and that might be enough to help him sneak into the top five. Kara will be panting on his behalf, to be sure, but he’ll need to be more "Part Time Lover" than "Viva La Vida" to avoid elimination.
4. Danny Gokey: (Last week: No. 5) True, his idea of a relevant musical arrangement includes a harp (seriously!), but nonetheless, six weeks into the season 8 finals, Danny has yet to appear in the bottom three. That said, the bespectacled growler has been slowly losing Simon’s support, and with Disco Night upon us, there’s a good chance we’ll have to see more of his horrific dance moves. Needs a stellar, breakout performance — and soon! — to prove he’s got superstar potential and convince viewers of the merits of the producer-preordained Adam-Danny final showdown.
3. Allison Iraheta: (Last week: No. 2) Finally scored enthusiastic praise from Simon last week, but oddly, it was for her worst performance of the season — a pitch-imperfect, slightly disconnected take on "I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing." That said, she’s made her mark this season with powerfully sung, emotionally gripping covers of "I Can’t Make You Love Me," "Give in to Me," and "Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone." And what’s more, she’s totally likable.
2. Kris Allen: (Last week: No. 3) Rebounded from a subpar "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" with an absolutely fabulous cover of the Oscar-winning (or "obscure," if you believe Kara) "Falling Slowly." Not only was Kris’ number the best, most unexpected song choice of Quentin Tarantino Week, but he sang it with a heartfelt sincerity that’s proven all too rare in the season 8 finals. Upcoming disco theme doesn’t seem like a natural fit, but don’t forget he nailed Michael Jackson’s R&B-flavored "Man in the Mirror" in the semifinals.
1. Adam Lambert: (Last week: No. 1) "Born to Be Wild" was a peculiar song choice to say the least — particularly on the heels of his haunting, moving "Mad World" — but once again, the long-standing front-runner hit every note of his Steppenwolf cover. What’s more, whether you love or hate Adam’s unbridled theatricality and manic energy, he’s certainly never dull. Until or unless his competitors start consistently taking big (and successful) risks, the season 8 crown is his to lose.
Comments (1-30) of 293 Add your comment
Awesome list Slezak, as always. (DW, Lambert WILL win you over).
I agree with your list, except unfortunately Danny Gokey should move up to #2 because his fanbase is really strong.
Lil Rounds is definitely going home this week. I can’t see her not being one of the two going.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009/04/20/tv-tonight-monday-april-20th-2009/
Great Power List as always! Kris Allen has momentum once again. I hope he stays around for at least the Top 3 if not the Finale. What a wonderful Underdog story!
I gotta agree with Leila — I suspect Danny is really higher, somewhere up around 2 or 3 — he has an almost Taylor-Hicksian level of inexplicable fanbase. Who are these people? Why do they love him? Soul Patrol!
Now an Adam vs. Kris finale on the other hand…. HoYay!!!
I think that success or failure for all except Adam depends on the list of disco songs that are made available to the contestants. If only they really could choose what they wanted to sing!
Slezak, you sound reluctant to give Adam his #1 slot.
As should never be a surprise, my favorite is still Anoop. Chances are he’ll go home this week, and if so, I will immediately turn to Kris. His gorgeous performance of “Falling Slowly” only reinforced my growing love for him. I personally think he could take on Lambert in the finale. If it does in fact come down to those two, keep this in mind: a lot of people hate Adam. Even if they don’t particularly like Kris, they might vote for him because they find him as talented yet obnoxious as I do. The Adam-Kris-Allison top three will undoubtedly happen, unless devout Danny Gokey fans (why he is so loved I’ll never know) sneak him into the top 3, although Allison deserves the slot much more than the mediocre Gokey. You know that contestant that you’ve just loved from day 1? The one that obviously has no shot at winning whatsoever, but who you still manage to remain faithful to week after week? That’s Anoop for me. But he and Lil are probably gone next week, unless Matt goes instead.
* I accidentally described Kris as “talented yet obnoxious.” That was meant for Adam.
Unfortunately (or maybe, fortunately) I will
be having a guest over tomorrow night & will
miss AMERICAN IDOL. I’ll check in with youtube as I always do. But I have to say this: PLEASE, PLEASE put Disco-themed night on AI to rest!!! It is the worst music, & it completely ruined my ’70’s airwaves!!
Yuck-yuck-yuck. Kinda’ hoping LIL will sing
“I WILL SURVIVE” & get disco-booted off
the show. She CANNOT sing in tune, sorry! And only a few words of advice to ADAM: “Don’t ‘camp it up’ too much, PLEASE!!
Go, ADAM, go! Go, Kris, go! Go, Allison,
go! You’ll all make it to the TOP 3!! And
ADAM will be crowned #8 AMERICAN IDOL!
Slezak, get over your Adam hating. You only begrudgingly give him respect because it’s pretty clear he will be in the final. I think Danny IS losing his fanbase–boring and then snarky come to mind when I think of him–so I would be happy to see either Kris or your favorite, Allison, in the finals with Adam.
Since when is it “hating” to put Adam at #1, recognize he hits every note, and call the race his to lose?
i’m sooooooo happy to see those poll results, scientific-challenged or not LOL Danny deserves to be at 3% and I’m glad to see it — the judges fawning all over him must stop because it’s not fooling anyone — yes he’s a nice boy with a tragic and interesting back story — but he blows at singing. Done.,
Slezak great minds think alike. You have the same exact top 4 as I do, but I would change Kris with Adam in the order. But I would be happy if my top 3 made it all the way. That is Kris, Adam and Allison.
Who are these people voting for Danny? I don’t get it!
Adam is talented, sure, but I can’t wrap my mind around what his record would sound like. A bunch of high-pitched screaming every 5 seconds? No thanks! I’d much rather hear what Allison or Kris would put out.
Save the Underdog, save the World: Vote for Kris.
Save the Rocker, save the World: Vote for Allison.
Why is EW so anti-Danny? Every person I know loves him, yet every week EW is bashing on him. His wife died, he’s not pimping it or whatever. it’s a fact, you can’t change that. It happened, 3 weeks before his audition or whatever, and you want him to be over it and ok? That’s kind of cruel.
I actually bought Kris’ version of ‘Falling Slowly’. I actually like it better than the original.
Allison’s numbers might all have been powerfully sung, but they are not emmotionally gripping. That’s her big achilles heel. Still waiting for someone at EW to ding her for never delivering something quiet and understated like Adam’s Tracks Of My Tears or Kris’s Falling Slowly.
Who’s the rocker you keep referring to, by the way? Given the love for Allison, I would have expected something like save the Telemundo talent contest winner. I dont see a true rocker in the field this year.
Now that I got that out of the way, I agree with your rankings and would be ecstatic if the placements ended up in exactly that order. At this point, based on performances I see Kris as the only credible option to upset Adam, but Danny does have that scary fanbase.
I love everything about Adam — he makes me laugh, smile and is pretty awe-inspiring. Yet I haven’t bought a single song of his off of i-tunes. Who’s have I bought? Four from Kris Allen. I want to see Adam perform, but I want to hear Kris sing. Behavior tells all!
Go Anoop! I totally disagree with your assessment of him.
Everything I do was everything I wanted. Bought it right away. GO ANOOP!
Disco theme night is so so so so awful!!! It was horrible then and will continue to be horrible. Let’s do a viewers choice or a contestants choice night. NOT looking forward to tomorrow. If Adam comes out in sequins then the tv goes off.
what will be Paula’s drug-of-choice tomorrow? Of course, if I had to be a judge for disco night I’d probably have to take drugs too. GO FOR IT IDOLS! LOVE YOU ALL!
I love hearing Adam sing from rocking to tunes to haunting melodies. What’s more I have bought all of Adam’s videos and songs on iTunes. Kris is ok but he reminds me of Jason Castro …good only with melodies and one dimensional. I pick ott talented versatility over marginal at best.
Danny should win but Adam will thanks to all you freaks who blog on EW.
To Ashley who said: “It happened, 3 weeks before his audition or whatever, and you want him to be over it and ok?” A normal person would not audition for American Idol weeks after his beautiful young wife passed away, and celebrate giddily every time he advances in the competition. A normal person would be so devastated it’s unlikely he’d even go to an audition.
it certainly doesn’t hurt that Adam consistently gets fabulous theatrical lighting and camera shots. Producers are having a Love-Fest.
Disco = pounding, synthezised music and suckey vocals. WHY do they keep this theme? It BLOWS.
Danny’s heavenly gaze during his last performance actually shocked me. Such a public display of theatrics. Simon thought it was emotional but I disagree. I thought it was strangely unemotional.