It's time my friends, for the first round of the semis, where they take the top girl, top guy, and the third wheel, and that's it. And then I guess they do that for the first three weeks, which gives you nine, and then they take 3 more on later in some kind of wildcard week. Math.
Here are my random thoughts as they come through, totally unfiltered by the judges comments, as I write these before they have a chance to influence my opinions.
JACKIE TOHN: Forced. If Janis Joplin turned into a hip-hop artist rapping Elvis. No vocal. Costume eeks.
RICKY BRADDY: He's not bad but forgettable, which is probably why he wasn't featured too much in the docudrama weeks.
ALEXIS GRACE: White soul, not bad at all, though I think this is the absolute top of her range, and I'm not sure it will be enough. The "sexiness-ish" stuff seemed a bit put on.
BRENT KEITH: I think he has some star potential. My only block is how much I truly despise country music. My problem, not his.
STEVIE WRIGHT: Pushing, out of breath. Can't afford to be this nervous little one. How in the world will Paula put a good spin on this one?
ANOOP DESAI: went to the White Castle and bought a voice. Song was kind of meh. But he can sing. Just have to stop with the Noop dogg thing. That could drive me crazy.
CASEY CARLSON: Wow, that was bad. I thought her winking had developed into some kind of irreversible tick. Her eyelashes were trying to run for cover from being belted by her cheekbones. Bye bye.
MICHAEL SARVER: I am over the embroidered pattern shirts. I'd rather have youth-pastor-goatees back then to have to look at one more circular pattern off to the side of a shirt. Yes, I'm an old fart. Oh yeah, and he was kind of bland. And sharp on occasion. Pushed way too hard.
ANN MARIE BOSKOVICH: She's doing an episode of Desperate Housewives where they flashback to their Karoake days in the late 90s. It was okay, but not great. Not memorable.
STEPHEN FOWLER: Not. Good. Enough. Even the BGVs were sharp. Disco is just not a good idea when you're trying to highlight your voice. You end up pushing, which is what he did.
TATIANA DEL TORO: This is a good pick for the crazy one, given the lyrics. Ironically her biggest problem was the reserved lower register portions of the verse. Cracked a bit and ran out of gas at the end. The rest of the pack was so bad that she might just come in third.
DANNY GOKEY: You gotta love his wedding ring still on. Only problem with this pick is that not being written for a man, the range of the song is not impressive, in the same way that it is when a female sings it. But as it relates to tying people emotionally to his story and keeping it alive, it was a very great pick and a great ending for the show - he should breeze by the competition. (and please lose the design print shirts...)
RANDOM THOUGHTS: What's with the cubic zirconi-microphones? Simon says "she shouldn't have been allowed to sing this song" - I wonder when the song choice becomes the art, and if the two should be interminably linked? And what's up with the parents/family in the red room? How uncomfortable is it to have Simon railing on your kid while you sit there and squirm. Any protective parent worth their salt would have decked him by now.
