This week’s theme is “Top iTunes Downloads,” whatever that means. They certainly can’t expect us to believe that some of these song choices are current top sellers, but okay.
 
Anoop Desai starts the show with Usher’s “Caught Up.” He tries way too hard with the attitude thing. So hard, in fact, that he loses everything else. The vocals aren’t great, it’s hard to understand him, and he has no energy. We’ve decided that our biggest problem with him is that it doesn’t seem there’s a single style of music that REALLY suits him, and tonight is no different. Our rating: 5/10
 
There are three words to describe Megan Joy Corkrey’s performance of “Turn Your Lights Down Low”: flat, flat and FLAT. And not only does she sound bad, but she looks like a zombie. There’s no life to this whatsoever, and it’s painful in general. Even worse than she usually is. Our rating: 1/10

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Lots of performances on tonight’s results show. Ruben Studdard, Joss Stone with Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder. Lots of filler, in other words.
 
This week’s group performance has the potential to be less horrible than any we’ve seen so far this season… and, turns out, it’s actually pretty good. This is what a group performance ought to be. Are we paying attention, Idol gods? And thankfully, the Ford music video is short and sweet.
 
Ruben Studdard’s performance of “Together” is slightly more interesting than anything we’ve heard from him previously, but only slightly. We’re still bored. He sings in a monotone and we nearly fall asleep. How did he win?

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Motown week does not excite us. It’s not a style of music we enjoy, and we don’t picture most of the contestants doing really well with it. But, maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised. Or maybe not.
 
Matt Giraud starts things off with… “Let’s Get It On.” Why? WHY? Cheez Whiz, anyone? This is just about the corniest song choice ever. It’s too slow, and too high, but at least he’s walked away from the piano this week. There’s not much about it that stands out, but at least he sounds decent. Our rating: 7/10
 
Kris Allen is next with “How Sweet It Is.” This seems like a good song choice for him, even though it’s been done so many times before. He seems very comfortable onstage, and he performs incredibly well. It may not stand out the way his performance last week did, but it’s solid nonetheless. Our rating: 9/10

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When the show starts tonight, Seacrest tells us that “the results may shock us.” But he says that every week, so we’re not too scared.
 
At least, we WEREN’T too scared until this group performance of “Trouble.” Seriously, it’s time we started picking some decent songs for these group performances every week. Either that, or just eliminate them altogether, because they’ve been painful this season. And speaking of painful, the girls sound particularly terrible on this song.
 
Tonight’s Ford video features a water balloon fight. How original. Oh well, at least it’s mildly entertaining. That’s more than can be said for the behind the scenes footage from last week’s elimination and farewell dinner.

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This week is Grand Ole Opry week, and the contestants are working with Randy Travis. This should be a nice train wreck.
 
Michael Sarver is first, singing “Ain’t Goin’ Down Till The Sun Comes Up.” That song is a huge risk, and we’re not sure it’s a good idea. It does turn out to be a little better than we expected, but he screws up a couple of lyrics and doesn’t have enough energy. Also, this really isn’t a good song for this show. Our rating: 6/10
 
When Allison Iraheta sings “Blame It On Your Heart,” her voice sounds a bit strained toward the beginning. It’s a good song choice, though- miles better than last week. And considering this is a country song and she is NOT a country singer, this is decent. We really wish she’d sing something totally different though. The world already has Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, and they’re all we think of every time we see Allison perform. Our rating: 8/10

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Last night there were 33 million votes, the highest ever for this stage of the competition. But wait. Doesn’t Seacrest say that every week? And furthermore, didn’t they say these results shows were NOT going to be an hour long this year? Tonight, we get to sit through performances by Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson as well as the endless drivel between eliminations.
 
Before we get started, it’s time to reveal the new twist in the rules. From now on, the judges will be able to save one contestant who’s voted off if they so choose. They can only do this once the entire season, and if they do, no one will go home that week. But then the next week, two people will be eliminated.
 
Tonight’s group performance is a nightmarish medley of Jackon 5 songs. The only thing about it that interests us is Megan’s outfit- what IS that? The Ford video is boring as well.

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Michael Jackson week? What were you thinking, Idol gods? This is like setting the contestants up to fail.
 
Lil Rounds kicks the night off with “The Way You Make Me Feel.” It’s bad. She’s overrated. We’re bored. There is really nothing else to say. Our rating: 5/10
 
Scott MacIntyre is back behind the piano to perform “Keep The Faith.” We’re a bit disappointed in the song choice, but he does well overall. The first half is better than the second, however, and by the end of it we find ourselves a tiny bit let down. Our rating: 8/10
 
Danny Gokey has made another song choice we’re not wild about: “PYT.” But even though we don’t like the song, we’re sold on him quickly. He performs really well, and we expect to see him stick around for a long time yet. Our rating: 9/10

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It’s time to round out this season’s top 12 with three wildcard picks from the judges.
 
Jesse Langseth performs first. She’s chosen to sing “Tell Me Something Good.” Wait, didn’t the judges tell her to pick BETTER songs? This is terrible. There’s absolutely nothing enjoyable about this performance. Our rating: 2/10
 
Matt Giraud is next, singing “Who’s Loving You.” This is a much better song choice, better suited to him. He starts off quite well, but then loses it in the second half. Too many runs and too many changes from the original song. Overall though, it’s pretty decent. Our rating: 7/10
 
All we can remember about Megan Corkrey’s first performance a couple weeks ago is that she sang through her nose. And with tonight’s performance of “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”… she still sings through her nose. So much so, that we can actually SEE it. This is horrific. What do these judges see in her? Our rating: 3/10

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Tonight, three more of our top 12 are revealed. Forgive us for not caring.
 
To start the show, we’re “treated” to a group performance of “Hot & Cold” by Katy Perry. Really? REALLY? Wow. Just when we thought they couldn’t possibly have picked worse songs over the past two weeks. This is terrible.
 
Boring recap, during which we realize that we still don’t get the fascination with Lil Rounds… or most of the other contestants this season, for that matter.
 
Lil Rounds is the first contestant called to the stage to receive her results. Well, at least the most obvious will be out of the way first. Not surprisingly (and not deservedly, in our opinion), Lil is in the top 12. She performs again, and we’re still bored. Not to mention we’re pretty sure she doesn’t hit a single note on key throughout tonight’s performance.

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Tonight was overall much better on Idol. This is why we hate this format- there were far more than three contestants this week that we’d like to see more from.
 
First up tonight is Von Smith, who we’re not excited about so far. He sings “You’re All I Need To Get By”… badly. After the first verse, he has yet to be on key for more than a word or two. He gets better toward the chorus, but we’re still not blown away. Our rating: 6/10
 
Taylor Vaifanua is next, singing “If I Ain’t Got You.” We’re unenthused. This is one of the most overdone songs EVER. She’s very shaky and she doesn’t have much stage presence. One good thing, though- she was wise to choose a lower key because she would have REALLY destroyed the song if she’d tried to go any higher. Our rating: 6/10

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