Certified Blogaholic

It’s final. The final competition in American Idol Season 8 will be between Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. Apparently, Kris’ rendition of Heartless last night gave him the spot. Meanwhile, Danny’s lifeless performances the past weeks finally took its toll. Sympathy votes weren’t enough it seems. Yeah, we’re sorry for Danny’s loss. But this is a singing competition — and Kris has been outperforming him for so long already. Nevertheless, Danny’s vocal prowess cannot be denied, no matter how limited. It was a surprise though, considering it was only Danny who never made the bottom 3.

So, is Adam a shoe in now? We’ll have to see next week. There were 88 million votes for the final competition and it was reported that only 1 million votes separate the top 2 contenders. This begs the question — who will Danny’s fans vote for? I think if Adam doesn’t sing a slow one next week, he will be in big trouble. He will have to showcase his versatility for people to forget his questionable sexual preference. I honestly don’t care about his sexual orientation and I am absolutely certain he deserves the win. But we can’t forget that there are still millions of people out there who think differently. Many will still go for the gorgeous newly-wed who sings like Jason Mraz with those sexy eyes. Kris is gorgeous, but Adam is 100 times more talented. Go Adam!

Adam Lambert performs brilliantly during the top 3 competition in American Idol Season 8. He leaves Danny Gokey and Kris Allen lagging behind.

Adam sings “One” by U2 which was Simon Cowell’s choice for him. According to Simon, he asked permission from Bono to allow Adam to perform the song tonight. Bono replied that it would be their pleasure to have Adam sing the song.

I have updated the post with performances of Adam and Kris. Let’s skip Danny’s.

The remaining 4 contenders of American Idol Season 8 battled it out singing rock and roll. Slash mentored the contenders and, as expected, was impressed with Adam Lambert’s vocals. I also expected it to be difficult for Kris Allen and Danny Gokey as he genre was definitely out of their league. I was right.

Adam started off with an amazing performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Like I mentioned before, I don’t listen to hard rock songs. But I have to admit it was flawless and he sounded (and moved) like a seasoned rock star. The audience was on its feet after the song and he got rave reviews with Simon finishing off saying none of the other singers can top the performance.

This week, they also had the top 4 sing duets with Adam and Allison pairing off against the Kris and Danny tandem. What did you think? Of course, Adam and Allison trampled the other pair!

Needless to say, Kris did a mediocre solo of he Beatle’s “Come Together” which received bad reviews. However, what was unforgettable was Danny’s excruciating number. I can still remember how I cringed while listening to him struggle with the high notes of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” OMG, that was a bad choice for him. What was he thinking?!

Anyway, here are my fave performances — Adam’s solo and his duet with Allison. Great job guys!

It’s the Rat Pack tonight for the Top 5 in American Idol 2009.  Their guest mentor for this round is Jamie Foxx.  Since there was a lot more time to kill now, they show a video of the contenders getting a surprise from Jamie.

The competition starts with Kris Allen singing “The Way You Look Tonight.”  It was an outstanding performance.  Danny Gokey really has to keep up now.  Allison follows with “Someone to Watch Over Me.”  It was another great performance.  But I hope the audience gives her a chance seeing how she keeps getting on the bottom 3 despite good performances.

Matt Giraud is next with “My Funny Valentine.” It was pitchy and I bet this is as far as he goes. Then again, there have been surprises in American Idol in the past years. Danny Gokey sings “Come Rain, Come Shine.” He doesn’t make any big changes to the song, but he definitely showed off his vocal prowess here. And finally, we have Adam Lambert singing “Feeling Good.” He did tell Foxx he was going to rock this one. It another unique performance from Adam and he remains consistent in showing the audience the type of performer he is. Though I am not much of a rock fan, I say he is up there among the best veteran rockers of the century. There is no doubt Lambert will make the finals.

Simon had a separate interview prior to the performances tonight where he predicts the showdown to be between Lambert and Gokey. Yet, he said Kris Allen made a big jump and could be the third. Here is my favorite performance tonight from Kris. I think I will add Adam Lambert’s great performance for his fans out there.

Following the disco performances of American Idol contenders, tonight is the double eliminations after judges saved Matt Giraud last week from elimination.  Yesterday, I guessed that the bottom 3 were Matt Giraud, Lil Rounds, and Anoop Desai.  I predicted Matt and Lil to exit tonight.  I was right about Lil and Anoop, but Matt didn’t make the bottom 3.  Apparently, he got more votes tonight than Allison Iraheta (unbelievable!).

Ryan Seacrest changed his format tonight.  Instead of calling the bottom 3 and declaring the safe contender, he called out Lil first and immediately announced her elimination.  After the dance and song numbers, he announced that the next contender to be booted out was between Anoop and Allison.  Since it was between these 2 contenders, it was obvious that the better singer would stay.  Anoop was sent packing tonight with Lil.  Too bad really.  I think he was the better performer than Matt.

American Idol 2009 judges finally use their one-time save and gave Matt Giraud another chance to make it through to the end of the competition.

Joining Matt in the bottom 3 tonight were Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds. Though Anoop claims he didn’t expect to be there, Kara says it was the right bottom 3. When Matt’s elimination was announced, he sang for his life. Simon says he doesn’t stand a chance in winning the competition but they save him anyway. With the save, 2 Idol contenders will be eliminated next week. Can Matt make the jump? We’ll see.

I think the judges have already made up their minds that those who will make it to the American Idol finals this year would not need to be saved.

As the top 8 in American Idol 2009 performed a few hours ago, there was only one performance that stood out for me. Adam Lambert’s rendition of Mad World by Tears for Fears overwhelmed me. It was the best of the night as affirmed by Simon who could only stand up and applaud him with time running out.

Since I seem to have gone backward as I described the last singer, I might as well just go through some of the rest.  Next to Lambert, I would say Matt Giraud singing Part Time Lover and Allison Iraheta with I Can’t Make You Love Me (love this song . . . the softer version though) were the decent performers.  Danny Gokey sang Stand By Me, but it was nothing out of the ordinary, though he did change it up a bit.  The bottom for me were Lil Rounds (what’s up with her?) and Scott MacIntyre.  The rest were forgettable, as Simon would say.

Meantime, here is the video of Adam’s stunning performance.  Nothing like the original with just a touch of his style in the end.

After another unusual performance this week in American Idol 2009, Megan Joy Corkrey gets the least number of votes and bids the competition goodbye.  It’s really too bad because her voice is one of the more unique among the group and she is absolutely gorgeous.  Unfortunately, her song choices were just as eccentric.  And it seems she will not compromise her taste to get the judges’ nods.

Anyway, my favorite performance of the week is from the sexy Kris Allen.  This time, he shows his versatility by abandoning his guitar and taking on the piano instead.  Tres cool!  Here’s a video of Kris Allen with Ain’t No Sunshine.

The bottom 3 tonight in Season 8 of American Idol is Matt Giraud, Scott MacIntyre, and Michael Sarver. After 36 million votes, Sarver is eliminated from the competition. When judges were asked if he would be saved, Simon Cowell addressed the singer saying that it was a long time coming. Actually, I thought he should have been eliminated last week instead of Alexis Grace. He was lucky to have stayed on for another week.

Yesterday, Sarver performed “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” which sounded amateurish and it was pretty obvious he was not up to league with the rest of the contenders. I’m glad Megan Corkrey remained on the show after her horrible singing of “Once in My Life.” Simon said she should fire the person giving her advise on song choice. He was right because there are numerous Motown songs that would’ve perfectly fit her unique voice. I was actually expecting the genre to be up her alley and hoped she would overtake most yesterday.

Adam Lambert did acoustic with Tracks of My Tears which wasn’t so bad. Gokey likewise performed as expected, though I was hoping something spectacular from him too. Anoop did well too, but not outstanding. Yay, I was really looking forward to the Motown genre that night but none of the contenders made me hoot. Here’s a video of Adam, which was the best one for me among the rest.

The bottom 3 this week in American Idol 2009 are Allison Iraheta, Michael Sarver, and Alexis Grace. Based on my personal assessment of their vocal talents, I was pretty sure Michael Sarver would make the exit. Unfortunately, the last one that I thought would be booted out was the one — Alexis Grace. What?!

Alexis is considered one of the better singers among the remaining contestants and it was a bit of shock for me. She didn’t perform Jolene that well the other night, but then again, I couldn’t even understand a word of what Michael was singing. It was totally undeserved. There was no doubt Alexis could redeem her poor performance in the coming weeks. Country music had always been the more difficult genre during the final rounds of the competition. It was too early an exit for such a talented singer.

Since the judges have a one-time option to save anyone from elimination, they did give Alexis a chance to be saved by letting her sing Jolene again. Although her singing was a little more passionate from desperation, it was no better than her previous performance. The judges deemed her undeserving to be saved. I’m pretty sure they are keeping that option for emergency purposes to save either Gokey or Lambert in the event any of the 2 gets a surprise kick.

Anyway, we look forward to next week when the contestants go for Motown music. Michael would have to come up with something spectacular to stay in the competition or pray that someone else messes up big time.

As the top 13 in American Idol 2009 performed the other night, only a handful seemed to show promise in making it through the next few weeks. Among those who received bad reviews from the judges were Megan, Jorge, and Anoop. And as expected, the top performers were Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey.

Today’s show had voters eliminating Jasmine and Jorge who received the least number of votes. Although Jasmine did not disappoint the judges as much as Jorge, her lack of personality probably made viewers oblivious to her presence.

The judges likewise announced a new format during the elimination round. They now have the power to save a contestant who gets the least number of votes if they believe he/she deserves another chance. Should this happen, there will be 2 competitors eliminated for the succeeding performance to make up for the save. In today’s elimination, the judges decided not to use this option, believing that both Jasmine and Jorge did deserve to go packing home.

Yesterday, American Idol 2009 has filtered the top 9 among the 36 that advanced from auditions and the Hollywood showdowns. Most of them were expected. Still, there were worthy performers eliminated during the 3 shows because only 3 could advance from each group. Nevertheless, American Idol remedied this problem by creating a final wild card round. In this round, judges chose 8 singers from those eliminated to compete in the final round. The final 3 that will be chosen from the wild card showdown will complete the top 12 competitors.

Here is the list of the top 9 who secured a slot for the final rounds.
1. Danny Gokey
2. Alexis Grace
3. Michael Sarver
4. Allison Iraheta
5. Kris Allen
6. Adam Lambert
7. Lil Rounds
8. Scott MacIntyre
9. Jorge Nunez

Read the rest of this entry »