This past week we got to see the second half of American Idol’s Top 24 perform. Same as previous, Wednesday night was a solo performance and Thursday night 6 former Idol contestants came back to do duets – David Cook, Chris Daughtry, Jordin Sparks, Kellie Pickler, Constantine Maroulis and Haley Reinhart. Once again I was excited for the duets because David, Jordin and Haley are just a few of my favorite idols. (Although Chris and Constantine are probably a few of my least favorites.) While the previous week had all winners except 1, this week was only 2 winners.
Once again the duet songs were based on songs that the past idols had done on the show or released as singles. It seemed that the current contestants had to pick from that as their criteria.
Some thoughts… based on Wednesday night’s order.
Shelbie Z kicked off the show – I thought that she was a front runner in the competition early on, but I was not really a fan of her solo performance OR her duet – which we blamed on Constantine. I thought Shelbie would be safe.
I thought that Manny’s take on Adventure of a Lifetime was too current of a song to try and do. I find that I like performances better when I haven’t heard the original 18 times just that morning. I want to like Manny but there is just something about him I don’t like. His performance of No Air with Jordin was awesome though and I figured he would be safe after that, even though I was teetering on sending him home after his solo performance.
Kory Wheeler gives me creepy vibes. He also did a relatively current song, James Bay Let It Go – which I actually just really fell in love with this week post-Grammys so that was working against him. Haley’s duet with him was really awesome, though probably due to Haley being really awesome. I didn’t have him as making it through.
Amelia went with something a little less recent, Wake Me Up, I thought her solo performance was awkward at points because she was just standing there. Something also seemed off about her performance. Her performance with Kellie was decent, but I don’t think she will make it to the Top 14.
Jenn did another current song in Justin Bieber’s Sorry. If I heard Coldplay’s song 18 times this morning then I heard Justin Bieber’s 28 times. This song is stuck in my head constantly, so any sway from the original was going to be off to me. I was not a fan of her performance at all. I also thought her duet with Constantine was horrible. I am trying not to let me bias towards the idols sway my opinion of the duets, but either it is, or Constantine’s duets were just that bad. I think Jenn will be going home!
CJ Johnson did I’ll Be – which was an older song and I think he did a great rendition. The judges thought he was out of tune, it didn’t seem that way to me, but after disliking the 3 performances before his I might have been grasping to anything that sounded somewhat decent. He did a duet with David and something about it just didn’t click for me. I wanted to love it, but I didn’t. But I think that CJ will be safe.
Lee Jean – I liked his performance and was hoping that the show was taking a turn for the better with 2 performances in a row. He did his duet with Chris – my only note was “good”. I think Lee will be safe.
I had been looking forward to Trent’s performance for weeks. He did so amazing when he had mono that I couldn’t wait to see what he sounded like well. He did not disappoint in his solo or his duet with Jordin. Probably the best duet of the night.
Tristan – I don’t have any recollection of her from earlier in the competition, which I think is working against her. I thought something was off in her solo performance. Her duet with Kellie also seemed off to me (it might have been the rushing that the judges mentioned) but it wasn’t horrible. I did have her on my list to go home though.
I liked Adam Lasher’s performance, but the judges didn’t. I also didn’t hate his duet with Haley, though it was a little bit stiff and awkward at times. I want him to stay, but the judges seem to have it in for him so I’m putting him on my home list.
Dalton is my favorite. I also really liked his duet with Chris even though I don’t like Chris so that is saying a lot. I obviously think Dalton is going through. I also think it’s weird that JLo and I seem to have the same taste in guys / contestants (Except for her ex husband)
Finally was Olivia – did not like her rendition of Demi Lovato at all. I was torn after that if I wanted her to stay or go. I did enjoy her duet with David a lot more. That pushed me over the edge to keep her.
It started off where I had 3 in a row I was ready to send home, so I thought thinks would work out better for me picking 5 this week. But once again it was a pretty tough decision. My 5 to go home: Kory, Amelia, Jenn, Tristan and Adam. I thought that there would be no one that would make me upset if they made it through, but I changed my mind once I did see who made it through and that Jenn went instead of Shelbie. I was 4/5 correct which was twice as good as the week before.
Now I do really get to be a judge by voting with the Top 14 so things will get interesting…
Katie 
