Top 12!

Alright...let's just get this out of the way. I'm still mad at the show right now. Maybe my love for last season was just too great for me to be able to get excited about this season. Or maybe it's because STILL it is apparent that 4 of the top 12 that performed tonight should not have ever been on the big stage. Or...possibly it's the fact that not one person this season is blowing me away yet. I know....I know...my Adam obsession was a bit too much and I shouldn't expect anyone to rock my world like he did last year, but I guess I'm just a little under impressed this season. With that said... I still am holding out some hope that something with shift and I'll get excited about it again.

So here we go... top 12!
1.) Michael Lynche: "Miss You" - First things first....his baby is real cute! So tiny and so adorable. They're for sure playing that "I've got a cute baby" card with him! So Michael is interesting to me. His voice is great. His pitch is more right on than most of the contestants and he is usually picking songs that really fit his voice. The weird thing to me is that his performances always seem just a little awkward. Maybe it's cuz he's so big and he's doing little jigs around the stage or maybe he's just trying to do too much. I really can't put my finger on it. I do think his voice is good though. I'm also starting to wonder if his falsetto is going to become his "signature" thing this season. Like Adam's screams or Danny's glasses last year. (Yes, yes I did just mention last season again... better get used to that!). I think Michael will be around for a while. He's solid and people like him. The real question though is who is watching his very small newborn baby when he AND his wife are in LA at the show?

2.) Didi Benami: "Play with Fire" - I like her. I like her a lot. I feel like now that Lilly and Katelyn are gone, Didi has a better chance to be noticed. They were all pretty similar. She sounded really good tonight...with the exception of her losing her words and the big note toward the end that was just WAY off key. Overall she did a very good job I thought. I think the first few weeks her nerves must've just been getting to her. I think she's got a great sound and I like her. I think it would take a few miracles for her to win it all, but at least she's pleasant to listen to... which is more than I can say for some of these people!

3.) Casey James: "It's All Over Now" - Ok, now I know there are a lot of people that like Casey, so I'm sorry for saying this, but I'm over him. Done. He's just very average to me. Sure he's cute and he's got a proud mother that is quite precious, but his voice is just okay. Nothing about it screams "wow, that was great!" to me. Also, I think someone should tell him that this is a SINGING competition and not an electric guitar competition. You're good at the guitar, yes, but try and just sing and not pay so much attention to it next time. It was a good song choice for him and he sounded better than he has in the past, but still... not jumping out of my seat for him. I wish the judges would stop showering him with so much praise... he's not really worth it in my opinion.

4.) Lacey Brown: "Ruby Tuesday" - I like Lacey. I think she is sweet and adorable and I like that her dad was a pastor. I also like her voice. She's not great...I don't think she's got the best voice out of the 12 nor do I think she has any shot at winning at all, but I like her sound. It's super different and I think she would sound great on an album. I think she's an acquired sound so a lot of people probably don't like her voice. I really liked the arrangement she did of that song with the violins. I agree that she needs to stop sitting on the edge of the stage. I think she'll be around for a few more weeks and will probably crack the top 10, but I doubt she'll go further than that.

5.) Andrew Garcia: "Give Me Shelter" - Alright...here's my take on Andrew. He might not be as good as we all thought he was in the beginning. He's good...don't get me wrong.. I for sure think he's good. I just, again, am not wowed by him! I want to be, I REALLY want to be blown away by him cuz I've liked him a lot from the beginning. I'm just not there yet. I do like that he decided to ditch the guitar this week cuz it showed that he can do a song without it and not look like he needs it. Other than the serious unfortunate sound of the background vocalists on his song, I thought his performance was good this week. Good, not great. I'm glad he did well. I didn't think he was pitchy like Randy said, but it was still just a little "eh" for me. I wish it wasn't, but it just was.

6.) Katie Stevens: "Wild Horses" - Oh. My. Word. Get off my TV. GET OFF! Pitchy, pitchy, pitchy. She is just not good enough. Again, not horrible... but why? WHY is she in the top 12!? It's just annoying. She tries too hard, she pushes too much, and she is just ALWAYS pitchy. I think she knows she needs to fight for her spot. She should know that at least! There is no way she is better that Katelyn or Lilly. I know I need to move on because those two are gone and never coming back, but Katie is just one of those top 12ers that I will always dislike because she's just not good enough to be there.

7.) Tim Urban: "Under my Thumb" - Oh, Tim. You frustrate me. I miss Alex. You make me miss Alex because he should be in your place. Hands down. Here's the deal with Tim. Much like a lot of other people in this group, he is not AWFUL. But...he is also just not that good! I mean, what is going on!? That version was weird and his vocal was just average at best. It did look like he had a lot more confidence this week, but that should not be enough to keep him around. I feel as if I need to prepare myself for the fact that he'll probably be staying around a lot longer than I'd like him too. Even as I'm writing this I'm just continuing to be so frustrated with this season!! I mean, for an American Idol superfan like myself, this is just not cutting it for me and I don't like it. Something needs to change here. Maybe I just need to move on and put the past in the past. It is just really hard to do!

8.) Siobhan: "Paint it Black" - Ok, she is so funny. Her personality is just so quirky and her family seems to be the same way. She's fun. I'm torn about Siobhan. I'm just not in love with her like everyone else seems to be. At the risk of sounding completely contradictory to my "I loved everything Adam ever did/especially his screaming" talk that I did last season... I don't like her screaming. I don't know what it is...but hers is just not doing it for me. It's thin and kind of tinny. I just don't know. I loved that version of the song and thought that the majority of her vocal was good.... I just don't think I'm on the Siobhan bandwagon just yet. The very last phrase of the song after the scream was the best part to me. To be able to do that after such a huge scream is very impressive.... which might be all that I was impressed by tonight oddly enough. I would like to thank Kara for bringing up the fact that her performance reminded her of Adam last year because I thought the same thing when she came down the stairs with the fire looking background. Adam would've rocked that song! Ok.... I'm sorry... I'm done. Still on the fence about Siobhan.

9.) Lee Dewyze: "Beast of Burden" - I like that Lee is from the Midwest. I like that he's a chill guy. I like that you can tell he loves singing. Do I like his voice? Sort of. Once again, to sound EXACTLY like a broken record, I'm just not impressed! He's got a good radio voice, I'll give him that. BUT...part of the reason he has that good radio voice is because he sounds just like a mix between Dave Matthews and Adam Duritz from Counting Crows. Before Randy even brought up Dave Matthews I was thinking that same thing. So obviously Lee would be marketable since there's people doing what he does already, I'm just not sure he's got the chops. I'll give him the credit that he IS getting better as the weeks go on, I just think he might get lost in the shuffle. Maybe if we're lucky though he'll sing a little "Long December" before his time is up. Cuz let's face it, he's not winning.

10.) Paige Miles: "Honky Tonk Woman" - Go. Home. Go home, go home, GO HOME. Ok she had laryngitis and still sang.....woopdie freaking do! Good for you.. you actually did do a fine job with that aliment. But FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU SHOULD NOT BE IN THE TOP 12. It was pitchy... not surprised.. and it was just annoying.. again, not surprised. It was honestly borderline painful to listen to. I'm just done with her. I don't even have anything else to say. She just needs to go. Immediately.

11.) Aaron Kelly: "Angie" - or should I say "An-jay" since that's the way he said it the entire song!! Oh Aaron... you are precious, you truly are. And your mom (whose name is Kelly Kelly... ummm...did anyone else notice that!? That's really too bad!) well, she is also precious. But you also need to go. For a 16 year old, you DO have a good voice... but AGAIN I must say, it is just not good enough for the top 12 "best singers in America". I felt so sad for him when he said "being the next American Idol would be a dream come true" because Aaron, buddy... to be brutally honest here.... you have absolutely ZERO chance of becoming the next American Idol. Sorry... I wish I didn't have to be so brutal with you cuz you're a doll, but it's not gonna happen.

12.) Crystal Bowersox : "You Can't Always Get What You Want" - Well, she's clearly the front runner at this point. No question about that. If it wasn't clear before, the placement of her at the end of the show tonight pretty much solidified that. How many times did Danny or Adam sing last? They were wanting a Danny/Adam final two since the beginning so it is obvious that they are hoping the same for Crystal. Hard to say who else they want there with her, but they want her for sure. She was great tonight. Her rock voice was killer tonight and I really liked her performance. You can tell she's a honest, true musician and she knows what this show is all about. She just wants to sing. She doesn't care about the fame, she just loves to sing. It's effortless and consistent and I really like her. I also really like that she was wearing a peacock earring in honor of Lilly. Just shows that she knows what good singing really is! She'll be around for a long, long time.

Alright, well I really hope I get less annoyed as the season goes on. I don't want to feel such a longing for last season every single week I watch! Maybe that's just the reality of the situation. Maybe I'll just have to push my feelings aside and focus on what we've got to work with. It might be a little hard considering the fact that I almost didn't even want to watch tonight... but I'll try. I promise I will try.

I'm hoping Paige and Aaron are on the outs this week. I'm sure they'll be safe....as a way to further annoy me, but that's what I'm crossing my fingers for!