Todrick Hall – Since U Been Gone: Now this is what I’m talking about. The best way to succeed on Idol is to sing a song that was originally done by someone of the opposite sex. Now is the singing great? Not really. But this is memorable and original. Okay, the judges think it was a little tooooo original. But people will remember it. And at this stage…that’s what’s important.

Aaron Kelly – Here Comes Goodbye: Was he a country singer before? Or is he going the route of the girls and just sounding like whoever he’s singing? I feel like it’s the latter. More karaoke. And some rough vocals. He sounds nervous. Apparently the judges and I don’t agree tonight.

Jermaine Sellers – Get Here: Someone sang this before. Melissa? Season 5? (I was close…it was in fact Season 5, but it was Kinnik Sky…she did a great job, but was cut before the Top 12.) Yikes. I do NOT like this. I can’t stand falsetto. That was pretty rough.

Tim Urban – Apologize: Kris sang this song. He looks like Jon Peter Lewis. If you’re wondering why I’m doing so many past Idol comparisons, it’s because these performances are too terrible, and I don’t want to listen. So I’m thinking back to past years where good singers actually existed. That was awful. Absolutely awful.

Joe Munoz – You and I Both: Ooo, I like this song. Which is probably a bad thing. Sigh. More shaky karaoke. Sounds very nervous. Really boring performance. Not as bad as the last two though.

Tyler Grady – American Woman: More karaoke. Trying to sound like the original. Another boring performance. With more rough high notes.

Lee Dewyze – Chasing Cars: Starting out promising. Going downhill a bit. There were some rough moments, but that was definitely the best so far. And he has a nice voice. Like a raspy Dave Matthews-y rocker. It’s kinda cool. Hey, Simon agrees with me! Kara and Randy hated it. What do they know.

John Park – God Bless the Child: Mikalah sang this song. They’re not going to like this because it’s old. It wasn’t awful I guess. But it was boring. And forgettable. I actually stopped paying attention for a while. He could be in some trouble.

Mike Lynche – This Love: Ooo..another good tune. Whoa…fast. So fast. It’s not terrible, but it it’s boring again. It’s way too fast for him to really sing it well. He just sounds like he’s rushing through it. I don’t like it at all.

Alex Lambert – Wonderful World: What’s with the mullet? Ugh. I don’t think there’s every been a week of Idol where I’ve hated everyone. This is a really bad start.

Casey James – Heaven: I get the feeling that the judges are going to love this. I think he sounds REALLY nervous and shaky. And he looks about as uncomfortable as Alex, just smiling and staring at the camera. I’m not feeling the emotion. And he’s got a Carmen Rasmusen sheep thing going on. The voice wasn’t awful though. I’m not sure why everyone thinks he’s so good looking. I think he’s kind of ugly.

Andrew Garcia – Sugar We’re Going Down: He is SO GOOD. He needs to win this show. No one even comes close. I have no idea what this song is, but he is making me love it. Awesome. …or not. I guess if I knew the song, I wouldn’t have liked it. That’s why I like not knowing songs.

Overall? Another rough night. I liked Andrew, but I guess I see where the judges are coming from…I don’t really plan on buying it on iTunes. So it wasn’t fantastic. Which means out of 24 people, I didn’t like a single one enough to spend $1.29. Which is very sad. And makes me very concerned. I’m even more concerned that some of my favorites – Todrick, Jermaine, and Mike – had such bad performances. I was encouraged by Lee though. It wasn’t great, but I like his voice a lot. I dunno. I feel like it’s going to be a rough year. I don’t know what it is about this year. I feel like I’m watching Season 1 or 2. Where everything is just so karaoke. I mean…listening to the recap…it’s just so bad. Although I must say that Lee’s performance was the only one I didn’t cringe while listening back to. He sounded like an actual artist. He even sounded better than Andrew. Maybe I’ll pick a new favorite.

Predictions? John is gone. And probably Tim. But just like the girls, any one of the guys could go. Could be Aaron, could be Joe or Alex. Could even be Todrick, Tyler, or Jermaine. Who knows. I’m gonna say John and Tim though.

We find out tomorrow which 4 Idols get the boot. And more importantly…KRIS ALLEN PERFORMS! WOO! And Allison Iraheta (less excited, but I’m sure it’ll be a million times better than the 4 hours of my life I’ve spent on this season’s contestants over the last two days).

Until then…

ANYWHO. I guess we’re announcing the Top 24. So here we go!

Mike Lynche is in! WOOO!! Unanimous decision! YAY!

Didi Benami is in! Yay! I like her too! WOO! 2 for 2!

Katelyn Epperly is in. I don’t really like her though. Oh well. I wasn’t going to like them all.

Shelby Dressel is out. That’s too bad. She wasn’t bad.

Casey James is in! He’s okay. I don’t hate him.

Aaron Kelly is in! Yay! Aw, he’s so cute. I might have to root for a 16 year old this year.

Lee Dewyze is in! Heheh…he just keeps saying shut up. I wish they had showed more of him. He was really good.

Todrick Hall is in! WOO! I’m so excited about the boys this year! Now we just need Jermaine (I think Orlando Jermaine got the boot earlier) and Andrew.

Jessica Furney is out. That’s weird that they’d even show her. They didn’t show her very much in the auditions. Probably just because she’s freaking out right now. Stop your whining. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. PUHLEEZE. Go away. Go away. Go away. Go away. Go away. Why are you still here? Yes, that’s why they showed her.

So 7 people are in the Top 24 so far. I’m not a fan of this splitting the results into two days thing. I like to learn them all at once. Sigh. Oh well. We have 5 of 12 guys and 2 of 12 girls. We learn the rest tomorrow…and then my website gets updated on Thursday! WOO!

Until then…

I’m not sure how I feel about this whole backwards thing they’re doing. Showing us the rooms before the performances? I feel like I missed an episode or something. Is this how they normally do it? I don’t remember.

Angela Martin – Nothing special.

Jermaine Purifory – It was okay, I’ve heard him better. I expect him to make it to the Top 24.

Casey James – I’m still not a huge fan of him. I can’t picture him in the Top 12. Top 24 maybe.

Jermaine Sellers – I liked him better than Jermaine P. Except…he was kind of a jerk to the band. I just went back and discovered that Sellers is the one who auditioned in Boston. I thought I liked the Boston Jermaine better, but I think I’ve leaned towards Orlando Jermaine in Hollywood. Just not in this performance.

Siobhan Magnus – She is very odd looking. I’m not sure what she’s wearing…looks like something from Pretty in Pink. But her singing isn’t awful.

Crystal Bowersox – I really hate that she has dreadlocks. She sounds a lot like Sarah McLachlan in this performance. I can totally picture her at Lillith Fair.

Alex Lambert – This is VERY karaoke. He doesn’t have any stage presence or star power. The only reason people online like him is because his last name is Lambert and his first name begins with an A. Everyone keeps comparing him to Adam. I don’t like Adam at all, but at least he could take charge of the stage.

Mike Lynche – See, now THIS is what I’m talking about. Same song that Alex did, and this is original (but not tooooo original) and well sung. With some presence.

Todrick Hall – Third time on the Jason Mraz song, this one is definitely original…to the point of being a different song. But I really really like it, and I love Todrick. He’s up there with

Thaddeus Johnson – Another Man in the Mirror. Ooo…he’s better than Jermaine. Wow. I don’t remember this guy being this good. Nice job, Thad! I agree with his mother…that performance just put him in the Top 24.

Charity Vance – She sounds old. And boring. I feel like I’ve said this about her before.

Mary Powers – This is actually her worst performance. I thought she was going to make it through, but that one was rough. Very karaoke.

Lloyd Thomas – Another Man in the Mirror. Probably the worst of them.

Hope Johnson – Uh oh. “Home”? Really? Hey, I have a great idea, let me sing a previous Idol farewell song! That can’t possibly have any bad vibes. She wasn’t great, so I think she will be going home…back to the place that she belongs, where your love has always been enough for her. Hehehe.

Shelby Dressel – She has a nice low voice, but her high voice gets a little screamy. Which is strange, because usually Idols have a rough time with the “lower register” as Paula and Randy always say.

Aaron Kelly – Uh oh, forgot his lyrics. But he brought it back, and sang it very well. I’m quite impressed with him actually. Even though he’s young. Forgetting your lyrics isn’t always a nail in your coffin. Carrie forgot her lyrics in Hollywood. It was funny because some girl who got kicked out after that round was like, “I can’t believe that girl made it through…she forgot her words!” Well, “that girl” is doing okay for herself.

Ashley Rodriguez – She has a nice voice. I wasn’t a huge fan of the song/performance, but she has a nice voice.

Lee Dewyze – Hmm..he’s new. He’s good.

Joe Munoz – Another Man in the Mirror. Not good.

Haeley Vaughn – Another I’m Yours. Not good at all. Pretty terrible actually. I hate it. Oh man…the ending was awful.

Janell Wheeler – She has a nice voice. Good performance, good song choice. Stupid Kara…she says “Awesome” after Haeley and “Wrong song” after Janell. I wish she’d go away.

Tori Kelly – I don’t like her.

Lilly Scott – I don’t like her either.

Andrew Garcia – Uh oh…I’m not a fan of this. That’s okay, I think he was good enough all the way through to make it.

Time for some results. I’m interested to see what the other half of the show will include…I hope they aren’t stretching out these results without showing more singing.

Room 1….is through! Including Andrew Garcia, Thad Johnson, Lilly Scott, Mike Lynche, and Katie Stevens.

Room 2…is out. Including Mary Powers, Charity Vance, Lloyd Thomas, and Hope Johnson (I TOLD YOU!).

Room 3…is through (I know, you’re shocked)! Including Aaron Kelly, Janell Wheeler, Ashley Rodriguez, Angela Martin, and Shelby Dressel.

Now the judges will look back at the tapes and whittle that down some more.

Until then…

Jessica Furney – Well she has definitely improved over last year’s audition. I’m not sure I like her, but it’s not every day you see that drastic of a change over the course of a year. I’m impressed.

Amanda Schectman – Boring. And I don’t like her personally either. She’s pretty annoying.

Lee Dewyze – His voice is great, but he should stop humming. That’s not quite as good.

Crystal Bowersox – Great, another dreadlocked person. And another person singing Janis Joplin. Fantastic.

Lacey Brown – I didn’t think it was possible for me to like her less than Megan Corkrey. I figured I’d talk about how she totally deserved to beat her out last year. But…she is equally as bad.

Rachel Hubbard – Boring.

Thaddeus Johnson – Way too many runs and such.

Genesis Moore – Yuck…she sang a Carrie song. Therefore she’s terrible.

Michael Lynche – Uh oh…Unchained Melody. Too many runs. This song shouldn’t be played with ever. And he totally didn’t hit the high note (I guess I don’t know that for sure because I don’t have any musical knowledge at all…but it didn’t sound good).

Didi Benami – I don’t like her voice. She reminds me of a combination of Brooke White and Megan Corkrey. And those are two of the worst people ever. But hey, at least she’s not Carmen Rasmusen. And she’s crying way too much.

Aaron Kelly – Hey, this is the kid I was told to keep an eye on because he’s from around Ithaca. He was pretty good for a 16 year old. I’d root for him. Just not to win.

Hope Johnson – Wow, they really played her up to be fantastic. And she wasn’t. She was really boring. And forgettable. Bleh.

So the audition process is complete. 181 people have made it through to Hollywood. No one really stood out to me this time around. I’m hoping that’s not a bad sign. There were some guys I really liked from Boston. Jermaine? He was good. And the beat-boxer. But I know he won’t win. If Blake couldn’t win, that guy definitely can’t. So I guess I won’t be picking a winner this year. Maybe I’ll figure it out next week.

Over the next two weeks, we’ll whittle the 181 down to 24. And more importantly…Ellen joins the judges AND…GROUP PERFORMANCES! The ultimate reality show (I never consider Idol to be a reality show, but Hollywood week…definitely is). This should be slightly more entertaining than the last 4 weeks and far less entertaining than the following 14.

Until then…