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…

Now for this year’s action.

Interesting…not a whole lot of drama this year. The drama they’re trying to create is kinda lame. They’re really making Mary Powers (the rocker chick) out to be the villain. The biggest drama was the Big Mike baby thing. Which still makes me kinda mad. He should have been there.

Okay…on to the groups!

Faith (Charity Vance, Ashley Rodriguez, and Michelle Delamor) – Not a fan of Charity, who forgot her lyrics. Ashley’s just okay. Michelle wasn’t really highlighted, so I don’t have an opinion on her.
Verdict: Everyone is in.

Team Awesome (Mike Lynche, Seth Rollins, Tim Urban, and Michael Castro) – They were all decent. Not outstanding, but definitely not bad. And Michael Castro didn’t even get a solo or a lower third. Guess he’s not going through.
Verdict: Mike and Tim through, Seth and Michael out.

Neapolitan (Liz Rooney, Thaddeus Johnson, Jessica Cunningham, and some girl named Paige) – They’re all pretty terrible. And there’s some stupid drama between them and “Destiny’s Wild” because they stole their a cappella idea. Uh oh.
Verdict: All through. Maybe I just hated the song.

Destiny’s Wild (Todrick Hall, Theri, Jareb Liewer, and Siobhan Magnus) – They’re slightly better (although the ending was absolutely awful). I agree with Ellen though that they were very weird. I think it’s the song. Such a terrible song.

The Mighty Rangers (Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose, Mark Labriola, Kimberly Kerbow, and some guy named Danny) – Tory is boring. Maddie is awful. Mark forgot his words and wasn’t good anyway. Kimberly also forgot words and was bad.
Verdict: Tori and Maddie are through, the others are out. Mark cried.

The Phoenix (Ben Honeycutt, Jeff Goldford, Moorea Masa, Jermaine Sellers) – Ben and Jermaine were fantastic. Jeff was okay. Moorea wasn’t good. As a group, they were pretty darn good. The judges were pretty tough on them. Interesting.
Verdict: Jermaine and Jeff are through, Ben and Moorea are out. Wow…I liked Ben. But of course, I love Jermaine, so I’m very happy to finally see him again.

Big Dreams (Matt Lawrence, Amanda Shechtman, and two other guys) – Matt wasn’t awful. Everyone else was. Matt wasn’t good either.
Verdict: All out.

Middle C (Janell Wheeler, Jermaine Purifoy, and Casey James) – They were all pretty good. I like the other Jermaine better.
Verdict: All through.

Three Men and a Baby (Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, J.B. Ahfua, and some other guy) – Andrew was great again, J.B. (a new face) was VERY good. I still don’t like Katie.
Verdict: All through.

The Dreamers (Mary Powers, Hope Johnson, Margo May, Alex Lambert, and some other girl) – That was probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard. Margo was particularly awful.
Verdict: Mary, Hope, and Alex are through. Margo and the other girl are out. Yuck, I thought Hope and Alex were terrible too.

That’s it…71 made it through. No group stood out, and there was no funny drama. I will officially dub this the worst Group Round ever. And I had to stay up until 10 for it too. Gross.

Next week that 71 becomes 24. Tuesday will be the last performances and the whole splitting everyone into rooms thing. Wednesday will be the complete waste of an hour episode where we hear no singing and instead have to watch people walk up to a chair and hear whether or not they made it. BUT THEN…the real show starts. And my game starts! Hooray!

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…