Top 3: Performance Results

By this time next week, the votes will have been cast to determine who is going to be our next American Idol. It seems as though the season just started! I still remember Jasmine Murray singing her off key notes and the judges gushing about her "commercial appeal." Let's back up a bit though, we have a LONG way to go before we find out this season's winner. This week, we find out who our finalists are. I'm predicting that we will see a record number of voters with the competition being so tight. I know that everyone has all but penciled in Adam and Danny into the Finals, but Kris seriously took a risk that might pay off last night. For your listening and viewing pleasure, I am going to add videos of each performance from last night. It was a very good performance night, and I think each of the contestants brought all that they could and laid it out on the stage. Here are my thoughts on how they did.

Danny Gokey - Judge's Pick - Terence Trent D’Arby "Dance Little Sister"



Call me crazy, but I was a somewhat a fan of this song. I dislike Danny, that is nothing new to this forum, but I have to give him props. I was secretly hoping that he would tank, but as soon as he started singing, I thought to myself, "Well F..." Paula did a good job of picking a song that really did rest in the "magical" part of his voice. It was energetic and, oddly enough, I didn't notice the "gyrations." Come on Danny, good Christian guys aren't supposed to gyrate... :-\. Though a good performance, it wasn't anything overwhelmingly spectacular and the fact that it was somewhat obscure might come back to bight him. Solid.

Kris Allen - Judge's Pick - One Republic "Apologize"




Judges...you'd think that with two people who are very experienced in the music industry that they'd be able to choose a better song for Kris. Apparently we all thought wrong. Now, I'm not saying that Kris sang the song poorly. On the contrary, aside from a few off falsetto notes, I thought it was well sung. I think that using the piano was good, but slightly gimmicky, since all he was doing was playing chords. He wasn't trying to play the driving melody at all. Kara's advice that he should have changed the song up more was irrelevant. There is not much that one can do with that song to adapt it into another style. An acoustic guitar on that song would have been pointless because the song revolves around the piano and bass. I think she stole Paula's crackpipe here. One of the things I liked is that when he heard that he wasn't able to do the falsetto as well as he would like, he flipped it back to chest voice and sounded great. I wish he did that the whole song, but I can see why he tried since it is what you think of first when you think of that song. Though well sung (for the most part), I don't think the judges did him any favors with this song choice, but I'm hoping that he doesn't have to pay for their mistakes tonight.

Adam Lambert - Judge's Pick - U2 "One"



How did I know that Simon would get to pick for Adam? His choice was a specially selected song that required band permission to use, U2's "One." This was a good pick for him. I, however, slightly agree with Randy on this one. I liked it, but I didn't really like how he strayed from the melody. The high notes simply didn't fit well with this song. I would have much rather heard him sing it toned down like "Mad World" was. I'm not sure if he feels that he has to oversing every song so that people see how talented he is, but I'm one who believes that simplicity can also show talent. I still think he did better with his judge's song than the others did. It's hard for me to imagine the finals without him, but I hope that his fans did not grow too complacent and assume that he will automatically be there without their votes.

Danny Gokey - His Pick - Joe Cocker "You Are So Beautiful"




After a good first performance, Danny is swinging for the fences on this one and I think he might have connected. This was one of my potential picks, but I went with Josh Groban instead. He sang this song very, very well, but I couldn't take it seriously once it went to the gospel part. I was too distracted by the fact that Danny was sampling R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly!" Listen to it again. It is TOTALLY ripped right off the Space Jam soundtrack. Danny is a great vocalist. I've stated that from the beginning, so he deserves to be here. As for artistry, I think he seriously lacks in comparison to the other 2. Relying on his natural talent alone is not enough at this point in the competition.

Kris Allen - His Pick - Kanye West "Heartless"



This was my favorite performance of the night. Aside from the return of the llama face, I thought that he KILLED this song. I thought that it might turn out to be a disaster when the announced what he was singing, but I was pleasantly surprised. He went with a straight up acoustic version, a la Boyce Avenue (who you should YouTube immediately if you don't know who they are), and shocked everyone. This was extremely daring, and showed his artistry on a level that we've only heard he supposedly did during Hollywood week, which we never saw. I'm a big Kris Allen fan, and where his voice can't measure up to Danny or Adam's, his originality can, and I'm hoping that that is enough to land him a spot in the finals.

Adam Lambert - His Pick - Aerosmith "Cryin'"



When I heard that Adam was doing an Aerosmith song, I was like "FINALLY!" I wasn't as excited when I found out it was "Cryin'." My number one choice for him would have been "Dream On," but Danny ruined anyone's chance of every trying that song again. I think he would have sounded better on "Crazy." The "I need you now..." part would have been baller. But if you can't have the one you want, go with the one you're with. Adam showed that he is fully capable of doing Aerosmith justice. His vocals were pretty stellar and the only thing that I can think of that didn't sound good was the background harmony. What was the sound guy thinking?! She was incredibly loud and horribly off pitch. You could tell that Adam wasn't feeling it either when he yanked out his in-ear monitor. I would have too. He played it off well though and hit some ridiculous notes at the end. The judges said that it would be the biggest shock in the history of American Idol if he didn't get through to the finals, and I'd have to agree with them. More than anyone I've seen on this show, he deserves to be there.

This week is going to be ridiculous for the votes. I have no clue how it is going to go down. It can swing either way really. My bet is that Kris saved himself by doing a very cool version of a very popular song, something that Danny can't claim he did this week. I think that we will see the roommates, Adam and Kris in a head to head battle next week. The confident-theater kid vs. the humble worship leader. However, I wouldn't be shocked if Danny makes it since the judges have been pushing a Danny vs. Adam finale from the beginning. I hope the voters don't let that happen. The two who deserve to be there are Kris and Adam.

Power Rankings:

1. (1) Adam Lambert
2. (4) Kris Allen
3. (2) Danny Gokey

There you have it folks, my predictions for the Elimination show tonight. After it's all said and done, we can still say that we've had the most talented top 4 that we've probably ever seen on this show. What do you all think? Is Danny going home, or are Kris and Adam more at risk? Leave your opinion in the comments!

Your American Idol Junkie,

Billy