Hollywood Week Round 3...and our TOP 24!

Well, the wait is over. We have reached the long awaited revelation of the top 24 American Idol contestants! These are the top 12 guys and top 12 gals that have survived the audition process and will compete against each other on the live performance episodes from this point on.

After a grueling Hollywood Week, the contestants were looking just as exhausted and emotionally frazzled as ever. There were tears of joy, tears of sorrow, and one smart-mouth sassafras that showed her true colors when the news was broke to her. Though less drama went down this year than in years past, this year was no exception to the norm, including a surprisingly unmentioned change in the lineup at the last minute! More on that later!

So without further ado, here are our top 24 finalists!

Girls:

Ashley Rodriguez

I have been pulling for Ashley from the get-go. She's talented, she's gorgeous, and she has this quiet confidence about her that really comes out in her performances. Though she hasn't had as much screen time as some of the other contestants, she has been extremely consistent from what I've seen. She's impressed the judges and has already been labeled Votefortheworst.com 's front runner (the person that they think everyone else will vote for, not the person that THEY vote for to sabotage the show). She has the perfect balance of marketability, charm and skill and I think that she has a shot to go far.

Crystal Bowersox

As I stated in a previous post, Crystal has that little something about her. I don't know if it's her personality, her son, her talent, or what, but there is just something extremely genuine about this girl. She is cool, calm, and extremely talented and showed that throughout Hollywood week. She does need to do something really memorable in this first live performance, because she needs to go from being known as "the girl with the pirate teeth" to "that girl all the others need to catch."

Didi Benami

Didi is in most front-runner talks right now after a solid Hollywood week where she wowed the judges with her rendition of Kara Dioguardi's "Terrified." She seems like she has the whole singer-songwriter vibe to her and people usually like that. If she can bust out some dynamic vocals in the coming weeks, she can solidify a position in the top 12. I'm not sure if her voice is made for that, though. If not, she has to play it smart to keep up with those girls who have bigger voices than her.

Haeley Vaughn

Haeley is unique. I don't remember ever seeing a 16 year old, black, country singer in the competition before. It should be interesting to see how she approaches her songs. She has a big voice, but it's not the greatest. She has moments where her voice can blow you out of the chair with how strong it is, but other times where it's weak and awkward. She will have to improve on her consistency if she wants to make it very far. I'm not sure how many people can relate to her right now.

Janell Wheeler

Janell, the rumored ex-girlfriend of do-gooder Florida QB Tim Tebow, is interesting to me. She doesn't have the strongest voice by any means, but I think that she is not without talent. Her version of "American Boy" was rather good, even if it was played down and didn't really show us anything about her skill level. In her last performance, she pulled a Taylor Swift on one of Taylor's own songs, "Love Story" and was left thinking that she wouldn't advance. Luckily for her, she has the look that the judges like and I think they gave her another chance based on that. She has some serious ground to cover if she wants to become a contender.

Katelyn Epperly

Katelyn is the one girl that I was wondering why the judges let her through. She didn't impress me one single time in her auditions. Her voice is ok, but she shouldn't have made it through over Angela Martin, who was clearly better than her and wanted it more. She's cute and all, but I don't know if that will be enough to save her from the first round of eliminations.

Katie Stevens

Katie Stevens is another in the front-runner status. In a year that many believe will crown a female winner (since the past 3 have been male), Katie has a legit shot of making it happen. I have been very impressed with the quality of her voice. She has a nice, warm tone, a little bit of soul, and the confidence of someone much older than she is. As I stated before, everything that I've seen from her has been good, but safe. I need to see her ball out on something before I'm totally sold. She should have no problem reaching the top 12.

Lacey Brown

Lacey is no stranger to this show. Last year, she made the top 50 and narrowly missed the top 36 to Megan Joy Corkery. I bet the judges were wishing they had picked her over Megan after the horrible performances the bird-girl put up last year. I think they got it right this go-round. She has a unique voice, much like Megan's, but seems to have a better idea of pitch, tone, support, you know...a better idea of singing as a whole. I don't think she has a shot to win, but she can be a breath of fresh air on the show.

Lilly Scott

Kara called it. Everything about Lilly is refreshing. She knows exactly who she is as an artist and is going to play to those strengths that separate her from the others. True, she can't out-sing everyone on that stage, but her unique style will win over plenty of fans irregardless. I think that she will do well.

Michelle Delamor

We don't know much about Michelle. Whenever they showed her, they never showed her singing. She could be a baller or she could be fodder, I don't know. She is going to live in Ashley Rodriguez's shadow on the show, much like she did in the clips from Hollywood week. I'm hoping that she's good, but something tells me otherwise.

Paige Miles

Paige is yet another girl that we don't know that much about. They showed a brief clip and she appeared to have a voice, but her lack of airtime might come back to hurt her. I don't see her being able to take over the country like Kris Allen did, but if she could, she'd be the ultimate dark horse this season. My guess is that she'll be gone after the first elimination.

Siobhan Magnus

Siobhan (pronounced like Shavon, but with a B) can sing. This is the girl that I mentioned as one of the standouts in Destiny's Wild, one of the groups that performed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." She has a great range, power, and a cool gritty quality about her voice. I think that people are going to like her once they hear more of her voice and that could help her gain some momentum.

Guys:

Aaron Kelly

Aaron is the 16 year old kid who sang Miley Cyrus in his first audition (strike 1), forgot his lyrics during group round (strike 2) and during his final audition (strike 3). On a show that threatens to send people home at the first sign of a missed lyric, their bark is worse than their bite, since we've seen this happen several seasons in a row. Aaron is a fair at best singer, and he is first in the running to be sponsored by votefortheworst. The mom's will like him and I think that he will go further than he should, but then again, I don't think he should have made it this far.

Alex Lambert

Well, there is another A. Lambert on the show this year, but don't expect me to pull for him like I did the previous. This guy is total fodder. All he can do is play a ukulele and sing Jason Mraz. What happens on techno night? Is he going to sing "I'm Yours" with a Euro-beat behind him? He wasn't featured much, except for about how bad he was doing in group round, so I don't expect him to wow anyone, or stay past the first week.

Andrew Garcia

Andrew is the clear front-runner among the guys, and maybe on the show, right now. He has a cool R&B/acoustic vibe and has some real chops vocally. He's incredibly humble and it's hard to not like him. He may remind you of Danny Gokey, but I doubt we'll see anywhere near the same amount of cheese exuding from this guy like we did from Gokey. With the best song of the season already under his belt, he is the guy to beat.

Casey James

Perhaps the most shown contestant over the audition process, Casey has both impressed me and not lived up to the hype. He is being pimped out by the producers, but for the wrong reasons. They are talking about his looks, and I'd rather him get noticed for his musicianship. He is a great guitar player and a pretty good blues singer. He has the total package for the guys and I think that he has built up a pretty strong fan base so far. Not to mention, Kara wants his body, so they will keep him around for the Paula-esque scandal that will undoubtedly happen.

Jermaine Sellers

Jermaine was portrayed as a diva on the show because he threw the band under the bus. But really, who wouldn't have pointed that out if they screwed you over. You don't want to look like a prick, but you also don't want the judges thinking that you messed something up. I would have done the same thing. I saw Jermaine while in line at my auditions. There was a group singing Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and they were doing their best (which wasn't that good). He was walking by, cut off everyone else and KILLED a line, all while continuing his stride and never stopping. They all just stopped singing, embarrassed that he had just showed them up like that. I hope that he can bring that to the table on Idol.

Joe Munoz

Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of Joe that I could put up here, but that just sums up how his run on Idol has been so far. We don't know who he is and we don't know how well he can sing. So, yea, I don't really have too much to say about him.

John Park

I might be the only one who thinks this, but John Park looks like an Asian-guy version of Julia Stiles. Aside from that, John can sing very well. We didn't see him except for his initial audition, but he has a nice baritone voice, something that we don't really see much of on a show riddled with tenors. I think he'll be able to add another dynamic to the show and give it some diversity.

Lee Dewyze

Lee is another one of the guys that I think went a little further than he should have. This just proves my point that Idol is pushing for a woman to win. Lee has a decent voice, but he's no where near hard enough to merit the token "rocker" title. Hopefully he can prove me wrong, because there is a need for someone like him on the show, but the talent just isn't there from what I've seen.

Michael Lynch

Big Mike Lynch is a character. It looks like the rumors of him being kicked off the show were just that, and it's a good thing too. He has some definite skill and has a great personality. Everyone seems to like him and he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously. He goes out there and does what he loves to do: sing. That's what this show is all about. I predict that will go far.

Tim Urban

Tim Urban was one of the guys that we saw here and there, never sounding phenomenal, but never bad either. Tim enters this portion of the competition on the wave of a little controversy. He is the alternate called to replace Chris Golightly, the light-skinned, curly blond haired guy, who was disqualified due to a contract that wasn't quite expired when he auditioned for Idol. Chris was featured in all the group shots at the end of Wednesdays episode, but when they were introducing the finalists individually, they showed Tim instead. I think that Tim will get a lot of teeny-bopper, Jonas Brother fan votes and that he will ultimately do better than Chris would have.

Todrick Hall

Todrick is the guy who performed alongside Fantasia in the Broadway production "The Color Purple." He may not have any vocal experience (which he is all too quick to keep bringing up), but he still has a lot of stage and dance experience, and I think that will help him. If you can entertain an audience, they are more likely to forgive any vocal slip-ups that might occur. He's good, and I only expect him to get better as the show progresses, but he can't be considered a front-runner at this stage in the game.

Tyler Grady

Tyler is the guy who channels his inner Mick Jagger every time he sings. Complete with excentric moves and retro performing style, he is definitely different from the other guys. I am not sure if that is different in a good way or bad. I haven't been overly impressed with anything from him thus far, but he might be able to bring some of that 70's charisma back to the stage and put on an entertaining show.

Well there you have it folks! There are your top 24! All in all, it is a pretty good crop. Some of the guys that were cut (Brian- the singing cop and Thaddeus- the crying guy who looks like a big cartoon) should have made it over the likes of Alex Lambert or Aaron Kelly, and some of the girls who were cut (Angela Martin- who tried out 3 times) should have made it over ordinary talent like Katelyn Epperly. But that is how the show goes I guess. We are all helpless at the hands of the judges...until now. The voting portion of the show begins next.

The format this year is different than how they did things last year, but not unfamiliar from seasons past. Last year, they had a Top 36, split them into 3 groups of 12 and allowed those groups to battle it out. Only 3 contestants would move into the top 12 from each group. Then after those 9 were selected, there was a wild card round where the judges were able to pick who they thought deserved a second chance. This made me feel that too much pressure was put on this first performance. The probability of NOT making it through to the top 12 right out of the first performance (not taking into account the Wild Card round) was 75%. The odds of them failing was too high and I think the producers realized this. This year, they are going to have it where the top 12 girls perform on Tuesday, the top 12 guys perform on Wednesday, and the results show will air on Thursday, showing which 2 girls and which 2 guys are eliminated. This will allow us as the voters to see more performances from the contestants before deciding who should ultimately make it into the top 12 and compete head-to-head.

That's all I've got today, guys. Do you think the judges got it right? Did anyone not get through who you thought should have? Who are your picks for the win as they stand right now? I want to know your thoughts.

Until next time...

Your American Idol Junkie,

Billy