The Long Road to the Top 24

We have finally made it to top 24 week, and I have to say that even with the tabloid dramas; the leaked list, Ellen and Simon’s troubles, and someone’s parent causing them to get kicked off the top twelve for breaking the confidentiality agreement, I was not feeling overly wowed by Season 9’s airing of the auditions. Idol spent more time showing me the same clip of the four judges over and over (that one? this girl? loved him. etc.). I am pretty sure this two hours show could have been condensed to one. There was more of Ryan hyping the reveal than actual singing. At the start of the show, the contestants were already divided into their three rooms and Idol, in DRAMATIC fashion, worked backwards through the events of the day. Mostly we just saw cards with pictures of the contestants being shuffled around on the judges table, and they were so soft focused that we could only imagine who we were looking at.

We started our backward journey in room three with Angela Martin. I thought she sounded pretty good, and she had Kara moving in her seat. The judges provided no feedback at all. We then moved on to Jermaine Purifoy, who was in room 2. He chose 'Brick House.' I am not going to lie, I thought it was goofy. We barely scratched the surface of the occupants of this room before we were in room one, where Kara’s heartthrob Casey James was sitting. He tells us he is the only guy singing 'Bubbly.' I really like the bluesy quality of Casey’s voice. He had a strong performance, and as I was looking around this room at all of the favorites, I realized that this room was not going anywhere, no matter how much they might try to fake us out.

Speaking of those in room one, we started with Jermaine Sellers, who was the first of many to tackle 'Man in the Mirror’. What we were allowed to hear sounded pretty good, but then he let the judges know that the band did not follow his arrangement and so the ending was wrong. Kara said what I was thinking, "don't throw the band under the bus," and instantly I didn’t care what happened to Jermaine. Siobhan Magnus was another singer in room one who I wasn’t sure what to think about. I don’t remember her from day one, but on group day while she had a great voice, she appeared to be in agony. The clip of her final performance was impressive. Crystal Bowersox performed ‘If it makes you happy’ and she played both the guitar and the harmonica. She blew me away with “Natural Woman’ on day one of Hollywood week. This girl is amazingly talented and fearless on stage, but somebody is going to have to pay for some laser whitening if she is going to continue. It is like Elliot Yasmine all over again. Alex Lambert came out singing 'I'm Yours,' and while he sang well, he brought nothing original. Michael "Big Mike" Lynch, took on the same song, but he made it memorable with that big personality. Todrick Hall also chose the Jason Mraz song, but tried more of an R&B feel. This is the dancer who made up the song for his audition that was such a crack up. I think this guy is a riot, he should be fine. Thaddeus Johnson has a crazy mom, and started off with the band playing the wrong song for him. He broke everyone up when he said “I;m not Bubbly”. He's also sang 'Man in the Mirror,' and his huge voice brought down the house.

Now let’s go over to room 2. I instantly refered to this room as the ones going home before I ever saw one clip. But that wasn’t Charity Vance’s fault. I loved this girl’s unique voice, but her final performance was not charismatic. Tasha Layton did a fantastic job on day 1, but we don't get to see her final performance. She was the pastor that Kara questioned during the audition process as to whether or not she could do everything she wanted to do well. Nobody would ask a man that question. I’m just saying. Now we go to the other reason I think this room is doomed, as the camera focused on Mary Powers, the obnoxious overconfident one. She impressed me on day one with her take on a Pink song, but the constant replaying of her behavior during group week has driven me crazy. Seacrest asked her about her confidence before she sang her final song and she actually referred to it "cake," which made her even less likeable if that was possible. She tried to sass her way through a Katy Perry song, and it was not a good fit. Lloyd Thomas was an emotional mess because he was missing his wife and kiddos. He sang 'Man in the Mirror', and unfortunately it had already been done much more successfully by about three other people. Hope Johnson, the skinny little thing that grew up in poverty had been pretty consistent this week, but the final performance failed to reveal any star potential.

This brought us to room three, finally. Shelby Dressel managed to get through 'More Than a Feeling,' despite botching the lyrics during rehearsal. Aaron Kelly, the youngster who was taken from his parents and raised by an aunt was darling in a David Archuleta way, but he forgot his lyrics to "Angel". Randy threw a word out there in mercy and he managed to grab it and finish, but it was hard to tell what this would do to his chances. Ashley Rodriguez was also present in room three, and after letting us have a peak at her final audition I wasn’t sure what they would do with this girl. She was really entertaining. Lee DeWyze sounded totally at home on that stage, and I enjoyed the shot we got of his final performance. Joe Munoz also had a decent final showing. Haeley Vaughn has been an early judge favorite, and after I spot her in this room I am even more convinced of my first impression, that room two is the one in trouble. Janell Wheeler had all but lost her voice and made a poor selection with Taylor Swift song “Romeo and Juliet”. She sang well early on, but Kara instantly said “wrong song” as she finished, so she is a question mark.
Finally the judges made their way to room 1, where we saw Tori Kelly, Lilly Scott and Andrew Garcia, who are all fabulous singers. Ellen was not even close to convincing when she tried to make them think they were going home. They finally let the room celebrate the fact that they were safe.

The visit to room 2 was brief and predictable. Simon wasted no time telling them they are going home. The only one that broke my heart was Hope.

So now we the viewers knew that room three was fine, all this extra drama at this point seemed silly.

The deal for season 9 is that they would take a walk to the stage (hey Nigel-are you borrowing from your other successful reality tv show?) and have the news delivered to them one at a time. It took so darn long that we only got to see 9 of the 47 get their results. We will have to turn in tomorrow night to see the rest of our top 24-but for now here are the 7 selected.
• Michael Lynch: In (Big Mike)
• Didi Benami: In (Did Kara’s song-‘Terrified’)
• Katelyn Epperly: In (young girl whose dad left the family)
• Shelby Dressel: Out (sang “More than a Feeling”)
• Casey James: In (are you kidding me-you know who this one is)
• Aaron Kelly: In (young boy who forgot his lyrics)
• Lee DeWyze: In (from room 3)
• Todrick Hall: In (funny guy)
• Jessica Furney: Out (not memorable until the end-they let her go on way too long).
Tune in tonight…..