American Idol predictions

It’s crunch time on American Idol. The top 24 contestants have been chosen, the guys did their performances two days ago, the girls did their yesterday and today the results come out. Two guys and two girls are going to get the boot. And this will continue for the next couple of weeks until there are only 6 guys and 6 girls left to form the top 12. Of course, if you’re an Idol fan, you would already know all this. If not, you wouldn’t give a hoot about American Idol and you probably wouldn’t want to read the rest of this. So if you fall in the latter category, you can scoot off and do your thing now, coz’ all I’m gonna do right now is hop on the happy Idol bandwagon and talk about my predictions for American Idol this year. Woot woot!

Of course, at this stage it’s too difficult to guess which ONE person is going to win. There are, as always, some really good contestants who all make pretty good runner-ups for the top prize… but there are also plenty others whom you can tell from the first round that they won’t even smell the top 12 positions. Having said that, the competition can still get pretty unpredictable and sometimes contestants who are really crappy somehow manage to scrap through to quite late stages in the competition. Very good example last year: Sanjaya Malakar. What the heck was were the American’s thinking? And what was up with that 7 ponytail Mohawk thingy? Yes, that’s just about the only thing most people remember him for, I would think. And the only reason he managed to scrape all the way to the final 7 (I think) before being booted is that there was this group of people, who aptly named their site ‘Vote for the Worst’, out to ‘sabo‘ American Idol by purposely voting for the worse contestant… and that contestant was Sanjaya. Thankfully, once the contestants dwindle down to a small number, the amount of votes generated by this group of saboteurs isn’t enough to overcome the votes made for the contestants who can ACTUALLY sing…. So unless the whole of America decides they want to ‘sabo’ AI just for fun, the furthest a crappy singer *should* make it to is the final 7 or so. If the Sabo group really goes out this year, the crappiest contestant might even make it to the top 5. I hate to admit it, but it does kind of make the show interesting… especially when Simon vows not to return for the following season if the crappiest singer actually wins American Idol. :P Thank God Sanjaya didn’t win. American Idol would be no fun without Simon around!

So anyhow, enough waffle. Here’s my breakdown on who I predict is sailing through to the top 12, who’s going to get the boot within the next 3 weeks, and who is…. kind of in between. I won’t go into detail about each and every single contestant, coz’ there are only a few that are really worth talking about… so hopefully this will be shorter than I expect it to be. I

Most Likely to Sail Through into Top 12:
1) Jason Castro
For the guys, far as I’m concerned, there was one guy who blew away the competition, and another 2 to watch out for as well. The guy who blew me away was Jason. Had no idea who he was coz’ they didn’t show him at all before during the auditions…but after his performance, I was like “Whoa! Who is THIS guy? He da man!” He was the only contestant who performed and played an instrument, guitar, at the same time while the band played down the music on their part… which for the most part is a very risky thing to do coz’ if there isn’t strong music to cover, the singer has to be REALLY impressive or the song will fall flat. A lesson that was learnt the hard way by Josiah Leming, who was one of the contestants who made it to the final round of Hollywood week, but the judges decided he wasn’t worth the top 24 after he screwed up big time singing ‘Stand by Me’ without any music. I’m glad he got kicked though coz’ I really couldn’t stand the way he sings with a weird British accent and stands like he’s a spastic, so I had no idea why the judges liked him in the first place…. Ahem… Anyway, back to Jason’s performance. He did a risky thing by playing down the music…but I absolutely loved his performance. I had never heard the song he sang before (it was 60’s night, btw) and he doesn’t have a powerful singing voice, but he was totally relaxed and natural on stage and he got me wanting to dance to the music from the first couple of lines. It was a simple but fun performance, and I wouldn’t mind watching his it again and again on YouTube, coz’ it was just THAT good. And I got the link right here for your viewing pleasure. Only thing he needs to improve on is his hair. Someone really needs to tell him that Bob Marley is dead, and dreadlocks are only good for hiding cockroaches and other miscellaneous creepy crawlies.

2) David Hernandez
Another contestant whom they did not show at all before this week, except once during Hollywood week. When I saw him then, I already knew that he would make it to top 24. And his performance… wasn’t incredible or jaw-dropping, but still really, really good. He’s got a fantastic singing voice, a lot of potential, and even though I liked Dreadlock Guy’s first performance much more, I’d say David is the guy more likely to grab the AI crown coz’ he seems to have more charisma… but among all the guys, the one who tops in charisma is…

3) Michael Johns
Simon nailed it on the spot when he said this guy has the charisma of a band’s lead singer. Michael looks like he would do very well fronting a band like INXS or U2. Wouldn’t say his performance is jaw-droppingly great as well… but he will definitely sail through to the top 12.

4) David Archuleta
Hmmm… this guy is interesting coz’ he did sing really well and he’s a cute and likable guy but one thing about him that bugs me is when he takes breaths between lines, it sounds kinda like he’s Darth Vader breathing through a pipe. Apparently he had some tracheal disease when he was young, which is why he sounds likes that… and though I know it’s not fair for me to be bugged by that coz’ he actually is a really good singer… it’s very very hard to ignore the sound when he sings. Still, I think he’s good enough for America to vote into the top 12

5) The last 5 girls who performed
Sorry, I don’t have much to comment on the girls coz’ I’m more biased towards male singers, and also coz’ there’s nothing particularly special to mention about the girls apart from the fact that the good ones can really sing. I always prefer listening to guys... probably coz’ I like rock and rock music is pretty much dominated by the guys. So I’m gonna lump my favourite girls into one big group. Out of the 12 performances last night, only the last few performances made a blip on my radar… and there were by Kady Malloy, Ramiele Malubay, Asia’h Epperson, Syesha Mercado and Carly Smithson. Pics are in the order I named them. :)













These girls will definitely stomp all over the other girls in the competition, and probably will stomp all over the guys when it gets down to the top 12, coz’ they all have really strong voices. For some reason though, Simon didn’t like the performances by Kady and Carly… which I don’t get at all. Usually I agree with most of what he says, but for these 2 girls, I thought he’d gone bonkers. I think they will sail through to the top 12. Asia’h annoyed me a bit during auditions coz’ even though she could sing very well, she tended to do this thing where it sounds like she’s going to lose her voice after every line. Fortunately she didn’t do that this week, so she will sail. But the girl will support is Ramiele, coz’ she’ the only Asian I’ve even seen in the whole American Idol who’s made it so far (I know there was another one in one of the earlier seasons, but I didn’t watch that season) and I’ve always wanted to see an Asian win American Idol…. Just to prove it can be done. :)

Most Likely to Get the Boot Soon:
1) Danny Noriega
Whoever the Sabo group decides to vote for, I really, really, REALLY hope it’s not Danny Noriega. For the first round of singing this week, he did a rendition of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley. Not only did he look like a 10 year old prancing around in his room pretending he’s Elvis, but the way he behaves when he’s not performing is just as, if not more, annoying. He talks and behaves like a typical prissy teenage prom queen… and he’s a guy! It’s just… ewww… Please don’t vote for him, America. I won’t be able to stand seeing him around for one more week. Ick ick ick. Spare me the agony!

2) Garrett Haley
When I saw this guy perform, only one thing came to mind… Hanson. Yes, that teenybopper trio of blond long-haired boys that came out with that infectious ‘Mmmbop’ song… I used to love them when I was a teenager. But they wouldn’t win American Idol in a billion years. And even though Garrett is a sweet and innocent looking guy, he’s not a great singer and I’m pretty sure he will get the boot before we hit the top 12… unless all the Hanson fans decide to go all out to vote for him.

3) Kristy Lee Cook
She was sick during her performance, so she won’t get kicked out this week coz’ of the sympathy votes… but she didn’t sing well, and even though it could be because of her sickness, I suspect it’s just coz’ she’s not that great a singer. She will probably get the boot soon… unless she remains sick for the next 2 weeks and all the sympathy voters go all out to rescue her. Not really an implausible thing with these crazy Americans.

4) Amy Davis
She didn’t sing her song well… she doesn’t have a strong personality. I think most people won’t remember her… so she’ll be off the show in no time.




The Ones Hanging In The Balance:
1) Amanda Overmyer
Also another interesting one to watch… she has a very distinctive voice and she is truly a rocker chick with strong personality. I think she will get into the top 12… but her first performance was really all over the place. I didn’t like it. And if she keeps it up like that, there is a chance she will get the boot. And even though I like most kinds of rock, classic rock is not one of them. So her style doesn't go down well with me.... but probably will with quite a few viewers so she will stay for a while.

2) Jason Yeager
Now this is one dreamy guy… and he can sing pretty well… but he’s not a great singer. I think the girls will swoon over him and vote to keep him in the competition for a while… at least til they realize he’s not that great a singer and they start voting for someone else. I don’t mind if he stays around… always nice to have some eye candy. Kekekeke…. ;)

As for the other contestants, I have trouble remembering what they sang… which means they didn’t make any blip on my radar. So the rest of them are pretty much on the bubble… but still, some are better than others, so if I was to make a big prediction on who will make the top 12 guys and girls, it would be:

1) David Hernandez
2) David Archuleta
3) Jason Castro
4) Michael Johns
5) Jason Yeager
6) Chikeze Eze
7) Amanda Overmyer
8) Kady Malloy
9) Asia’h Epperson
10) Ramiele Malubay
11) Syesha Mercado
12) Carly Smithson

The ones who will get the boot, is of course everyone else:

1) Danny Noriega
2) Garrett Haley
3) Robbie Carrico
4) David Cook
5) Colton Berry
6) Luke Menard
7) Alaina Whitaker
8) Kristy Lee Cook
9) Brooke White
10) Amy Davis
11) Alexandrea Lushington
12) Joanne Borgella

So now I just have to wait another couple of weeks to see how true my prediction will be. I predict it won’t be very accurate and some of the crappier singers will remain while the better ones get voted off coz’ most Americans can’t vote for nuts. How else did Bush manage to hang around in the White House for so long?