American Idol Season 12 Top Ten - Idol Winners Night

Finally, a good theme! That was really cool to see. And it's great to have Jimmy back on TV again. Now if only there were more good performances...


Curtis Finch, Jr. - I Believe, Fantasia Barrino - That jacket was unbelievable....so incredibly loud. His song was forgettable, but pleasant. He needs to open his eyes when singing. I don't really like him, he's too self-important and showy.

Janelle Arthur - Gone, Montgomery Gentry, covered by Scotty McCreery - I don't know what to think about her....she's such a hick... Sounds kind of good, but it's from a long time ago, not really current on radio nowadays. A poor imitation of Skylar Laine. This is not a girl's song at all, but she was okay. She is now a Marshmallow Cottonmouth...

Randy: "It just stayed there, didn't go anyplace." Please, no Janelle ballads, Mariah. That'd age her even more than she already has...

Devin Velez - Temporary Home, Carrie Underwood - Love this song, but you can't chop it up. His suit jacket looked weird, scratchy and uncomfortable. It seemed like it was going to be an okayish performance, but SO BORING....and his voice wasn't very good at all. Very painful to witness.

Keith: "It wasn't one of your better performances, you seemed to have no confidence tonight, and it showed."

Angie Miller - I Surrender, Celine Dion, covered by Kelly Clarkson - Very nice opening. Was that dress made of leather? It was strange. Her hair and teeth and stuff are distracting. Kind of reminded me of something from a parody of AI instead of something actually on the real show. She did well, that might could be played on the radio from time to time.

Paul Jolley - Amazed, Lonestar, covered by Scotty McCreery - He is ANNOYING. Jimmy was right on about oversinging all the time. It's a great song, but... It was good mechanically, but...that's all there was to it. Authenicity, the heart behind the story, was utterly absent. No heart at all. He's a male version of Lauren Alaina. (Gah!)

Nicki: "You have this uncanny ability to pick songs that I like just as a regular human being." All four get Fs on this grading test.

Candice Glover - I Have Nothing, Benny King, covered by Jordin Sparks - I had to think really hard for a while on this commercial break before I remembered who she was. She's just there, no appealing qualities whatever. Her sleeves looked like somebody'd started tearing them and then decided to stop halfway through. Hate this song. The performance was extremely angry and frightening, and she reminded me of Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
Nicki: "It would be in everyone's best interest to ban that song forever. You just...kind of destroyed it, and I don't want to ever hear it again." I agree completely with what she said. I disagree totally with what she meant.

Lazaro Arbos - Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson - GOOD song. Jimmy gave him good advice, "Practice, practice, practice! And pick good songs." He didn't seem to be entirely sure of the lyrics, but it was great. My TV's speakers are kinda starting to wear out, so there was a lot of static, but what I heard was fantastic, best of the night. He looked like Ricky Ricardo, and then Nicki says exactly the same thing. Agreed with Keith, disagreed with Nicki and Randy, and if Mariah had actually said anything, I probably would've disagreed with her, too.

Kree Harrison - Cryin', Laura Oberfeld, covered by Carrie Underwood - She's so very plain. And singing Carrie doesn't help at all. It was homemade-production good, not Idol-worthy at all. Nicki stole the night by launching into a detailed recipe for waffles, and Keith jumped in by checking her cup for catnip.

Burnell Taylor - Flying Without Wings, Ruben Studdard - Nice guy, but doesn't really stand out in any way except looking dorky. He's eccentric, kind of quirky. It was a dull pleasant ballad for most of the way, but it was PITCHY!!!

Amber Holcomb - A Moment Like This, Kelly Clarkson - TML! And her dress looked like an aincient Greek goddess, if the Puritans had approved of drawing, and if those Puritan artists could have drawn Greek deities. As for the performance - No. Fell flat somewhere, in some very obvious-but-impossible-to-define place. Lacking heart, and she was smiling way too much.

Keith looked odd trying to roll those suit-jacket sleeves up, so did some other guy. His T-shirt was cool, though.

Ryan's suit shrunk somewhere.

Randy looked kind of normal, very plain for him.

Nicki's shades...WOW!!... Once you got over the shock value, though, it sort of worked.

I'm glad Jimmy's back.

The judges' expressions as Ryan was introducing Candice....they were hysterical. Keith and Nicki were whispering conspiratorially nearest the camera, Randy and Mariah scowling at them in disapproval, and then Mariah gives this disgusted huff and glares at the roof, and all the while Ryan's just calmly ignoring everyone and doing his thing...

We only heard Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie, Jordin and Scotty songs, not David Cook or Kris or Phillip...that was a little disappointing. Nobody really cares that  no one did anything by Taylor Hicks or Lee DeWyze, cause it's hard to remember they even won.

My Rankings of last night -

1 - Lazaro

2 - Angie

3 - Kree

4 - Burnell

5 - Janelle

6 - Devin

7 - Curtis

8 - Amber

9 - Paul

10 - Candice.