'American Idol' Season 10 Shocker: James Durbin Gets Daughtry'ed

The night started out extremely tame for an "American Idol" elimination show. Ryan Seacrest didn't play up the drama at all. In fact, he seemed completely matter of fact as he introduced the contestants and told us one would leave. Seacrest was a little too matter of fact. I could tell something was brewing. When Lauren Alaina was pronounced safe it appeared to be obvious that Haley Reinhart would be making her "Idol" exit tonight. Ryan Secrest gave nothing away to suggest differently.

You could hear the collective jaws of "American Idol" viewers around the U.S. hit the floor when Haley Reinhart was the second contestant pronounced safely into the top three. This meant one of the favorites was leaving in fourth place. Seacrest deserves an Emmy Award for keeping the shocker secret.

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American Idol Season 10: Good-bye Jacob Lusk & the Final Four Are…

Ryan Seacrest only said we “may” be surprised by the outcome of tonight’s elimination on American Idol. He was wrong, at least for most people I would think. There was not a lot of suspense since even the Vote for the Worst crowd was having a hard time rallying around the wailing Lusk. It came down to Jacob Lusk and Lauren Alaina in the bottom two tonight. The shocker would have been the elimination of Alaina, thankfully that did not happen yet. Jacob Lusk wailed for the last time on the Idol stage tonight in a solo swan song.

After a hideous group performance by the Idol top five, Lady Antebellum took the stage and gave a live performance. It always seems a little odd when a group comes on for no particular reason. They know they are filler so it’s a lackluster performance at best.

‘American Idol’ Season 10: Who Should Be Headed for the Final Four

This week the top five on “American Idol” Season 10 sang songs from “Then & Now.” In other words, one current tune, one oldie-but-goodie. We definitely saw some range from a couple of the finalists. A couple stayed in their safety zones and the last, well, it’s time to go home Jacob.

Scotty McCreery proved himself the one to beat with his double song choices of “Gone” by Montgomery Gentry, and later “Always on My Mind” by Elvis Presley. Both perfectly safe song choices, but Scotty has such a cool country voice he’s fun to hear. Song choice and stage presence have been McCreery’s biggest flaws, if you really want to be picky, and tonight he nailed them both twice.

American Idol 10: Casey Abrams Goes Home for Good This Time

The real shocker of tonight’s American Idol live elimination show was that Haley Reinhart was the first one sent to the top five. The rest would have painfully wait with us, as Ryan Seacrest clumsily stretched 15 minutes worth of material into an hour. It was rough. When the votes were finally revealed, it was Casey Abrams who performed a sexy swan song as he left the Idol stage in sixth place.

Steven Tyler was given props to start the night, for being on the cover of two magazines right now. “I may be good, but when I’m bad I’m better!” Tyler told Seacrest.

Video of Casey's "I Put a Spell on You" below!

American Idol 10: Carole King Week Goes to James Durbin & Scotty McCreery

Tonight the final six contestants on American Idol season 10 sang songs from the library of Carole King. I was afraid it would be a yawn-fest, even though I like most of her songs. It’s not a good genre for these young singers. It was not as bad as I feared. In fact, James Durbin and Scotty McCreery managed to have really good performances, again. Hopefully we’ll get the country vs. rock showdown it looks like we are headed for in the finals.

Just for filler, Idol producers gave us duets tonight too. Yay. So, mixed in with the regular top six performances we saw: Haley Reinhart and Casey Abrams, Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery, Jacob Lusk and a less than thrilled looking James Durbin.

Kenny “Baby Face” Edmonds joined with Jimmy Iovine to mentor the Idol hopefuls. He definitely pointed them in the right direction.

American Idol 10: Stefano Langone Reaches the End of His Idol Road

Only six contestants are left on American Idol 10 after Stefano Langone was eliminated tonight. David Cook and Katy Perry (with Kenye West) appeared live for performances too. After what has come to be the usual suspects in the bottom three, Stefano was finally let go.

The Idol producers are changing things up every week now for the group performances. First Jacob Lusk, Lauren Alaina, Haley Reinhart and Stefano Langone teamed up for a version of “Hey Soul Sister.” It was only okay at best. It’s hard to sound good with so many high voices at one time. Next came Casey Abrams, James Durbin and Scotty McCreery with their group song, Coldplay‘s “Viva La Vida.” It was only slightly better.

American Idol 10: Top 7 Sing Songs of the 21st Century

There were a few F-bombs dropped on the live American Idol stage tonight. They all came from Steven Tyler though, so not really breaking news. The more surprising thing was the lack of train wrecks. This group of Idol hopefuls did well on the whole tonight. There were a couple that raised the bar though, namely James Durbin and Casey Abrams. We also got to see the Idol kids make fun of each other’s habits.

Scotty McCreery - “Swingin’” by Leann Rimes
The other contestants made fun of the way Scotty holds the microphone. He did not pay any attention to them… I wish he would. The T-Rex arms are really getting on my nerves. This was a boring song choice for Scotty and he did little to spice it up. He did walk around the stage more, and brought out his deep tenor, but it was still very boring. I think he has a big enough fan base to keep him safe. If they vote, that is.

American Idol 10: Paul McDonald Goes Home and Then There Were Seven

More likely tonight’s latest eliminated American Idol contestant, Paul McDonald, will be exceptionally busy after his Idol Tour. I don’t see Paul slowing down one bit. In fact I think it would be cool to watch him at his own concert. Either way, Idol was great exposure for his eclectic voice.

The duets were back tonight, and not just for the Idol kids. More on that later. The Idol hopefuls grouped as: Lauren Alaina & Scotty McCreery, Haley Reinhart & Casey Abrams. Then the quartet of guys: Paul McDonald, Jacob Lusk, Stefano Langone and James Durbin. All sounded really good in their groups. Idol producers need to stick with this format.

American Idol 10: James Durbin Revisits Heavy Metal, Casey Brings the Jazz

The night was dedicated to music in the movies this week on American Idol 10, but first… let’s honor Jlo for being named “Most Beautiful Woman in the World” by People Magazine. M’kay, awkward moment while a spotlight falls on JLO and an old recording is played of “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”  The prelude should have been Ryan Seacrest saying, “and now for something completely different.” Finally we got to the music. It was a bit of a sleepy night until the end.

American Idol Shocker: Pia Toscano Eliminated Early

Iggy Pop performed live on American Idol tonightCover of Iggy Pop

It was a weird night from the very beginning of the AI elimination show tonight. Constantine Maroulis slaughtered his performance, not in a good way. Iggy Pop had to be bleeped and camera blocked during his scary performance. Ryan Seacrest promised a shocking elimination, and he was right. Pia Toscano was eliminated from AI season 10, finishing in 9th place.

The group number returned to start the show. That was the first mistake. Singing a medley of rock & roll hits did nothing to help this group of ranging voices. Last week we got to hear duets, it should have stayed that way.

American Idol Season 10: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night for the Top 9

Tonight the American Idol hopefuls took on the library of those inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I think it separated the kids from the adults. The older Idol contestants seemed to dig deeper this week for their songs. The younger ones went with the standards. Nothing really new there though. It seems this group is happy to recreate previous Idol moments. The problem is they always seem to choose the real defining moments of others and leave themselves looking like karaoke fans.

Here’s what happened on rock & roll night on American Idol:

Jacob Lusk: “Man In the Mirror” by Michael Jackson
If Jacob Lusk falls into the bottom three tomorrow night it will likely be due to his comments pre-performance. “If I end up in the bottom three it’s because America wasn’t ready to look at itself in the mirror,” said Lusk. You haven’t won yet Jacob. The performance was okay, at best. He over sang the song again. It was only slightly better than Kris Allen’s performance on Idol season eight (and I only say that because the song writer, Siedah Garrett, joined him onstage. How fair is that?). Actually after re-watching the Kris Allen video it wasn't better at all.

American Idol Season 10 Takes on Elton John

Image via Wikipedia

Not that I’m a fan or anything, but I think I officially know every single Elton John / Bernie Taupin song ever put on vinyl. So I was prepared for some disappointments. It was not a bad night though, on the whole. I wish the American Idol kids would dig a little deeper for the good songs, but maybe they can’t (or just don’t know enough). Here’s how the Elton John night went down on Idol.

Scotty McCreery - “Country Comfort”
I give Scotty credit for digging into the Elton John library a little deeper than the rest. Even though he only chose the song because it had “country” in the title. Shows his youth. He did well, even giving a shout out to his grandma in the audience. The last note was a little off, but he tried to throw the baritone in there for good measure. Like Jacob Lusk and the high notes, you don’t need them every week. I would have liked to heard Scotty sing "Blue Eyes" instead.

American Idol Season 10: James Durbin & Casey Abrams Rock Their Idols

Last night was the first live night of performances on American Idol season 10. It was a little disappointing and the nerves showed up for most of the Idol contestants. There were a few who shined through though. James Durbin continues to impress me, and Casey Abrams is still my front runner to win AI this season. Contestants were to choose a song from their musical idol this week.



Here’s how the first live night went on AI season 10:


Lauren Alaina - Shania Twain “Any Man of Mine”
It was a fun song, but for the first time it felt like a karaoke bar when Lauren Alaina sang. The performance was okay on the whole, but not nearly what I expected from this powerhouse voice.
AI Judges:
Steven Tyler said he wished it had been “a little more kick ass…”
Jlo said the judges wanted to hear Lauren “kick it into a higher gear…”
Randy Jackson agreed that Lauren sang it well, but needed to find a song to “make her shine.”

AI Season 10 Videos: Best Performances So Far

We finally have our Top 13 for American Idol season 10, but they did not necessarily have the best performances of the year so far. A couple of them did, but I think some others stood out during the Hollywood and Vegas auditions as well.

Here are a few of my favorite AI season 10 videos so far:

Jacob Lusk puts his heart and soul into "God Bless the Child" during his solo. Take us to church Jacob! Best solo during auditions ever, I think. 

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American Idol Season 10 Top 12 Guys: Which Five Will Survive?

Finally it's time! The first big full stage performances by the American Idol hopefuls of season 10 started tonight. The top 12 guys took the stage in front a few hundred screaming fans and a huge new stage. It was a night of ups and downs, as usual on Idol. Ryan Seacrest greeted the judges, then gave Steven Tyler his own mouth bubble in case he “saw any ducks”, or in case he were to *bleep* up.

AI season 10 contestants were allowed to choose their song tonight... I always fear for them when the door is left that wide open. It did not bode well for some of the top 12 guys.

Clint Jun Gamboa: “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder

Clint is a karaoke star in his hometown, and like so many other karaoke Idol hopefuls he chose one of the most overdone songs. Yes, it showed off his vocal ability... and Clint Gamboa does have vocal ability. He does not seem to have the heart of a true musician though. He doesn't seem to really have emotion when he sings. He's not compelling to watch, at all. He does sing well though.

Judges: All three judges thought Clint Gamboa was brilliant.