Top 12 Boys

A2 is convinced, even before we begin tonight, that the men are all crappy this year.  She doesn’t have a single preseason favorite.

Todrick

The man does know how to work a stage.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the rework of the Brittany Spears song as his big breakout, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of singing in it.  Isn’t this a singing competition?  Wait – I forgot.  The music industry isn’t about singing anymore…

Aaron

You can tell he’s super nervous, but he kind of settled in vocally.  He has a great natural talent, but we’ll see how far he can get without maing himself look too stupid.  He obviously has no stage presence.  Perhaps he could attend the DASHM (David Archuleta School of Hand Movements)?  It was one of the better vocals we’ve heard so far.  This is one of those guys that will really benefit from being on this show and having to come and do this week after week.  We’ll just see if he can go the distance.

Oh yeah and BTW, Aaron is one of the few men on American Idol who is actually smaller than Ryan Seacrest.

Jermaine

I liked the effort.  I liked the connection to his song.  The vocals were a little rough in spots and made me cringe three times, though.  I thought it was a good song choice for him.

Tim

This guy is from Duncanville, just south of Dallas, so he’s a local boy.  But he bothers me.  I think it’s his pretty boy hair and his smile.  Oh well, I guess I’ll have to put my personal prejudice aside.  Apologize was completely the wrong song for his vocal ability.  He OBVIOUSLY has no control over the break from his chest voice into his falsetto.

Simon better watch out… Tim’s mammy and pappy probably have a shotgun in the back of the truck and might come after him.

Joe

All I can say is thank goodness for a hispanic brother who isn’t super creepy-deepy like Jorge Nunez from last year.  Glad Joe could represent my people!!  I liked the song for him.  Will it be memorable enough?  Maybe not.  But it had a good vibe.

Tyler

I’m worried about his chin.  He has a huge chin.  I’m not kidding, this kid’s chin is absolutely huge.  He might trip on it.  Or if his jaw comes out of its socket, it might take someone out.

The song was pretty cool, but doesn’t really show any vocal ability on his part.  The arrangement is kickin’ though!  Shout out to the band!  What was he wearing, though, with the purple scarf!  BARF!

Best comment of the night: Simon says it looks like you went to “pretend to be a rockstar school.”  Felt totally put on. Absolutely agree.

Lee

Great start for Lee!  Vocals were really good near the beginning, but kind of fell apart in the middle and just slightly out of tune at the end.  When I look at and listen to him, I keep thinking of David Cook.  I just can’t help myself.

John

I think the nerves got to John tonight, and the song choice didn’t help him at all.  Hmm… his train never quite left the awkward station.

Michael

Pet peeve time.  His lips keep touching the microphone!  GROSS!  I hope he is the ONLY one that uses that microphone.

Other than that, I think his performance was great.  Best of the night so far.  He came out with energy, thrilled the audience, sang the crap out of the song, and left everything he had and could do out on the stage.  By far the most successful total performance of the night.

Alex

OK… the mullet has GOT TO GO!  Someone please pin him down with some shears, PLEASE!  I mean, this mullet thing is worse than the Chin-guy’s wannabe afro.

So I thought that there were some moments of brilliance in the vocals.  It took him a while to get started, but in the middle there were some great things.  Of course, I wasn’t watching the TV, I was watching this screen and just listening.  So I didn’t see the awkwardness that Simon did.  I really hear something good in his voice.

Casey

Wow.  Most memorable performance of the night!  After tonight’s lackluster performances, he has set himself up as the guy to beat.  It looked like he didn’t even believe it in his eyes.

“I know we’re both models.” – Randy Jackson

Andrew

The verse was pretty good, but it kind of came apart in the chorus.  The performance was a little too pedestrian for me, as compared to the original, and for such a violent song as well.