AMERICAN IDOL TOP 7 ELIMINATION: FAN VOTES PUT JANELLE ARTHUR IN THE HOT SEAT
When the night started, I thought tonight’s elimination show would be pretty routine and at the end of the day either Burnell Taylor or Lazaro Arbo would be going home. However, in the biggest surprise of the contest the American Idol fan voters threw us a bit of a curve and added some unexpected drama.
After another informative recap by Jimmy Iovine and some good performances by Carrie Underwood and Casey James, Ryan Seacrest moved to the “Top 3,” results. The first member of the “Top 3,” was Kree Harrison and then Angie Miller. Ok, no surprises, but when Ryan announces that Lazaro Arbo’s is in the ‘Top 3,” all hell breaks loose!
I am totally surprised and so are the judges. Nobody saw that coming. Now it is going to get interesting. This means that at least one of the girls is going to be in the “Bottom 2.” When Ryan announces that Candace Glover and Amber Holcomb are safe, this week’s “Bottom 2”, singers are Burnell Taylor and Janelle Arthur. While Janelle had a small stumble last night, I never imagined she could be in the “Bottom 2”. Looking stunned, Janelle quickly gets good news from Ryan that she is safe. Burnell now has to sing for his life.
Appearing resigned to his fate, Burnell sings an uninspiring version of ‘Ready For Love’, by India Arie. With Mariah Carey crying, it’s obvious that the judges aren’t going to be using their save tonight and Randy confirms the news, “Unfortunately, we aren’t going to use the save tonight. Good luck brother, good luck. We love you man.”
The American Idol fan voters really got it wrong tonight, but at the end of the day the right guy went home. Listed below is my ranking for the six remaining contestants:
Kree Harrison
Angie Miller
Candace Glover
Amber Holcomb
Janelle Arthur
Lazaro Arbos
Last week I felt that Kree Harrison, Angie Miller and Candace Glover had to be considered the “Top 3”, contestants and the favorites for the American Idol crown. After strong performances by all three, nothing has changed. With another good performance this week, Amber Holcomb made a strong bid to gain a spot in that select group. If any of the “Top 3,” girls stumble Amber will be there waiting to take that spot. Janelle Arthur stumbled a little this week, but in my opinion didn’t deserve to be in the “Bottom 2.”
In the biggest surprise of the season the fans put Lazaro Arbos in the “Top 3.” Lazaro is this year’s Sanjaya Malakar and Deandre Brackensick. Good looking young guys that went much further in the contest then their performances warranted. Hopefully that will end this week. Lazaro is clearly the weakest remaining contestant and deserves to go home.
American Idol Odds and Ends
• Over 25 million votes were cast this week.
• None of the judges or Jimmy Iovine had Lazaro Arbo in the “Top 3”. The American Idol fan voters clearly got it wrong this week.
• For the 4th week in a row I am looking for Lazaro to be in the “Bottom 2” next week. Voters have got to remember that this is a singing competition and based on that fact, it is time for Lazaro’s “feel good”, story to end.
• Looking every bit the “heart throb”, Season 9 American Idol contestant Casey James, sang his new song “The Good Life.” His self titled debut album has already produced two “Top 20” singles. He hopes this is going to be the third.
• Looking confident and beautiful, Season 4, American Idol champion Carrie Underwood, performed her brand new single “See You Again.” It’s amazing, since winning less than 8 years ago Carrie has sold over 15 million albums.
• Next week’s performance show theme is rumored to be “The Song I Wish I had Written.”
• Both Kelly Clarkson and Scotty McCreery are scheduled to perform on next week’s results show.
