2011 American Idol Judges Get it Right

The 2011 American Idol judges certainly have polished up the aging show. New judge additions Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez entered the show amid some criticism-especially pertaining to the loss of judge Simon Cowell. There were those were worried that 2011 American Idol might be the last because the show was fading a bit in the ratings. But now who's laughing?

The 2011 American Idol judges have been phenomenal picking talent. The Top 24 performances were incredible on both the girls and boys sides of the competition. There were so many talented performers that it seemed incredibly hard and emotional for the judges to narrow the competition down to a Final 13 this week.
America voted for the Top 10 and the judges tossed three more singers back into the ring.

I think it's safe to say that this Top 13 is one of the best and most talented groups the show has ever produced. There just aren't that many weak links in the competition. It will be hard to predict from now on which singers will go home. I've written in another article that I think Lauren Alaina will win the 2011 American Idol title. But it truly could go in many directions. Only until we see future performances will we have the information we need to make a better educated guess on who will survive week to week. The competition is that close.

And I think a lot of credit needs to go to the 2011 American Idol judges for placing some of the most talented performers together on the show. Let's just say that I don't believe many of the 2010 American Idol top 10 would have placed on this show. The competition is that much better and the performances have been amazing. It seemed as if the guys would be hard to upstage after their individual performances on Tuesday. But the girls were equally if not more impressive on Wednesday.

Now there are 13 extremely talented individuals remaining thanks to the 2011 American Idol judges. Tyler, Lopez and Randy Jackson were incredibly intelligent when they sorted through the thousands and thousands of singers. My gut feeling is that 3 or 4 of the remaining 13 could potentially be huge stars in their respective genres. Perhaps 2011 American Idol will always be recalled as the one season where the majority of the final 10 landed record deals.

Who will land record deals from American Idol this season? I think Lauren Alaina is a no brainer for a country music deal. Scotty McCreery is also a guy who could end up having music on the radio very soon. Paul McDonald is a Kenny Loggins/Rod Stewart type who is destined to have that opportunity and his music on iTunes is apparently already doing well. Casey Abrams is as talented as anyone that has ever been on American Idol.

Then take your pick. The rest of the cast all has individual opportunities to be successful. I don't think we have ever seen an American Idol yet where the individual live performances have been this good collectively. It's almost as if we're watching a pro league instead of amateurs. If I didn't know better, I would almost guess scouts went out and hand picked some of this talent. It's just that good.

I was disappointed by last season and the overall talent level-although there were some that certainly stood out and were very watchable. This season has completely blown 2010 American Idol away already-and we aren't even into the more interesting performances yet. Kudos to the 2011 American Idol judges for placing such incredible talent on the stage this year. It's definitely made American Idol a can't miss moment each night.