American Idol: Lil Rounds and Scott MacIntyre Among Finalists, Wildcard Contestants Announced

Tonight on American Idol, results from Group 3 were announced, as well as the lineup for the Wildcard Round, which will be held tomorrow night.

With regard to tonight's episode (Semi-Final 3 Selection Show), there were no real surprises with the selections that the judges made.

Lil Rounds, quite possibly the consensus best performance from Tuesday night, as announced as the first automatic bid to the top 12. Her performance of "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige was a fantastic song selection, as it suited her talent perfectly. Rounds looks to be a serious contender to win it all, even after just one song. In her encore presentation tonight, she still did a stellar job with her performance. Her stage presence and powerful demeanor have been clearly present in the last two episodes.

Scott MacIntyre, a 23 year old out of Scottsdale, Arizona, has to be the most intriguing selection for an automatic bid to the top 12, out of tonight's contestants. MacIntyre, almost completely blind, performed a spot-on performance of "Mandolin Rain." MacIntyre is extremely talented and truly sings from the heart-as the judges said, the guy sings with an incredible amount of heart and passion.

While heart and passion does not always equal longevity in the American Idol competition, it is still an incredibly touching story that MacIntyre will be among the top contestants. I am very excited to see what he can bring to the table from an instrumental standpoint in the future.

The third contestant to receive an automatic big was Jorge Nunez, a 20 year old out of Cidra, Puerto Rico. Nunez is a bit of a wild card in this competition. His performance of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was a strong one. It is hard to characterize what kind of music Nunez will eventually produce.

Nunez had minor pronunciation issues at the beginning of the competition, but they seem to be rectified. Nunez, like MacIntyre, will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks. Song selection could mean more for him than other contestants, as he has a chance to showcase his true musical abilities.

Aside from the results presented tonight, American Idol will hold their Wildcard Round tomorrow night. Which contestants will be participating in the Wildcard Round?

All four of the judges selected a total of eight Wildcard Round participants, who will sing one song tomorrow night for a chance at being included in the final 12 contestants to be the American Idol.

American Idol Wildcard Round Contestants: Name (Hometown listed in parentheses)

Von Smith (Kansas City, Missouri)

Megan Joy Corkrey (Sandy, Utah)

Matt Giraud (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Jesse Langseth (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Jasmine Murray (Starksville, Mississippi)

Ricky Braddy (Nashville, Tennessee)

Tatiana Del Toro (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Anoop Desai (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Sources:
http://www.americanidol.com/