American Idol: Lucky 7 May Lose Lil Rounds or Matt Giraud After April 14 Show

We're down to lucky 7, folks. Only seven contestants are left on "American Idol" and only two of them are female. According to lead judge Simon Cowell, Allison Irahita is the one to watch, of the girls. "You are the girls' only hope left in this competition at this stage," said Simon. "We could see you go all the way through to the end now."

Allison belted out a rendition of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" from the movie "Armageddon." Only 2 of the judges commented on her rendition (Paula and Simon) because, last week, time ran out on Adam Lambert (which Simon blamed on "the girls.") I have found multiple videos of Allison singing...often in Spanish...on television, and she commands the stage well, just as Adam Lambert does. She was attired, as usual, in a rather unusual ensemble, which included one glove on the right hand (and here I thought that look went out with Michael Jackson), black boots, a long dark top belted over red pants. In other words, odd. But the girl can sing. Within the first three notes, you know you are listening to Allison's throaty biker chick voice, and when you are also looking at her flaming red hair, (which almost looks like straw in its overly processed condition), you know you are looking and listening to someone who is not your average 16-year-old. When she sings, like Joss Stone, she has the sound of a woman three times her age; it's a good sound.

Second up this night of "music from the movies," which was, for some odd reason, mentored by Quentin Tarantino, was Anoop Desai, who sang "Everything I Do, I Do for You," a Bryan Adams song from "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves." He tried the single spotlight approach and was also wearing a strange ensemble that looked like someone had yanked the arms off a perfectly good suit, leaving him with the pinstriped suit shirt, the tie, and a vest-like garment that just looked weird, to me. Randy and Kara did the honors for Anoop. Randy said, "Anoop Dog, you have found your zone the last couple of weeks for me." Kara said, "You've definitely found your place. I felt connected to you. You did a good job." Enough said. I agree.

Third in line was Adam Lambert who sang "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, a song from "Easy Rider." He wore a black leather jacket and gave us his best Elvis sneer. I remember watching Steppenwolf (the group) deliver this song in the not-too-distant past, and watched the lead singer throw the microphone stand around as he sang. It was really good. So was Adam's version, delivered with incredible high notes. Paula said, "The reason that you're shaking up this competition is that fortune rewards the brave and you dare to dance in the path of greatness." (Or words to that effect). Simon found Adam's rendition to be "vocally incredible" but said, "On the downside, I felt like I was watching a rendition of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show.'" Simon went on to say, "That's just my opinion, but I don't think this song will be as popular as the one you sang last week." I disagree with Simon. I hunger to watch Adam rock out on fast tunes like "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," and I'm willing to bet that most of the rest of the country will be equally enthused about Adam's performance this night.

Matt Giraud sang another Bryan Adams song from "Don Juan De Marco." (They might as well have called this night Bryan Adams night, it seemed, at times.) While Quentin Tarantino said, "Awesome. He was great" during practice, Matt was not as great during the actual show on Tuesday night. His high note on the bridge was shaky, but, on the positive side, his last high note was good. Randy critiqued him this way: "It was interesting for me. When you hit the bridge, there were some pitchy places." Kara (the other judge commenting on Matt's performance) said, "When you're gonna' take a song and flip it like that, it's gotta' come out perfect, and it didn't, for me, tonight." I sense impending doom for Matt, potentially.

Danny Gokey came out without glasses, and nobody made one comment about that, although his time with Quentin Tarantino involved him wearing a horrendous pair of glasses with white bows that were bordered with black. Danny sang the theme song from the movie "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie. A harp backed him. Paula commented, "From the opening, I wasn't sure that the key shouldn't have been lowered, but it was a beautiful rendition." Simon, however, compared Danny's performance to David Cook's from last season and said he was "disappointed" in the traditional presentation. He did say that he could sense that Danny had delivered the song with a lot of emotion, however, and, therefore, said, "I congratulate you for that," while not appreciating the traditional way in which Danny had delivered the chestnut.

Kris Allen sang a song that was obscure. I had never heard it before. While he was singing it ("I Don't Know You" was one main lyric) he hit a nice high note with a lovely falsetto and he looked "cute," as the girls would say. Randy's comment: "It never quite caught on for me. It was pitchy from note one, for me." Kara disagreed completely, saying, "For me, it was one of your best moments," and commented on his bravery in selecting "an obscure song." Earlier, Quentin Tarantino had commented on how Kris had actually gone out and watched the movie of his choice and had selected the song from that. Personally, I think Kris will be safe this week. I found the note at the end odd, but I generally enjoyed his performance. (And he is cute.)

Last up this night was Lil Rounds, who took Bette Midler's "The Rose" and rendered it with a Gospel flavor. She looked good, with extensions making her straight black hair longer, and, although there was one spot where she was slightly off-key (the lyric was "too long") it was a single spot in a lovely song. Paula praised her rendition saying, "You could not have sung a more beautiful lyric." Simon, however, said it was "too soft, too middle-of-the-road. You are not the artist we met 7 or 8 weeks ago." At this, Lil spoke up in rebuttal of Simon's constant criticism of her, which has gone on week after week, and earned an "Atta' girl" from Paula, who said, "Don't ever be afraid to say what you feel, Lil."

In conclusion, Matt Giraud could be in trouble this week, and so could Lil Rounds. Last week's bottom two included Anoop Desai, who was only separated from Scott MacIntyre by 30,000 votes, so, even though he did a nice job on Tuesday, this is also a popularity contest and we can't really forget totally about his perilous position last week in predicting fate tomorrow night. Stay tuned to Fox and find out who makes it in to the final six.