American Idol: Season 8 Jorge Nunez and Jasmine Murray First to Go

It was a busy night on the AI stage as Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson performed live for the screaming audience. American Idol: Season 8 had the first elimination tonight, saying good-bye to Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nunez, and the 'twist' was revealed.

The eliminations were not that shocking. Jasmine Murray has struggled through each live performance. Tonight she had to hold it together and sing for her life. The new 'twist' is that the judges will have one save this season. They can override the vote off for one week only. If and when they use it no one will leave. However, two contestants would leave the following week and there will be no more saves.

So now the AI contestants have to sing for their lives after being told they did not receive enough votes. Ryan Seacrest explained that this was to undo such injustices as: Tamyra Gray, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry and Michael Johns. We shall see. Sadly now the AI hopefuls have to be told 'no' twice.

If there was a surprise tonight it was that Anoop Desai did not go home. Though Jorge Nunez was not much better last night. I think the potential is there for both, but Jorge looked completely overwhelmed last night. Anoop Desai walked down to the center stage before Ryan Seacrest read the results. He must have watched the playback. Simon Cowell had the line of the night last night when Jorge Nunez said, "I wasn't going to sing Michael Jackson 'Bad'" ...Cowell remarked, "I think you just did!"

On to the entertainment. Kanye West has realized the need for the American Idol audience. West left a decent impression with his hit "Heartless". This is a powerful song and Kanye milks every bit of emotion out of it. Hopefully the American Idol contestants learned that you don't have to be the best singer, you do have to be the best performer.

Kelly Clarkson made her return to the American Idol stage that launched her career. I've never been a fan of Kelly's TV performances, but she is a great studio artist. She sang her latest, "My Life Would Suck Without You". She may be heavily promoting the album, but her voice sounded raspy tonight.

So now we are left with the Top 11, they are:
Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, Kris Allen, Matt Giraud, Allison Iraheta, Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Michael Sarver, Anoop Desai and Megan Corkrey.

Check out the American Idol Top 13 stories and videos here.