American Idol: Season 8's Top 36, Group 2

I'm not going to bother recapping Ryan's chat with the judges, because they always say the same crap. On to the performances!

Jasmine Murray has been pushed heavily on us by the American Idol producers and judges. She should be a shoo-in for a top spot in the Top 12, at least as a wild card-shouldn't she? She sings "Love Song" by the winsome Sara Bareilles, and it is not a brilliant start. It is not getting any better. I think this is the wrong style for her. It is definitely the wrong song. Randy actually makes sense with his criticism, which is that she shouldn't have tried to add all the frills to a simple song. Kara points out that the lower key of the song didn't suit her. Paula agrees with Randy and Kara. Simon regrets initially being so crazy about her, because she didn't measure up. He thinks she has potential (the word 'commercial' is used an exhaustive amount of times), but she's not ready now. Ryan asks her to defend herself, and she replies that she had a great time, which is what they teach you to say in American Idol Interview School if everything goes balls-up, I guess.

Matt Giraud is the dueling-piano guy who got a decent amount of prior screentime to showcase his blue-eyed soul, and tonight, he's going to try to bring some flava to "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. To my ears, he's rockin' it, although he does seem to be running out of breath a little on some of the lines. He sticks some pretty runs in; I think he sings a good bit like Justin Timberlake. He does seem to be cultivating similar facial hair. Nice job! Kara goes first-she's not feeling it. She wants him to stay in his little box marked "Blues", and thus inaugurates another season of the same bullshit the judges put the performers through, where the poor kids are criticized for straying outside their tiny pigeonholes, then criticized for being "safe" or "not trying" when they stay in them. It's a no-win situation, especially considering that the whole premise of the show is to see how well they do in different genres. Sheesh! Oh, well. Paula says it was "a risky song choice", but that he went for it. Apparently they are still letting the judges listen in on rehearsals, because she said the live performance was better. Simon says he agrees with "the girls", but says the performance verged on horrible, which is not at all what the girls said. The audience calls bullshit by booing heartily. Randy agrees with Simon, but is still pulling for Matt, provided he sings complicated songs.

Jeanine Vailes is gorgeous and apparently awesome and we have not seen a single second of her prior to now, thanks to basket cases like Tatiana del Toro eating up al the available airtime. She sings Maroon 5's "This Love", which seems like a cute song choice for the first three notes, whereupon I notice simultaneously that she is murdering it, and that she is wearing denim shorts with a sparkly blazer. Ugh! Paula says she has good legs and kicks it to Simon. Simon says she sucked, but she does have good legs. Randy thinks she has good legs, and that the best part of the song was when it ended. Kara is in accord with the good legs / crap performance thing. Jeanine starts begging pathetically for another chance. Yep, just let your desperation drip out of our TV sets; that'll get us dialing. Next!

Nick Mitchell (a/k/a Norman Gentle) can sing like whoa, but acts like oh, no. So, will he play it straight tonight, or asshat it up? Um, do you even have to ask? Yet another crazy-ass performance of "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going". Simon prays he does not go on, in defiance of the stinkeye from Nick's parents. Nick responds by acting like a six-year-old. Randy loves some of the vocal passages from Nick's performance. Kara says it was unforgettable, at least, and he wears the same shirt every week, like Simon [burn!]. Paula credits him as a "true performer". This is so sad to me, really. He can sing so well, but he's clearly too insecure to not clown around. I feel bad for him, because he seems like a truly nice person. I hope he learns some things from this experience.

Allison Iraheta looks older than her 16 years, but acts age-appropriate and talks like Miley Cyrus. She can't go 30 seconds without mugging self-consciously, but when she takes the stage to sing Heart's "Alone", she gets serious. Except for a spot or two when her voice doesn't quite make the power note, she does very well indeed. As soon as the music stops, she turns immediately back into a dork, but the judges shower upon her the love that performance deserves. They do call her on the dork factor, though. Fair enough.

Kris Allen-I don't remember his audition, I know they didn't show him in Hollywood, and I don't recognize his face or his name. He's singing "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. He has a lot of the Archuleta going on, from his looks to his uplifting song choice and earnest performing style. And I'm having the same reaction to him that I did to A-Kid: Nice, but so what. Kara found it ho-hum, as well, and blames his song choice. Paula disagrees; she loved it. Simon gets a smooch from Paula by saying he agrees with her. He thinks Kris is not as good as, say, Danny, but it didn't suck. Randy's most pleased that Kris did it without his guitar. Um, whatever.

Megan Corkrey-is this the girl with the tattooed arm? Yes, it is. I really liked her audition, like Alexis, she's a young single mom. She sings "Put Your Records On" by Corrine Bailey Rae. She does a weird little wiggling dance, but she sings with confidence and ain't hard on the eyes, either. She hits one kind of bum note when she gets a little out of control on the belting near the end, but overall she brought it, yo. Paula hearts her. Simon thinks she's "a funny little thing". He really likes her. Randy says she's got the Duffy-Adele-Amy Winehouse vibe, and Kara sees her as the total package. Ryan makes fun of her stupid dance, which she takes good-naturedly.

Matt Breitzke is the welder who is up against Michael Sarver for control of the blue-collar voting bloc. Honestly, I don't think he's a good enough singer to have gotten this far, but we'll see. He's picked a song I hate, "If You Could Only See", by Tonic, but he starts out nicely. However, when the band cranks it up, he stays in his holding pattern. It's not bad, but it's certainly not special. Simon really likes Matt, but it was boring. Matt immediately backtalks that he disagrees. Randy backs up Simon. Kara and Paula are similarly feeling the ennui. Everyone makes sure to tell Matt how much they love him, probably because they fear him, but they maintain a unified front that he was indeed quite boring. Ryan asks him if he gets that. He does not. We have no further time for him.

Jesse Langseth. Yet another single mom, Jesse had to sing against Frankie Jordan (the married mom who sang, and kind of looked like, Amy Winehouse) in the Rococo Chairs of Doom and won, although she was dissed by Simon in the process. She's singing "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. She has one of those nasal-but-soulful voices. I'm not sure if I like it. She does pretty well, although she does do that bullshit move where she turns her head away from the mike between phrases, like Chris Daughtry used to do. I guess she was good, but I wasn't blown away. Same with Randy. She demands specifics from Randy, who responds with something about showing range. Kara appreciated the performance, and Jesse just chats right along like they're hanging out at the pool. Um, shut up and listen, Jesse. Paula says she's cool. Simon says she's forgettable, despite the nice voice. She doesn't backtalk to Simon overmuch, but she does come off like she thinks she's "too cool for school", as Simon puts it. Vote for someone who wants it more, people.

Kai Kalama has nasty-looking hair but is cute, especially as he recounts his embarrassment over squealing like a pigtailed girl when he received his pass to the Top 36. He sings a slightly overwrought version of "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted", which sounds okay if you don't have to look at his tortured facial expressions and crazy Jeri-curl. Kara thinks, meh. Paula likes old songs, but thinks he was a tad pitchy. Simon calls it old-fashioned and corny. He goes right to the wedding / hotel place. He sees Kai as a great backup singer. Randy agrees, and finds it a safe performance. So much for Kai and his expressive hairdo.

Mishavonna Henson-I don't remember her from last year, and she didn't get much screen time this year. She's singing "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. Hey, she's doing a great job with it. She's got very good vocal control, much better than the other contestants. She's getting a special little echo effect on the microphone-is that an unfair advantage? Okay, she's done, now. Damn, that was good! Mr. Canary and I loved it and are completely shocked by the judges, who diss the song choice and call her too old-sounding. The hell? Mishavonna says she gets where they're coming from, but I don't. Vote for this girl, folks! Her outfit is way cute, and she deserved much more love from the judges.

Adam Lambert is gorgeous and can sing. What's not to love? He's been pushed as a favorite, but that didn't work out so well for Miss Jasmine tonight, so I guess the jury's out, eh. He will sing "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones ("my mother's favorite band"-thanks, kid). And he will be singing it in the style of "Jesus Christ, Superstar", apparently. I can't tell whether he's rockin' it or just hamming it up, but there's no doubt he has mad vocal skills. Paula laps it up. Simon is as ambivalent about it as I am. Randy loved it and compares him to bands with similar hairstyles. He likens it to Mick Jagger (which: no). Kara appreciates his vocal range, too. I think he should sing one of those crazy rock-opera songs by Jim Steinman, like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" or "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)".

Who will make it through? Adam for sure, in the male spot. Mishavonna as the top female, if there's any justice in the world. Matt Giraud, Allison Iraheta and Megan Corkrey are the other possibles. Kris Allen, Jesse Langseth, and Matt Breitzke are longshots. Jasmine Murray, Jeanine Vailes and Kai Kalama are going the hell home. Nick Mitchell is a big question mark. The answer depends on how silly the voting public feels. Stay tuned!