American Idol Top 12: What is America Thinking?

I admit it, I am an American Idol junkie. I watch it from the very beginning, rude comments and all. I do agree that some of the comments the judges make, mainly (of course) Simon Cowell, go a bit too far. The least they could do is take it easier on the teenagers that obviously have a lack of confidence and social skills already. I particularly enjoy "Hollywood Week". I wish they had have spent more time in Hollywood, than they did on the auditions though.

This year, when they revealed the top 12 females and the top 12 males, I was just a little surprised by some of the choices. All in all though, I felt there was a lot of potential in the top 24.

The men started the competition, but it was the women who blew everyone away the next day by their performances. There was no doubt that in that first week, they were in it to win it. In the outstanding voices though, were a few less than perfect singers. I was not really shocked by the female eliminations, except that I felt Antonella Barba should have packed her bags sooner than this week. Also, I think that Haley Scarnato should have been the one leaving over Sabrina Sloan. Sabrina has an absolutely beautiful singing voice and in my opinion deserved to be in the competition for at least a few more weeks.

When the men started the competition, there were only a few that caught my eye, or should I say ear. I automatically liked Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson, Sundance Head, and Chris Sligh. Blake and Chris Richardson sound very current, which I believe is a huge plus for this competition. Sundance and Chris Sligh have very powerful voices and seem to grab my attention every time they open their mouths. The only one I have really disliked for this competition from the very beginning is Sanjaya Malaker. I have no doubt that he is a sweet kid, but I just feel that he is not meant to be the next American Idol. He does have a decent voice, but over the last few weeks, he has not shined at all. I do not understand why he is still in the competition. Last night's elimination took the cake. It came down to Sundance and Sanjaya to be booted off. When they announced that Sundance was going home, I about fell off my couch and started screaming. Well, actually, I did scream a little bit. Even the judges were completely shocked. Simon made the comment that America must have had their tv's turned down when the men were singing. My guess is that Sanjaya either has a huge family, or a big following at his school and surrounding schools, or both. As they keep saying though, it is a singing competition. People should vote for the ones that can truly sing, not just for people they know or that live near them.

Yes, I will continue to watch American Idol, and will probably continue to scream at the tv. Every week that Sanjaya is still in it, I will probably still threaten to boycott the show. I will probably not vote as much as I should in order to even have these opinions, but I have them none the less. I just hope America gets it right in the end.