American Idol: Top 13 Take the Stage Soon

In a strange twist of fate, last week American Idol made a last-minute decision to add one more person to the Top 12 cast and make it a baker's dozen. That's right, for the first time in history, American Idol will have a top 13 that consists of several amazing singers. What can we expect from the competition this season? I predict that it will be a great competition about a talented group of people.

Jasmine Murray, Megan Corkrey, and Matt Giraud were selected to join the top 12, but at the last second, Simon Cowell shocked everyone by announcing that they were adding the only contestant left on stage, Anoop Desai to the group and making it American Idol's Top 13. This is something that has never happened in all the years that I've watched Idol, but it's also the first time since the earliest seasons that the judges have had any say in the Top 12.

Personally, I think Idol and Fox made the right decision to add both Giraud and Desai to the competition for the American Idol crown. Both are hugely talented and deserving of the spot, as are all of the judges selections. I'm impressed that they didn't select based on appearance and commercial packaging. The Top 13 will take the big stage on March 10th, singing selections from Michael Jackson's song catalog. Will someone take on Billie Jean again this season and try to outdo David Cook's amazing rendition last season? Will the King of Pop himself appear? Who knows.

With so many great songs to choose from, there should be no bad song choices for the contestants in this round of competition. Hopefully no one will try to mimic Jackson or try to do what David Cook did last season, it wouldn't be wise, since everyone has their own style and there aren't many that can match either Jackson or Cook. Tune in and find out Tuesday, March 10th, then again Wednesday March 11th, where it's rumored that Kanye West will be appearing, as will Taylor Hicks, for the first elimination on the road to American Idol.