'American Idol': The Top 13's Personal Idols Theme Week

For this season they had honest-to-goodness real mentors, record producers, who helped the Top 13 finalists out on "American Idol" Wednesday night. The theme was selecting a song from each of the Top 13's personal favorite idols. This made for some interesting and not so interesting song choices.

Some of them were odd while others were overdone and a few were outstanding. Unfortunately some of the finalists who had great performances last week did not live up to the expectations, while other came through or stayed the course. These are some of my personal favorite idols this season, others who had good performances and who I predict may go home on the results show.

My Favorite Idols

Casey Abrams - His song choice by his idol, Joe Cocker, was an excellent one. "With A Little Help From My Friends" originally by The Beatles was also covered and became a huge hit for Joe Cocker. I was glad to see Casey not try to copycat his idol's unique vocals and movements. He definitely made it his own. It was a great way to open the show, though he technically went on second.

Pia Toscano - "All By Myself" was originally by Eric Carmen. That is one of my favorite songs, so I was thrilled she was singing it. However, her version would be from her idol, Celine Dion. Pia looked beautiful and her singing was as "spot on" as last week's stellar "I'll Stand By You."

James Durbin - What an interesting change from last week's heavy metal performance of Judas Priest. Durbin's idol is Paul McCartney. He sang "Maybe I'm Amazed", which is another one of my favorite songs. It's never been done on "American Idol." What amazed me was the quality and tone of his voice. In the past all I heard were his wails and rockers screams. He had by far one of the best performances of the entire night.

Naima Adedapo - She was the last to perform and closed out the show with a bang. It was a complete switch up from her two jazz performances. This time Naima was the only one to sing a contemporary song "Umbrella" by her idol, Rihanna. Going all reggae she danced and sang with a vengeance up there. It was almost like watching a professional singer during a results show. Naima had the look, clothes and style that spelt out current and relevant. There was one memorable part where she is about to do a kick and it was in perfect synchronization with a bolt of lightning visual. It was the first time I really noticed a finalist this early in the competition work the stage like a pro.

The Best Performances

Haley Reinhart - I didn't want to like her performance since she beat out Kendra Chantelle for a Top 13 spot. However, I thought she did a very good job with her idol, LeAnn Rimes, song "Blue." The yodeling part was rather interesting and she actually pulled it off. I must confess I loved her blue dress. It looked great on her.

Jacob Lusk - The rapport between him and Ryan was nice when Jacob talked about being a spa concierge. I truly need to go to a spa soon. His idol is R. Kelly and he sang "I Believe I Can Fly" that has been done a lot on Idol. As always, Jacob wore his emotions on his sleeves whenever he sings. There was a gospel choir accompanying him. Talk about getting the royal treatment.

Stefano Langone - Here's a truly likable guy who, like Jacob, sings his heart out. I honestly did not recognize this Stevie Wonder song from his idol. Nevertheless, Stefano was the only one, besides Naima, to work the stage and get the audience going. He really has passion and appreciation when he sings. I'm looking forward to more performances from Stefano.

Scotty McCreery - This guy is taking "American Idol" by storm. His performance of "The River" by his idol, Garth Brooks had the crowd going wild. Wait a minute...I thought his idol was Josh Turner? It is incredible to hear such a rich, deep and mature voice come out of a male teen. Scotty definitely has a unique sound that will make him a recording artist no matter where he places in the competition.

Who is Going Home?

I would have to say it may be Paul McDonald, Ashton Jones or Karen Rodriguez. More than likely Paul will be the one to leave, because the song choice was odd, to say the least. I could hardly understand him at the beginning. He was singing so low it sounded like he was off-key. Apparently the chorus has some profanity in it, but obviously got cleaned up for the show. Like Jennifer Lopez, I had never heard of Ryan Adams. At first I thought Paul McDonald was doing a song by Bryan Adams. They both have the raspy voice.

His stage movements are really strange and not entertaining. Karen Rodriguez needs to cease her fandom of Selena and JLo. Enough is enough already. Unfortunately Karen's song by Selena was difficult at times for her. It was quite disappointing. Ashton was simply forgettable taking on a very obscure Diana Ross song and not adding anything to it that's special. Another candidate for the bottom three, but won't be going home, is Thia Megia.

All she had to do was google the song "Smile" and find out it was not written by Michael Jackson, but from Charlie Chaplin. She had no clue whatsoever who Chaplin was, even when Jimmy Iovine explained who he was to her. At one point she called him "Charlie Chapman." If you want votes from the American public you need to get your facts straight even if you've never heard of the composer of the song you're singing. The results show will feature Season 8's Adam Lambert and P Diddy as the musical guests.

SOURCES:

Jim Cantiello, "'American Idol' Recap: The Top 13 Stun and Stumble", MTV.com

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