One Fan's American Idol Predictions

Tuesday, March 4th. I will sit and watch yet another show of American Idol. I will sing along with the songs that I enjoy and swoon over my favorite male contestant. My palms will sweat with nervousness when a contestant makes a mistake or does not sing to his full potential. I will smile when Paula offers her sweet words of encouragement and cringe when Simon delivers a crushing blow to the egos of some of the contestants. I will laugh at Randy's terms of endearment and wait anxiously for the phone lines to open so that I can furiously vote my fingers off. From January until May, this is my life on Tuesday nights. My family, annoyed that American Idol is on for yet another season, will usually find something else to do or laugh at my antics and call me a dork. And they're right. I am a dork. I am a thirtysomething raising a family and attending college full time. There are so many better things I could be doing...........

Until my favorite show begins in a few short hours, I am already predicting who will be voted off. I know, I know, we, the viewing audience are supposed to vote based on that night's performances. I can't help myself. Most of fans of this cheezy reality show already have our favorites picked out and have already formed opinions on those that are not our favorites. We don't mean to do this, it's just, well, we like so-and-so from the guys' group and so-and-so from the girls' group. Many watchers may wait until the final 12 have been selected to pick a favorite, and that's okay too. But I'm going to go ahead and make my predictions for this week's four contestants that will be voted off. It doesn't mean I agree or disagree. It's just good old-fashioned gut instinct. Nor will I divulge my favorites. I'm superstitous and I don't want to jinx them.

Ooh, the guys. So talented, so young, so full of potential. My first prediction is such a cutie, too cute for American Idol. He should be in leading roles on the big screen. He has a great set of pipes, too. He is..........Luke Menard. I like him, I really do. But I have a feeling that the rest of America is not as taken by him as I am. My next prediction is David Hernandez. I like him, too and he is vocally gifted. But I think he lacks the charisma that America seeks in their next "Idol."

Now on to the girls. Every single one of them truly are beautiful, talented young women who will hopefully find many doors of opportunity that open up for them after the show. That being said, my first prediction is Amanda Overmeyer. She can certainly sing, but I cannot imagine her as the next American Idol queen. She hasn't really shown us anything other than her deep, bluesy style of crooning and she may come across as rough around the edges to such voters who fell hard for Carrie Underwood. My second female prediction is Syesha. I really like this girl, but, like David Hernandez, I don't see the charisma there that I see in other contestants.

So there it is, my predictions for this week's American Idol cast-offs. But really, who am I to say? I don't work in the music industry nor am I a student of music. I'm just a fan of the show and a music lover to the core with nothing to go on but intuition.