American Idol Top 24: Predictions and Analysis

Has anyone else had a hard time getting into this this season of American Idol?  I’m usually all ears, even for the grueling and monotonous auditions, but this year I’ve had a really tough time mustering up even the faintest desire to watch the show.  Having said that, I finally sat down last night and watched all of the episodes I’ve TiVo’d  (I haven’t watched an episode since the premiere) because no matter how mind-numbing the show can be, I love to watch and see if I can guess who’s leaving each week.  As everyone who watched last night knows, 7 people were given the good word that they will be a part of this year’s Top 24.  Based on who we’ve seen, I think I have a pretty clear idea of who’s going to be a part.  And no, I don’t read spoilers.  How lame of me would it be if I read spoilers and then posted my predictions?  Lame to the extreme.

Rick’s Top 24 Prediction

Boys

1. Michael Lynch- Announced last night.  Michael falls more in the “nice guy” category than in the “great singer” category, which is generally good enough to get you a spot towards the top of the “Top 12″ cuts.
2. Casey James- Announced last night.  If American likes him half as much as Kara does, he’ll go far.  He’s a pretty good singer and he seems nice, but I don’t think he’s really got the personality to make an impact.
3. Aaron Kelly- Announced last night.  Yet another year goes by that Simon falsely states “If you forget your words, you’re gone.”  Aaron forgot his words twice over the course of Hollywood Week and still landed in the Top 24.  Not cool, liars.
4. Lee DeWyze- Announced last night.  Sounds like Creed.  I hate Creed.  His take on “You Found Me” sounded like you’d imagine an over-cooked hamburger patty would sing; dry and painfully.
5. Todrick Hall- Announced last night.  Seems like a whole bunch of annoying to me.  I just watched the episodes in brief last night, but I can’t even remember what this guy sounds like.  All I remember is that he’s the capital of annoying.
6. Chris Golightly- This is the guy who grew up an orphan.  His voice is decent, but the producers would NEVER pass up an opportunity to exploit such a backstory.  I’m most confident about this guy.
7. Andrew Garcia- Like Kris Allen last year, Andrew likes to take songs and flip them.  As some have pointed out, he didn’t actually create the version he did of Paula’s “Straight Up,” but it’s not like you hear that song on the radio daily.  Scratch what I said about Chris, I’m most confident about this guy.
8. Alex Lambert- He plays the ukele for goodness sake, that’s pretty neat!  His voice is diferrent and I think it’s something Idol hasn’t really had a market for.  Plus, I think this year we’re seeing the producers focus more on people they plan to keep, rather than wasting time on a bunch of nonsense.  I guess we’ll see for sure tonight.
9. Tim Urban- Honestly, he hasn’t impressed me on iota in any of his performances, but the judges see something there.  I don’t know why they’d give him chance after chance and then not send him through to the Top 24.
10. Jon Park- He’s got an impressive lower register and good control.  We haven’t seen very much of him at all, but his audition was strong.  And honestly the guys just aren’t that good this year (unless they’re keeping a lot of them hidden, which I doubt).
11. Jermaine Sellers- He oversings everything, which Idol loves.  He’ll make it to the Top 24, I’m pretty sure, but I don’t see him lasting much longer.
12. Tyler Grady- I’m grasping for straws here.  There really isn’t a strong group of guys  this year.  Tyler’s pretty much been unseen since his audition, but unless they fill this spot with an unknown I think he’ll be in there.

Girls

1. Didi Benami- Announced last night.  Didi is probably my favorite in the competition as of right now.  She seems like a very nice person and her voice is very unique and just really good.  She reminds me of a much more talented version of Brooke White.
2. Katelyn Epperly- Announced last night.  Her audition was beautiful, but subsequent performance, including “Bubbly,” weren’t terribly impressive. From I’ve seen, I think Katelyn may have a bit of an attitude, which definitely would make for interesting TV.
3. Lilly Scott- Her rendition of “Lullaby of Birdland” was beautiful and she comes across as a very interesting girl. She’s kind of like Didi vocally, as are about 3 other girls, so that makes me wonder if they can all survive this final cut.  I hope so.
4. Janell Wheeler- Up until she sang that Taylor Swift song, Janelle was knocking them out of the park.  That leads me to believe even more that Taylor Swift is the source of all musical evil.  In all seriousness, Janelle is a beautiful girl with an interesting voice, so I’m pretty sure about her.  She might make it out over Lily, though, which I might not necessarily agree with.
5. Ashley Rodriguez- She reminds me a lot of Jordin Sparks, but from what we’ve heard I’ll say she’s better vocally.  I don’t think the producers will pass up an attractive Puerto Rican, either.
6. Angela Martin- This is like her thousandth time to try out and make it to Hollywood, so I’m pulling for her.  I think this may be her time, especially considering her rendition of “American Boy” was the best we’ve heard from her so far.
7. Haeley Vaughn- Her voice is grating, if you ask me, but she’s a cute young girl with an infectious personality.  They’ll keep her around, but she’ll have to do better to make it to the Top 12.
8. Katie Stevens- 100% making it to the Top 24.  I think she’s overrated, but Kara told her she could potentially win, so we can all be assured she’s making at least the Top 24.
9. Siobhan Magnus- She’s got the most edgy name since Ryan Starr, that’s for sure.  After her group’s dreadful attempt at “Bad Romance,” I had written her off.  But her solo perforkmance was one of the most interesting for me, so I hope they keep her around.  If anything, they’ll keep her around just so Ryan can pronounce her name funny.  Sheee-VAHN!
10. Crystal Bowersox- The judges have done nothing but raved over her since the beginning, so I doubt she’s going anywhere.  I don’t know what kind of damage she’ll do when the voting begins because America has a history of voting for anyone BUT the grungey rockers.
11. Tori Kelly- We haven’t seen a lot of her, but I find her to be refreshing and fun.  She’s a cute girl and she’s young, so that’s even more reason to believe the judges and producers have her pegged.
12. I don’t know- I have a feeling this last spot will be someone we haven’t really heard from.  I just can’t think of even more top 24 worthy contenders.

I’d also like to say that both Shelby Dressel and Jessica Furney deserved to be in the Top 24.  I hope they both try out next year.  DO IT FOR ME!

What do you think of this list?  Agree, disagree?  Make you’re own prediction below!  Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to theconservativejournal@gmail.com.  Don’t forget to bookmark The Conservative Journal and sign up for the RSS Feed and the daily e-mail newsletter.

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Thanks for reading!

Rick

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