Top 5, An Overview: Diamonds In the ROUGH!

Um, again, I'm gonna say, if you want to produce relevant, current, artists in today's pop, altpop, singer songwriter element, why, IN THE NAME OF WAYNE NEWTON, would you make these teens and twenty somethings sing TWO, YES TWO, NEIL DIAMOND songs. Make them sing one ND song and one current top 40 song OR one ND song and one HOT 100 song from the NEW MILLENIUM! SOMETHING! UGH!

Anyhoo, tonight was Nizzle Dizzle night! And, overall, the idols did not do a half bad job picking songs that were good for their range. I think it is fairly obvious why the instrument players make up 4 of the top 5 finalists. They KNOW their vocal range, and have a better idea of what they are comfortable/sound good singing.

A teensy weensy editorial to follow (INDULGE ME!)

I may have a different take than others, and may be over analyzing, but I believe that the Idol Machine has learned from its AI 5 mistakes, and that is why we saw the order of performances we saw tonight. Now, Y’all know I HEART American Idol, but, I think the VERY LAST THING they wanted was to end up with three guys and one girl in the final four. When that last happened in AI 5, they set up a final 4 just ripe for an upset (Taylor, Daughtry, Elliot, Katharine). But, if they end up with 2 guys and 2 girls, AI 7 could very well end up with the David vs. David finale they and WE so much desire. . . Only the second finale in AI history that had the two best performers/vocalists together (Rueben vs. Clay being the other). Therefore, the current night’s lineup was inevitable. In my very humble opinion ((IMVHO), Syesha was the most vulnerable coming in . . . they had to place her in the “pimp spot” to insure she stayed around . . . Castro has a stronger fan base and needed to be first . . . Brooke has a stronger fan base than Syesha but maybe equal to Jason . . . The Idol Machine plays around with three contestants who are NOT going to win this competition so that they can try to get the finale they want. In addition, they pimp Syesha further to try and get her a Broadway career . . . CLEARLY the girl’s venue . . . thus insuring that about six to seven of the 12 idol finalists find careers in the industry . . . thus, keeping the Idol Machine very culturally relevant.

Let's face it . . . whether or not this is the most talented Top 12, it definitely has the potential to be the MOST recorded/contracted group in Idol history. The following have a very nice possibility of finding SOME level of recording success in some area of the industry: Lil David, Rocker David, Brooke White, Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro, Carly Smithson, Michael Johns, Kristy Lee Cook (who'd of thought). . . 8 of 12 could very realistically obtain recording contracts . . .

All that to say, the Idol Machine was very smart tonight . . . I would have bet prior to the performances that Syesha and a Brooke OR Jason would be in the Bottom 2 . . . however, Syesha in the pimp spot and performing adequately very likely means a JASON and a Brooke/David/David in the Bottom 2 . . . and, I think almost guarantees a TWO guy TWO girl final four . . .

Of course, if Brooke or Syesha gets voted out tomorrow, I reserve the right to print a statement that compeltely retracts this post as being inpsired at gun point or by drugs administered by insurgents . . . :)

A set of rankings to follow