American Idol: And so it begins.

Ok, so I’m going to recap American Idol this year with my thoughts. Whether or not you care to read, it’s your decision. It doesn’t really matter anyway since only about 3 people read this anymore. But here goes.

Shockingly, I almost always agree with Simon. Must be that great music sense I’ve got :) . I think Paula just parrots back whatever Randy says. So I don’t really tend to listen to her at all.

Rudy Cardenas
Eh. He starts the show out, and in my opinion, is not at the level he should be at. He’s rubbed me wrong from day 1, and I can’t really get invested in him.

Brandon Rogers
I like him. I like the fact that he’s paid his dues as a backup singer. Wasn’t my favorite performance tonight, but after seeing the recap at the end, it’s obvious he did a lot better tonight than most of these dudes.

Sundance Head
Even before the judges comments, I thought to myself that he wasn’t in tune the entire song. Actually, my cat, who is a great judge of music, had his ears penned back every time he tried to hit one note in the chorus. (As a sidenote, my cat really and truly recognizes horrible music. During the early rounds, any time someone was way off key or couldn’t sing at all, he gets all spazzy and pins his ears back and looks around the room. It’s quite funny really.) I think his uniqueness has got him this far, and hope that he doesn’t unfairly scrape by based on the amount screen time he got early on. Definitely the worst performance of the night.

Paul Kim
I’m over the bare feet thing. I didn’t like him early on, and my opinion didn’t much change tonight. Not even anything to say about him.

Chris Richardson
When they showed him making the top 24, I thought, “who is this guy?” He’s got pretty eyes. I just don’t think he sings very well.

Nick Pedro
I want to root for him. The fact that he knew enough to bow out last year instead of flat out pursuing when not ready for it made me respect him a bit. But didn’t care for it tonight.

Blake Lewis
I was really starting to hate the beat-boxing and thought he was a one trick pony. I was prepared to hate on him throughout the whole competition for it. But dang. The boy rocked that song. I adore that he chose a Keane song. Something unique. Glad to see that he can sing.

Sanjaya Malakar
Ok, he looks so young. He was a much better performer tonight than I thought he would be. He seemed so shy the early rounds. And he’s got a good voice. Since most of these guys are older, he’s going to get the teeny-bopper vote. It was boring though.

Chris Sligh
I’m a softie for funny boys. He’s got a great personality and that’s going to get him far. The fact that he’s a great performer will get him even farther. I didn’t like the song choice tonight, but it was a good show. This was the one major time I disagreed with Simon.

Jared Cotter
Decent voice. But he blends in for me. Nothing outstanding about him. He kinda seems too pretty boy for me.

AJ Tabaldo
I didn’t like him throughout the early rounds. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, he’s tried out 5 times before. Maybe that should have told him something. That said, I liked him tonight. I feel like he turned off the smarmy and gave a unique performance.

Phil Stacey
Ok, we get it. He missed the birth of his daughter to audition. I think he’s decent, but tonight something was off about his tone. I disagree that this was the best performance of the night. I think his early exposure on the show will get him a good fan base.

Overall, I’m unimpressed by the boys. I think that no one stands out as extremely talented. Which means that the top 6 boys will be determined by fan base, ergo, who got the most exposure in the early rounds. My prediction is that the top 6 will be: Blake Lewis, Brandon Rogers, Chris Sligh, Phil Stacey, AJ Tibaldo, and either Sanjaya Malakar or Chris Richardson.

(Edited prior to elims on Thursday because I can't seem to keep Nick Pedro and AJ Tibaldo straight. Both tried out previously and have Spanish sounding names. I had Nick here and after a re-read realized it was supposed to be AJ. Oye. May not sound like much to you, but as a person who gets swept up in March Madness and the like, I love to keep track of how I do at predictions.)

The two out tonight: Paul Kim and Rudy Cardenas. I’ll check DialIdol later to see if America is agreeing with me.