ai fever 7th time around

american idol is back and this season boasts probably the strongest field ever. selle and i are music lovers hence, avid followers of the show and it is not surprising that wednesday and thursday nights (even friday nights prior to the top 12) are american idol nights on our tv set. 🙂

going into the top 24, one of our favorite contestants, josiah, failed to make it. he was young and he had that unique english rock sound going on. he also had an interesting background as he has been living in his car for months now. he had the talent and a story to boot but yet he didn’t make it to the top 24. bummer.

going into the top 12, a couple of strong contenders also didn’t make the cut. kady malloy, the britney spears impersonator, had such talent but poor song choices led to her being cut. alaina whitaker, on the other hand, had the voice (and an interesting personality too) but sadly she didn’t have enough fans to push her through.

so now we’re into the top 12.



actually, top 11 na lang sila kasi kaka-eliminate lang ni david hernandez this week. just goes to show how much the depth of talent there is this year with the first person being eliminated happens to be an incredibly talented singer. his rendition of papa was a rolling stone during the top 24 elimination rounds was, as randy jackson would say, doped. 🙂

anyway, with selle and i nailing last year’s top 2 (jordin and blake were our picks to get to the finals with jordin being our choice to win), we again have our favorites this year. needless to say, we obviously adore ramielle malubay. not only because she’s a filipina but because she’s got a powerful (yet sweet) voice packed inside that small frame of hers. plus she’s perky and stylish too. being rockers, we also love this year’s true rocker, david cook. he’s an awesome vocalist and an exceptional musician as well. just check out his rocked out version of the lionel richie pop song, hello. in our opinion, one of the best performances in idol history. then there’s carly smithson. selle likes her more than i do. i would’ve liked her too if she wasn’t too overly promoted by american idol as this year’s front runner. she is ultra-talented and would easily cruise into the top 3 and then we’ll see what happens from there.



then there’s the dark horses. very, very talented yet lies low under the radar. michael johns fits that bill. sobrang swabe kumanta. effortless ika-nga. the problem is he has almost the same target audience as david cook and david is eating up that audience right now. another dark horse is kristy lee cook. yah, most would say that she should’ve been gone by now. some would even say she shouldn’t have made it to the top 12. but she did and she’s still here. remember, american idol is not all about singing talent. marketability and overall appeal is a huge factor as well. kristy seems to excel on those areas that’s why she’s still in the competition. plus she does have a beautiful voice (hindi nga lang pang-biritan) and if she strings a few good performances in a row, she might turn those doubters into believers.



but all of these might not matter because david archuleta will most probably win it all this year. parang kahit anong gawin nya, his fans will just religiously vote for him all the way to the end. just look at what happened last week, nalimutan na nya ang lyrics (twice) at totally nagkalat sya and still he didn’t even get into the bottom 3. heck, even the judges were kind to him and didn’t verbally lambast his performance. parang inaalagaan sya ng show kasi alam nilang maraming fans. sabi nga ni simon, american idol has turned into a popularity contest more than a talent contest kaya most likely, david archuleta will be this season’s idol… but we still have our favorites. 😉



whatever happens, it’s really shaping up to be an awesome season this year. that’s why we’ll be glued to our tv sets every wednesday and thursday nights… bank on it. 😉

ps btw, do check out my friend’s website, dubbed as the ultimate american idol website. tons and tons of info there. great work, rickey. 😀

photos courtesy of tvguide.com and americanidol.com