We honestly had no idea what to expect from last night’s elimination episode of American Idol. Would there be a Top 12? A Top 10? Would the judges cut everybody and bring back the show’s weepiest sob story, Chris Medina, and call it a season? Okay, none of those things happened. Instead we said goodbye to some early favorites, saw an underdog rescue his Idol dreams with one mesmerizing performance, and watched Jennifer Lopez use her new judging gig to help springboard the second wave of her recording career. Behold your Top 13 below!
American Idol Season 10 – Top 13
Casey Abrams
Naima Adedapo
Lauren Alaina
James Durbin
Ashthon Jones
Stefano Langone
Jacob Lusk
Scotty McCreery
Paul McDonald
Thia Megia
Haley Reinhart
Karen Rodriquez
Pia Toscano
A pretty strong 13 we’ve got here. No Sanjayas in sight! (For better or worse – don’t tell me you are not entertained by the pop culture jokes that hatch out of the embarrassingly bad contestants’ performances.)
We’re especially happy for wild card Stefano Langone, who had his shining moment singing “I Need You Now” which saved him from leaving the competition early (and may have established him as a frontrunner):
We had to lose 14 contestants of various degrees of singing ability: red-apple-in-a-bunch-of-green-apples Brett Lowenstein, karaoke DJ and total meanie (as he was painted on the show, at least) Clint Jun Gamboa, the cocky Jordan Dorsey, black sheep Rachel Zevita, Italian hunk Jovany Barreto, my high school kindred spirit Robbie Rosen, and one of our favorites from the Girls Performance night, Kendra Chantelle.
Oh, and some other contestants we can’t even think of a descriptor for: Tatynisa Wilson, Julie Zorrilla, Lauren Turner, Ta-Tynisa Wilson, and Tim Halperin.
So which contestants in the Top 13 should we place our bets on to make it to the finale? Lauren, Casey, Pia, and Jacob seem to be the ones to beat, though Adam Lambert enthusiasts might transfer some love to James Durbin. And if Stefano sings like this every week, he may just win the whole thing.
Oh, and P.S.: Here’s Jennifer Lopez’s music video, “On The Floor”, which premiered while the judges were mulling over the wild card performances.
Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull – “On The Floor”
I love j.lo’s new video. it really kicks up that generic song a notch.
and i hate the fact i can’t post any comments today and i don’t know why.
finally it worked for me. hooray!! I’ve been trying all day.
Sorry about that! Glad commenting is working again!
Boo! Kendra should be in there for sure!
I agree! Ah well. Plenty of other good people to root for!
Sad that Zorilla didn’t make it… She was one of my favorites from the start… :[
Conflict of interest? It pisses me off JLo is using AI as a means to re-launch her dead music career. That’s why I’m not watching this season. Only exception will be March 10th because Adam will be back to sing.
Well, you are just missing out because of all your negativity. This season is 1,000x better than last season and JLO and Steve Tyler are a big part of its success. Thursday was the highest watched show in the last 4 years…so clearly “Idol” is not missing your viewership.
Stefano is my favorite so far…keep it coming!