American Idol Top 7 Results

Who should have been eliminated: Lazaro Arbos
Who I predicted would be eliminated: Burnell Taylor
Who was eliminated: Burnell Taylor

Before the final results were eliminated, the judges were asked to weigh in with who they thought where the "Top 3." It felt like they were answering not just for this particular round but for the entire competition, and three out of the four judges did not include Candace Glover in their Top 3. I find that pretty disappointing.

Even more so was the vote by America, in which Candace was not in the Top 3. However, she did manage to advance, in a night where both she and Kree Harrison looked like they were continuing to struggle with physical ailments.

My Top Three from last night would have been Candace, Angie Miller, and Amber Holcomb. I almost always have Kree in the Top 3, but did not last evening. America's Top Three was Kree, Angie, and inexplicably, Lazaro Arbos.

That just tells me that the more that Jimmy Iovine and others predict his demise, and no matter how poorly he may sing or mess up on live television, he may very well be around for a while at outlast at least one of the girls. I thought Lazaro would probably survive this week, but would certainly be in the Bottom Three. He got far more votes than that. The longer he stays, the more of a backlash will develop against him, by those people who even give a damn this year. I just follow all this for fun.

I am not sure if we were told that Janelle Arthur was in the "Bottom Two" along with Burnell, or was just the last person to be told she was safe. This put me in a weird position as they were both standing there, as I had ranked Burnell ahead of Janelle last night (which I find sort of hard to believe) but continue to believe she is usually the better singer. Had she been voted off, the judges would have saved her, but the odds were far greater for them to throw a life-jacket to Burnell.

Singing for the save, he performed "Ready For Love", and while it was pleasant, I think it lacked the vocal high-points of when he sang it before, which I believe was on the Top 10 Reveal Results Show. It was more interesting to watch the reactions of his fellow contestants while he was singing. At the end, he appeared to be singing the song directly to Amber (after looking like he was singing to Lazaro previously), and then gave her a peck on the cheek. We heard last night that Burnell supposedly has a crush on Amber, but it does not seem like she was feeling that.

All the contestants seemed to be emotional over Burnell's exit though, and nobody was taking it harder than Candace, who we were told had a big sister/younger brother relationship with him. Hopefully, Candace's humanity will gain her some more votes, because she certainly has been bringing it vocally every week.

So, officially, Lazaro is the first place male of Season 12 and we now have what is easily the largest gender discrepancy in Idol history. If the trend continues, Lazaro will be the final male victim next week, but since he as in the Top 3 after another poor week, I will be surprised if that happens. What that means is that whatever female gets the lowest number of votes next week, will be saved by the judges. They will feel the need to use it eventually. In some regards though, next week is almost a "freebie" for all the contestants if conventional wisdom holds.

As for Burnell, he will get to go on tour this summer and gain exposure and experience. I truly do not know what awaits him after that. He could turn out to be one of a long list of former Idol contestants who never get a major record deal and just toil around on the fringe of the industry. It is possible though that he could get a break and have an impact somehow on the neo-R&B scene or whatever it is that he would be classified at. In any regards, it is very good for him that he was able to accomplish this month, just a few years after his family suffered so much due to a natural disaster.