American Idol Top 24 Group 2 Part 2

Duets tonight for this group of 12, with six former Idol contestants, including two past winners, but some others who did not even crack the Top 4.

1. Amelia Eisenhauer- "Suds In a Bucket"

Ten years ago, when Kellie Pickler sang this, Simon Cowell hated the song choice. He probably feels the same way, but Kellie is a bit more advanced as a singer I suppose from back then and while this is not my kind of music, Amelia sounded reasonably credible on the duet. At times, it was more about her playing the fiddle than singing though. I do not really see Amelia as a country performer.

2. Kory Wheeler- "Bennie and the Jets"

Mr. Wheeler did his duet with Haley Reinhart of Wheeling, Illinois. I guess Kory sounded ok but this is a weird song for a duet and it felt more like he was just the guitar player for Haley's performance who was maybe singing parts of the song too for no reason.

3. Lee Jean- "Home"

Are times this tough for Chris Daughtry that he needed this gig? So many of these past Idols are from North Carolina. This was another somewhat odd duet, but I thought they made it work ok. Lee has a really good voice and great instincts as a performer, but he was a bit tentative on this and had a bum note or two. I have to point out though that he is a lot better of a singer than last season's Daniel Seavey at least. I just realized that I own several pairs of Lee Jeans. Freaky.

4. CJ Johnson- "The World I Know"

So, David Cook finally reprised a song on American Idol. His fans were so proud he never did during his season. CJ sounded pretty good on this, although something still seems to be missing a bit from what I remember him sounding like at his audition and in Hollywood week. Seeing him up next to David shows that he has a bit of work to do as a performer and a singer to inherit the kind of fans that propelled Cook to an Idol win.

5. Manny Torres- "No Air"

This is sort of an original circumstance of being an actual duet song. One of Jordin Sparks' originals, Manny took on the role of Chris Brown, who was on the original record before he had his issues. Jordin probably does not speak to him anymore, but the same can also be said about her and Jason DeRulo. Anyways, Manny did not sound horrible, but I am again underwhelmed by him as a vocalist. It seems like he is trying so hard to be all swaggy on stage and his singing suffers for it.

6.  Jenn Blosil- "My Funny Valentine"

Get them both off the tv. Constantine Maroulis? They brought him back? Wasn't he just arrested for something not long ago?  I would rather have seen Jenn sing this song with Melinda Doolittle who did it better on Idol. I think Jenn sounded better than she did last night, but that would not have been hard to do. She is going to continue to try to stay in her quirky lane if they keep her around, but I imagine her voice is pretty limited.

7. Tristan McIntosh- "Best Days Of Your  Life"

Tristan and Kellie Pickler started off singing in unison and sounded really odd. This is Kellie's song and it definitely felt that way in her parts. It sounded to me like Tristan was out of tune for large portions of it. I think she would have been better off singing something more pop than back to back country songs.

8. Olivia Rox- "Light On"

I am starting to battle some sleepiness, as I watch this DVR recording, which is too bad because this was a real good performance. Olivia was much improved from last night and meshed pretty well with David Cook on one of his original songs. I believe Idol thinks she would be a marketable final winner of the show, but there is a long way to go of course.

9. Adam Lasher- "Can't Help Falling In Love"

Haley did not do this Elvis song on her season and it's obviously not one of her originals, so I wonder whose idea it was for them to do this. It mostly worked though. Everyone has done a decent job on the Thursday broadcast. Adam sang it technically well, but he kept it pretty safe and restrained at the same time too. We then learn that she has recorded a cover version of the song.

10. Dalton Rapattoni- "Higher Ground"

I was surprised they did not match up the ever theatrical Dalton with Constantine. Instead he sang with Daughtry and it was a pretty energetic performance on both ends. Daughtry's voice was the larger though and Dalton may not have made as big of an impression as some would expect.

11. Trent Harmon- "To Love Somebody"

Jordin only required one outfit for the evening, unlike Haley Reinhart. Maybe that could be important to someone. This was another interesting performance. Everyone seems to be doing well with these duets, even if the "stars" may be far more likely to win the battles. Trent continues to be interesting which his choice of vocal inflections. Sometimes it is extremely impressive and sometimes it goes a bit off the rails. The Bee Gees were a good fit for him though.

12. Shelbie Z- "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Matching her up with Constantine was a weird pairing. I knew it would have to be this song though. Shelbie had a very decent vocal performance, but Constantine was definitely trying to upstage her and that came across. The judges did not like it.

Thursday night rankings- went a long way in changing my perception of these twelve

12. Tristan McIntosh
11. Manny Torres
10. Kory Wheeler
9.   Jenn Blosil
8.  Amelia Eisenhauer
7.  Adam Lasher
6.  Trent Harmon
5.  Lee Jean
4.  Shelbie Z
3.   Dalton Rapattoni
2.  CJ Johnson
1.  Olivia Rox

Composite with tiebreakers:

12. Manny Torres
11. Jenn Blosil
10. Kory Wheeler
9.  Tristan McInosh
8.  Amelia Eisenhauer

Who should go thru- big separation from lower tier-

7. Lee Jean
6. Adam Lasher
5. CJ Johnson
4.  Trent Harmon
3.  Shelbie Z
2.  Olivia Rox
1.  Dalton Rapattoni

As they go to commercial break, I am really conflicted as to predictions. Five guys and two girls might seem a bit unbalanced to advance tonight. The people who went through last week also have to be taken into account and are they prepared to eliminate both duet partners for one of the returning alums? That is almost a necessity because I have a hard time thinking they are going to cut anyone who sang with Cook or Daughtry.

Looking at the names from last week though, they did put through five girls and two guys, so I guess they would strive for a 7-7 split, so I am just going to gamble big time and say that seven I chose will be the ones who made it. I will almost definitely be wrong on at least one. I think they would want to have a bit more racial diversity and that could benefit Manny or Tristan.

Who advanced to the Finals: Dalton Rapattoni, Olivia Rox, Trent Harmon, Lee Jean, Tristan McIntosh, Jenn Blosil, Manny Torres

Well, they only picked four of the right contestants last week and only four this week. That's not a great average, but it might be more about casting the show for them than picking the best talented. James VIII should have definitely gone through last week and this week, while all the solos were kinda iffy, Shelbie deserved a better fate. CJ was definitely one of the better singers and he is now out and Adam has no chance to try to pull off the Nick Fradiani storyline. Jeneve Rose Mitchell should not have made it last week and Jenn and Manny were not deserving this week.

As it turns out, every "mentor" from the past two weeks had at least one advance, except for Haley Reinhart.  I guess both of the dudes she sang with might have been overwhelmed by her aura or something. This cannot be a proud moment for her, but at least she got some good tv time.

Hopefully, America will start getting it right with the vote next week, but let's start by hoping that South Carolina can get it as right as possible on Saturday.