American Idol Semifinal II:

And here we go with week two of the semifinals. Thanks to Barack's endless droning in primetime television, AI comes to us a day later than usual. Tonight we have a couple more real competitors, led by my pre-season pick over Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert. Also on the docket is the enigma of the semifinals, Normund Gentle. Let's just hope the performances are better and the competition more fierce. Last week was too easy!

Jasmine Murray - "Love Song" - Wow the beginning of this song was way off what we all know on the radio now, and I don't know that it will work on such a contemporary song. The silver jacket needs to go back to the 80's as well. Unlike the Archulator, seems like the teens this year just are not mature enough. The song almost got whiny, but it never seemed on pitch. She took too many liberties and did not perform well at all. More people having fun and not singing well. Could be the scary recurring theme of Season 8.
GRADE: D

Matt Giraud - "Viva La Vida" - More contemporary and again we have someone trying to add too much to the song. The problem is Matt's voice is pretty solid for the first part of the song, but his chorus is awful because his voice cannot possibly hope to do what Coldplay's singer does. His outfit is the best part of the performance, but not much else looked up. As the wife says, "that just blew a big one."
GRADE: FAIL

Jeanine Vailes - "This Love" - So the producers continue to dump on this girl by not showing her at all until now and then showing her tripping over a table. Well the hilarity ended right as she tried to hit some strong notes in Maroon 5. The booty shorts and heels probably don't sell to the right portion of America for this round. She was pitchy and more poor song choices. Goodness will anybody step up?
GRADE: D

Nick Mitchell - "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" - This is for Group 2 indeed. I'm happy to see Normund Gentle came back out to play, this time in a hot white tailcoat. His own creation of a song had some pretty funny lyrics, including a glory note he actually hits. To be fair he actually did a fair job considering his voice. Simon was harsh, but horrific comedy and the jump kick response sells. He is an entertainer even if not a great singer. Definitely a chance to get America's vote, but wow this will be a surprise how people vote.
GRADE: B+

Allison Irahata - "Alone" - It must be pull out the "who?" night as faceless wonders of the preliminaries go up against Normund Gentle. Finally we have someone picking a non-contemporary song. She is terrible in the pre-song interview, but she at least is not wearing something atrocious. She defnitely has more maturity than the other teens, which is refreshing in the song. She may not have hit every note, but she was confident and was very solid. Surprising performance.
GRADE: B

Kris Allen - "Man In The Mirror" - This guy has the stereotypical idol douche-bag look, but his voice is pretty solid. The song choice was not very risky, but it could seriously pay off tonight. This all depends on how America feels about this nobody. The judges were terribly harsh, and well I just run out of words as there's not much to say about this performance.
GRADE: B-

Megan Corkrey - "Put Your Records On" - This will be an interesting experiment like Carly-plant. Will tattoos sell? Especially on a Brooke-White type? I don't like how she doesn't grab the mic and move around stage, which leaves her performance lacking. Her voice is good, but even the added glory note could not save this performance. Just average, and the recent performances tonight makes that not good enough.
GRADE: C

Matt Breitzke - "If You Could Only See" - I definitely thought this song choice was good for his voice, but we'll see. I swear this guy has welding jackets and 20 versions of the same kung-fu vibe shirt. Hey pimp what you got. He does a faithful rendition of Tonic, and it's very good. I am surprised because I did not think he was a sure-fire top 12 contestant. I think this was a good performance but a really extremely easy song, and the judges harped on that.
GRADE: B

Jesse Langseth - "Betty Davis Eyes" - The one-shoulder look is not that hot, but I've seen worse on this show especially. Jesse picked a song she loved, which means she's merely OK at it. Her facial expressions are too over the top in my opinion. Also another safety-type song, although not to the degree of Tonic. All of a sudden, the night has become average. Better than last week, but just average.
GRADE: C

Kai Kalama - "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" - If more chest hair popped out of this guy's open shirt, he'd be too rated-R for the FCC. In all seriousness, Kai takes a pretty basic song and adds his flavor to it. Other than the unbuttoned shirt, the outfit was good and the voice was good...but he's really right with the other top guys of the night. He could get lost in the mix.
GRADE: B-

Mishavonna Henson - "Drops of Jupiter" - Her voice and facial expressions are a little too serious in the opening of the song. This is probably the best rendition of a more contemporary song tonight, mostly because she obviouslyt doesn't try to match her voice to the guy lead singer of Train. Her dress is very cute as well. Simon had it spot-on, in that it was too serious.
GRADE: B

Adam Lambert - "Satisfaction" - Adam is certainly more cocky than even Danny Gokey, which may bite him in the ass. his all black outfit with the big chains is about what I expect from him, even though the hair is too goth. Interesting song choice, but it gave him a chance to show off his voice. I think he's still better than everyone else tonight, but he'll need to improve to be the darkhorse number 1 I had him pegged for. Judges love him, so he'll live to see another day.
GRADE: B+

So on the night, this group is a lot better than the first. However, there's a lot of decent and mediocre in this group and nobody really stood out. I wouldn't be surprised to see me get all three right, or none at all. Let's take a chance at it...

WELCOME TO THE TOP 12: Allison Iraheta, Adam Lambert, Nick Mitchell

WILD CARD POSSIBILITIES: Mishavonna Henson, Matt Breitzke

BUH-BYES: Kris Allen, Jesse Langseth, Kai Kalama, Kris Allen, Jasmine Murray, Matt Giraud, Jeanine Vailes