Final Four! American Idol Update!

Unbelievable! We are down to the final four and I can’t believe how fast these weeks and the contestants have dropped. I said this before, but it’s worth saying again, I think this year produced the best group ever. For California Dreaming, Phillip chose a perfect song for him, but absolutely predictable. I still love him, but from a vocal perspective he is the weakest of the remaining four. Regardless, I think he has such a strong fan base that I’ll be surprised if we aren’t visiting his hometown next week. Hollie did great singing Journey, Joshua was good, I wonder if he was upset that he didn’t get another standing "o"? I learned something tonight about Joshua, he auditioned last year and didn’t make it past the judges.  WOW! That makes me think, I just might give it another try next year. I guess I should start looking at the schedule of audition cities. Jessica seemed to ignore her little tidbit of advice from Jimmy. She did a great job on the song, but I really wonder if she can sing current and young songs!  She did tell the audience that she’s really 65. Doesn’t that disqualify her?

ROUND 1: Based on vocal performance I would rank the contestants in the following order: Joshua, Hollie, Jessica & Phillip.

I really enjoyed Joshua and Phillip’s duet. I actually think Phillip did the better job with the Maroon 5 song.  He has swagger and the judges absolutely loved it! I didn’t like Jessica and Hollie’s performance. Jessica was flat especially at the end of the song. I agreed with Randy, he was dead on with his comments.  

The second theme was crazy (songs you wish you had written). I can’t tell you how many times I hear a song for the first time and wish I had written those lyrics.  To narrow it down to one to pick and sing would be impossible for me. Phillip did a fantastic job, the song was great, his vocals were perfect and the whole performance was the best! The audience loved Hollie, the judges didn’t. I think she chose the wrong song and that probably secured her leaving the show tomorrow night. Joshua, WOW!  If he didn’t get a standing "o" for this performance, I may have slapped somebody! He may have just won it! Jessica has a great voice. She tackled a big ol’ song and performed it flawlessly, she deserved and earned a standing "o".

ROUND 2: Ranked and based on performance; Joshua, Jessica, Phillip, and Hollie. I’m sure we will be saying “Good-Bye” to Hollie.  I guess I’m ok with that, somebody has to go and they are all great.  

Well, I have finished my finals and I’m heading back to St. Louis at the end of the week. I’ll be in town and performing a few shows before I hit Nashville to work with an outstanding producer!