It was a tad bit anti-climactic tonight on American idol.  The Top 12 is now set, and it's a top-heavy group.  There are six singers who I can say, with the utmost confidence, will be in the top 8.  There's a group of three or four who will most likely be eliminated over the next month, and because of this, I expect the rest of American Idol's March to be rather plodding.  Season 6 runner-up Blake Lewis showed up tonight to show the contestants that, even if they don't have the greatest singing voice, creativity, personality and a great stage presence can take you a long ways. 

Of the four singers eliminated tonight on American Idol, only one was a surprise, but it was a mild one and may have only been a surprise to me.  These were the four American Idol hopefuls who will almost certainly, in the immortal words of Iron Mike Tyson, “fade into Bolivian.”

Luke Menard

Luke is a genuinely nice guy, with a pretty good voice but not much on-stage personality.  His voice was too thin, tinny, to compete with most of the remaining men on the show.  His choice of Wham for 80's night turned out to be a poor one, but to be honest, I'm not sure if anything could have saved him.

Kady Malloy

Oh, Kady.  Your Britney impression will live on in the internet tubes long after America forgets about you.  Kady has a great voice that she never seemed to able to harness. Part of the problem was her annoying insistence on singing slow, depressing tunes.  She had issues singing in tune, and Simon could not tell America enough that she was a vacuum of personality. 

Asiah Epperson

Asiah was a victim of her own ambition.  She sang songs just a bit too big for her and she paid the price.  Her voice is good, but not big.  She has a natural rasp that, if put to use on silkier, bluesier songs, would produce great results.  Another victim of poor song choices.

Danny Noriega

This was a surprise to me.  I thought Danny would get the Sanjaya vote.  I guess if you're only vaguely gay (Sanjaya) it's OK, but it's bad if you're openly gay (Danny).  I suspect that this elimination may be a product of America's homophobia.  Or maybe it's because Danny wasn't that great.  Danny had a bigger voice than you'd ever expect by looking at him, but like Kady, he had a hard time keeping it in control.  With Danny gone, we also lose the only contestant this year who was actually comfortable doing live interviews.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)