American Idol Top 12 Perform

My recap of the Top 12 performances on American Idol.  Who are your favorites?

Casey Abrams

I'm still not sure how I felt about his performance.  As Jennifer mentioned, it was a little screamy.  I think "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a huge song and it was definitely a risk which is what he wanted to do.  I honestly wasn't a fan of it originally but I think it could have been much worse so for me, it was a decent performance.  I prefer him in the growling sound though.

Haley Reinhart

Haley sang I'm Your Baby Tonight and did ok.  As the judges point out, she's really all over the place with her performances and Steven and I are both looking for her to go back to that blues gravely sound.  I think she's trying to hard to be what she thinks everyone wants her to be.  I think she's in danger of going home this week.

Karen Rodriguez

Karen sang "Love Will Lead You Back" By Taylor Dayne who was one of my favorite artists of that time.  I didn't think she did that well with it.  She always hits her stride when she switches into Spanish but I just don't think it was enough last night.  I think she will definitely be in the bottom three this week.

James Durbin

James sang "I'll Be There For You" from Bon Jovi.  I am a big Bon Jovi fan from the very beginning and I thought James did great.  It wasn't my favorite performance of his and he hit a couple sour notes even but he's still one of my top favorites.  I was surprised to learn last night that after he point out his ring that he is married with one child!  Not that that has anything to do with his talent, I just didn't think he was that old!

Jacob Lusk

Jacob switched it up on this week and chose a rock song, "Alone" from Heart.  I love this song and I think he tore it up.  He added his flavor to it without ruining a song I love.  He's definitely holding his own as one of the top contenders as far as I'm concerned.

Lauren Alaina

Lauren was born in 1994 and sang Melissa Etheridge's "I'm The Only One." I didn't think her performance was as strong as she has been but the judges thought she did great and Steven Tyler even suggested she always be sick.  I think considering she was really sick she did well but I wouldn't go as far as Steven to say that she sounded better.  It WAS better than last week, I think though. 

Naima Adedapo

Naima kicked off the show with Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It." As Jennifer Lopez pointed out, she's had some real pitch problems the last couple weeks.  With near perfect performances from many of the contestants week after week I don't think she'll be able to hang around much longer.  I think that the time away from her very young kids is taking a real toll on her.

Paul McDonald

Paul did Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues."  Although he is actually the oldest contestant, I thought he was older than he actually is!  Paul was also sick and having voice issues this week.  You could see him struggling a bit in the performance but I still liked it and hope he sticks around for awhile to see what else he can do.Maybe if he sticks around long enough he can work out some better dance moves!

Pia Toscano

I was nervous when I heard that Pia had picked Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go."  That's a big song but as usual, Pia nailed it.  She did a great job.  I'm not sure she added a TON of her own flavor but I think I'd have been mad if she messed to much with a Whitney hit.  I think she was definitely one of the strongest performances of the evening!

Scotty McCreery

Scotty did Travis Tritt's "Can I Trust You With My Heart."  This song is from just before I became a fan of country music so I wasn't very familiar with it, but I think he did a great job.  He worked hard to stretch himself this week with a bigger vocal performance and its great to see someone who knows who they are, stays true to themselves but works to take their talent to the next level.

Stefano Langone 

Stefano sang Simply Red's cover of "If You Don't Know Be My Now."  This is a beautiful song and his sang it flawlessly while adding a personal touch to it to bring it a little more current.  I have to admit, I wasn't happy with the judges save for him but he's working hard to change my mind.  Another top performance of the evening.

Thia Megia

Thia, was born the year I graduated from high school, but I'll try not to hold that against her.  This week she sang Vanessa Williams' "Colors of the Wind."  She has a beautiful voice but the judges think she's been playing it safe, picking songs that aren't really her and Randy thought this week was sleepy.  Apparently, my husband agreed as he literally fell asleep during her performance.  I think if she can figure out exactly who she is an artist she'll be amazing.