American Idol Season 10 - It's the Top 24!

I don't even remember half of you

Season 10 is an interesting bag. Is it entertaining? The most talent EVER (TM Randy Hyperbole Jackson)? Boring? Exploitative? Does it have too many stage moms? Too many screamers? Is it a girls year or a boys year? DO WE EVEN LIKE IT?! The answer to these questions is I don't know. I honestly don't know! I've seen every episode this season and every episode I feel little flickers of hope and excitement...followed by waves of doubt (and self-loathing). I want it to be good and enjoyable and I will fully admit that I legitimately love J.Lo and Steven right now. However, there's a part of me that thinks that ANYTHING would be better than Season 9, and there's another part of me that suspects this season could go horribly horribly wrong (not that that couldn't be entertaining, of course).

So now we have a Top 24. Now WE get all the power. The possibilities...are endless!


LIST OF TOP 24 WITH PICTURES AND VIDEO (courtesy of MJS Big Blog)

There was some kind of Vegas week this year that felt totally unnecessary, but we got to hear more people sing so i think that's good? And also they all sang Beatles songs, so yay? Some of them were quite good, I have to admit, but group singing always seems counterproductive to me because I honestly don't care whether these people can work in a group or not. Then came the LONGEST "GREEN MILE" EPISODE EVER OH GOD, PLEASE KILL ME. It was nice that we got such long introductions to ALL of the Top 24, I'll admit, but man these episodes were boring.

I'm going to mention some of my early favorites, but I felt like I needed to explain myself as to why there aren't a lot of girls in the list. As much as season 9 was maligned (and in most cases, rightly so), going into the semis the girls had a lot of promise. I admit, a lot of this stems from personal preference, as girls like Didi, Lily, Crystal, and Siobhan all have less conventional, "quirky" voices, which appeal to me more. But is it just me of do all of the girls this season sound exactly the same? Not only that but we have A LOT of pop/diva voices this year for the girls. Unfortunately this means that every time one of those pretty young things walked down the endless airplane hanger runway (why so long, Idol?) and they showed their past performances, my eyes glazed over and all I could think was "I swear to god, I just heard this girl sing".  I think it's fairly obvious what kind of girl they were "casting" this season.

Some of my early favorites (who could very easily go home next week and who I reserve the right to turn on at a moments notice):

Paul McDonald

Paul might be my favorite right now. He has a really quiet and kind of uniquely beautiful voice. He also sang an original song for the judges that impressed me enough to take notice, and his "Blackbird" (with other Top 24 member, Kendra Chantelle) was gorgeous: watch his video package.

He also wears suits with glittery roses on it, looks drunk while he's singing, and looks like he should be a member of Driveshaft. And for that, I'm giving Paul a tentative THUMBS UP!






Robbie Rosen

Robbie, aka Aladdin, is someone I remember liking from his audition and every time I hear him sing I like him more and more. He's cute and young, so there's a lot going for him right there, but I'm constantly impressed by his solo performances. He's got talent.

Now he just really needs to sing A Whole New World.








Tim Halperin

Timmy's got a lot going for him. In fact if I was to guess who would win this season based on who has won the past few seasons, I'd put all my money on Tim. Cute, white, soulful, plays an instrument? Oh yeah.

I didn't even notice Tim until Vegas week, when his "Something" performance (with Top 24 member, Julie Zorrilla) really really stood out.

I'm worried he might be kind of boring, but for right now, I'm hoping we see a lot more from Tim.





Thia Megia

The only girl I'm putting up here and I'm kind of reallllly nervous for her. I liked Thia from the beginning because of her awesome name. Not to mention she seemed kind of quirky. However, her Vegas week performance and her final solo were really underwhelming. I'm hoping she can pull out all the stops for the semis because I want her to do well.

Her voice can be amazing for her age though: What a Wonderful World







Some other contestants of note:  
Lauren Alaina is the girl they've pimped out the most and therefore is really hard to stand. Not to mention her penchant for rubbing up all over Steven and wearing the most ridiculous outfits I've ever seen. I think she's probably a shoo-in for the Top 12 though.  
Rachel Zevita also has a penchant for ridiculous clothing items, but I point her out because she has the "story" of trying out multiple times and never making it. And she does interesting things with her voice that I'm not sure if I like a lot or not at all.
I actively dislike Clint Jun Gamboa, James Durbin, and Jordan Dorsey (if they wanted a male R&B singer, why not Aaron Sanders! He was so good ;__;).
Brett Loewenstern is a cutie, but I was sad to see Colton Dixon and Jacee Badeaux (Fat Bieber!) go.
Casey Abrams, aka Upright Bass! is going to be so much fun going on.
Scotty McCreery makes me laugh. I think I like him, but it's mostly for the lulz.