Friday , March 29 2024
After “shocking eliminations,” the judges narrowed down the American Idol contestants to the final 24.

American Idol: The Top 24 Are Revealed!

Finally, we have 24 contestants moving onto the American Idol semifinals. We’re making progress, everyone! Of course, getting to this point meant sitting through four of the longest hours of my life to find out officially which contestants had made the Top 24.

To be honest (and this might be an unpopular opinion), I thought that first hour of Idol Wednesday night during the Las Vegas round was a huge waste of time. I didn’t care to watch group rounds again, and more than that, I don’t care to hear songs of The Beatles being sung by people other than The Beatles.

This episode we got to see Idol’s in-house mentor Jimmy Iovine sit in on some of the rehearsals, and oh my, I think he’s definitely going to be a presence when it comes to contestants working on their songs. He just got straight to the point and held nothing back. He wasn’t sugarcoating anything or sparing anyone’s feelings. His involvement on the show this season is going to be interesting.

The only two performances from Vegas Cirque du Soleil LOVE stage that I cared for were from Tim Halperin and Julie Zorrilla who performed “Something” and Paul McDonald and Kendra Chantrelle who performed “Blackbird.”

In case I haven’t mentioned it already, I am definitely a fan of Halperin’s voice. His vocals paired wonderfully with Zorrilla’s.

I also really like McDonald’s voice. There’s a James Morrison meets Rod Stewart vibe going on there, and I dig it.

The second hour of Idol Wednesday night was dedicated to revealing a portion of the Top 24. This hour and the two hours on Thursday night were so long, I felt like lifetimes were passing by as the show slowly revealed the Top 24.

The contestants got to perform one more final song, and then they walked down the ridiculously long walkway to sit with the judges to find out if they were in or out.

For me, I was more put off by the female contestants that were put through versus the male contestants. The conspiracy theorist within me thinks that possibly weaker females were chosen purposely to make Lauren Alaina’s star shine that much brighter. But, that’s just me. I mean, how else can one explain Rachel Zevita getting through with her final audition?

I really wish that Jackie Wilson had pulled off her last audition. Botching lyrics to your song in the last round is just not acceptable. I think she is extremely talented, but I do understand why the judges chose to not put her through.

I do think that with one or two exceptions, the male contestants are the stronger batch of contestants this season. I was super-frustrated when Colton Dixon didn’t make the cut. He’s extraordinarily talented. I would have put him through over Scotty “Baby lock them doors” McCreery or Clint Jun Gamboa.

After handling a difficult group round during the Hollywood round with class, I was almost entirely convinced that Jacee Badeaux could handle being on Idol this season. I was disappointed when he wasn’t put through.

I could have lived without James Durbin being put through. Especially since one of the notes he tried to hit during his last audition of “A Change Is Gonna Come” was so off-key that it made me cringe. Being that he is from the Bay Area, I should probably be more supportive, but the thing is I already have an Adam Lambert in my life and I’m not interested in the knock-off. I will be somewhat horrified if he makes it into the finals.

I am happy, though, that the judges did not put Chris Medina through. (You’re shocked, I know.) It was absolutely the right call on their part. I was kind of amazed that they said that he had been inconsistent throughout the auditions, because all we ever saw was the judges consistently giving him praise for his performances. I’m not heartbroken over this in the least. It was time to stop the shenanigans and cut him loose. If you’re actually a fan of Medina’s you shouldn’t be heartbroken either, ’cause now you can buy his new single, “What Are Words.” Coincidentally his single is being released via 19/Interscope Records. He’s not going to be on the main stage, yet Idol still managed to take him all the way to the bank.

We have our Top 24. This means that the semifinals are next week, and that I need to start learning all the contestant’s names. There is only going to be one round of semifinals, and the the Top 24 will be narrowed down to however many Idol decides on to put through to the finals, which start the following week.

The semifinals begin on Tuesday night. The guys will perform then; the girls will perform Wednesday. And then we will have our results Thursday, which possibly include a surprise from David Cook. It has been widely speculated that the season seven Idol winner will be the voice behind this season’s send-off song.

I’m pretty stoked about next week, mostly because I can’t wait to see how Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler handle a live audience. I hope we’re in for some great performances and awesome television (especially since Glee was preempted this week for the guys’ round of the semifinals.)

So Idol fans, who are you looking forward to seeing perform during the semifinals? And what are your thoughts on this season’s Top 24?

Full list of American Idol’s Top 24:

Casey Abrams
Jovany Barreto
Jordan Dorsey
James Durbin
Clint Jun Gamboa
Tim Halperin
Stefano Langone
Brett Loewenstern
Jacob Lusk
Scotty McCreery
Paul McDonald
Robbie Rosen
Naima Adedapo
Lauren Alaina
Kendra Chantelle
Ashthon Jones
Thia Megia
Haley Reinhart
Karen Rodriguez
Pia Toscano
Lauren Turner
Tatynisa Wilson
Julie Zorrilla
Rachel Zevita

About Kirsten Coachman

Kirsten Coachman is a writer and editor from the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit her long-running music blog, Wait...WHAT, at waitwhatmusic.net. Follow Kirsten Coachman on Twitter: @KirsCoachman

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