I have to be honest, the Top 12 guys made me fairly excited for this season of American Idol. After the show ended tonight, I felt better about this show than I have all season long.
The guys, who pre-taped their performances on February 25, brought a lot to the main stage, including big stage jitters and, every so often, some talent.
Up first was the Hollywood round bad boyhimself, Clint Jun Gamboa. Gamboa chose to sing Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." This song needs to locked away with Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)," and Elton John's "Dont' Let The Sun Go Down on Me," and never be allowed to be performed on Idol again. "Superstition" has not done any favors for contestants in the past couple seasons. 
Gamboa's vocals were nothing special. At this point of the competition, the contestants should be showing the audience why the judges picked them. I think Gamboa failed to prove the judges' point with his performance. Of course, based on their praise of his performance, one had to wonder what concoction had been mixed in their Coca Cola cups.
Gamboa picked an overused song that I believe will send both him and his Harry Potter eyewear packing. He will be the boy who didn't live to see the finals.
Next up was Jovany Barreto, who performed Edwin McCain's "I'll Be." For someone who exudes so much personality on his Twitter account, this was such a boring song selection.
I must say for the most part Barreto had an okay voice; I did really like his final note. He was met with a divided judges' panel. Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez loved him, whereas I sided with Randy Jackson, who found the song to be "karaoke."
I am not entirely sure what possessed Jordan Dorsey to pick one of the most obnoxious and auto-tuned songs to sing in the semifinals. His performance of Usher's "OMG" made me just cringe. From his vocals to his outfit, OMG indeed.
Article comments
1 - Butch
Truly an awful night. I can't stand Clint Jun Gamboa's personality, but honestly he was one of the best. Yes, overused song. But his vocal was energetic (a little too much screaming, but he does it better than Durbin) and right on target, pitch-wise.
I liked Scott McCreery. I love his understated style and personality.
A few of the more boring people (Jovany, for instance) stood out simply because they didn't embarrass themselves.
On the negative side: Paul McDonald - he sounded very much like a bad impression of Jimmy Fallon's Barry Gibb impression.
James Durbin - I agree with Kirsten on him.
Jacob Lusk - this guy has a lot of spirit, but I agree with Kirsten. I'm not sold. I honestly don't even like the sound of his voice when he's not oversinging. Then when he oversings....oh boy. He belongs in a gospel church, not the Idol stage.
Casey Abrams - I liked this guy in his audition and Hollywood rounds. But he stalked around the stage yelling in mock anger. I honestly felt like I was watching a Jack Black imitator (though far prefer Black's voice). If anyone suffered from a lack of instrument, it was this guy. That stand-up bass is half his appeal (at least).
2 - pinkbanana
I really liked Jacob Lusk's performance last night. Can't wait to see who doesn't make it. I guess it will be the OMG performance I kinda found it out of tuned.