American Idol: Oh America, What Have You Done?

I had to find out about the American Idol eliminations via Twitter last night, and the results made me face-palm.

Oh, America.

I still have not fully come to terms with the fact that more people voted for Tim Urban than Alex Lambert. Sure, Alex's hair is pretty distracting, but he was the best male vocalist this season. I think there was some complacency on the fans' part, where they thought Alex would be safe, because the judges like him and he sang well this week.

It's too early to be complacent. If you want the talented people to stay in the competition, that means you have to vote for them. Being complacent is what in the past sent Chris Daughtry, Michael Johns, and Carly Smithson home before their time.
And you know an elimination like Alex's must be bad if Simon had his head in his hands, not wanting to deal with the inevitable conclusion for a contestant he has seemingly been rooting for through his weekly critiques.

Since Alex did not get the votes he needed, we have Aaron Kelly, whom fans are referring to as "Countryleta" (country David Archuleta). Yeah, as if. And we have the luckiest dude on the planet, Tim Urban. What really gets me about Tim being in the Top 12 is that he wasn't even supposed to be in the Top 24, but he got lucky when Idol decided to disqualify Chris Golighty.

I am not too upset about Lilly Scott's elimination. Lilly has a very interesting voice, much like season eight contestant Megan Joy. Megan didn't fare well in the Top 12 because she couldn't find songs within the themes that fit her voice. I think Lilly would have had that same problem and that would have led to her being eliminated early on. So, I am not really heartbroken over her elimination.

I am shocked that after her horrifying performance of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" that Paige Miles was voted into the Top 12 over Katelyn Epperly. Katelyn was one of my picks to possibly leave this week, but I truly thought she was going to make it. But, good for Paige; I hope she gets her act together and shows us why Simon called her the best female vocalist in the competition during Top 24 week.

Todrick Hall was the other contestant eliminated this week, and I had a feeling that his time was running out. His elimination did not come as a huge shock to me.

There was a burst of sunlight that broke through the apparent dark cloud hovering over Idol last night, that being the return of season eight contestants Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre. The former contestants performed their piano duet, Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It." The song was originally meant to be performed at last season's Idol finale, but was cut for time.

I enjoy Idol bringing back former contestants from last season. It's a good reminder to the current contestants as to what level they should be performing at. And that it is possible to sing an entire song without major pitch problems.

We now have our Top 12 for season nine. Next week they will be performing the music of The Rolling Stones.

So, how do you feel about this week's results? Who are you going to root for in the Top 12? What do you think the contestants should sing next week?