American Idol Gets Down to Final 8 Contestants

Believe it or not, there are only FIVE more weeks left for American Idol...  Forever!  Thursday night, Harry, Keith, and Jennifer narrowed the field from the top 10 to the elite 8!  Here is what I thought about each performance:

DALTON - RADIOACTIVE: The show kicked off with one of my top 3 favorites, performing a song choice that on the surface seemed perfect for him, Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive."  While I don't think he's going home, this was the worst I've seen from Dalton, and I can't figure out why it didn't work for me.

LEE JEAN - USE SOMEBODY: Lee Jean is my fourth favorite contestant on the season this final year, and he hit what I felt was a grand slam last night.  I nice guitar ballad that wasn't Ed Sheeran but still was super comfortable for him.  I'd love to see him attempt to leave his comfort zone sometime and try maybe a young Michael Jackson or an old school Usher song sometime.  This performance was in my three favorites from last night.

SONIKA - SINCE U BEEN GONE: This was just OK, in my opinion.  I didn't feel like Sonika "felt" the song, and likewise made me feel nothing.

MACKENZIE - I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME): I LOVED this performance.  Mackenzie is one of my three favorites, and delivered a top-three performance last night!

LA'PORSHA - HALO: My final choice as top 3 favorite overall as well as a top 3 performers from last night.  I got visibly excited when I found out this vocal powerhouse was going to be taking on one of my favorite Beyonce ballads.  Obviously she nailed it.  If I had to place a bet on one performer to win the entire contest, my money is actually on La'Porsha.

TRENT - WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN: Wow, everybody on the show and that I've talked to about the show thought this could have possibly been the best performance from last night...  But I disagree.  I disagree strongly.  With the exception of "that one note" that he nailed, I just thought that this song was not suited for his voice.

TRISTAN - GO REST HIGH ON THAT MOUNTAIN: If Tristan is going to insist on ONLY doing country songs, I'm going to continue to not like her performances.  It's such a shame because her voice is very well-suited for (better) genres other than country, but she won't even try.

AVALON - EARNED IT: Avalon found herself singing for her life in the bottom three and deservedly so.  While I always appreciate her song choices, I'm baffled as to how she has made it so far because there is NOTHING special about her voice.  You could literally go to any karaoke night here in Evansville and hear a better voice than Avalon's.  I don't think her time on Idol is long.  Considering two names went home yesterday, I would have made her one of them.

OLIVIA - TROUBLE: Olivia, I think, is my least-favorite of the remaining competitors, possibly along with Trent and Tristan.  But what Olivia has that annoys me most has been the endless adulation of the judges.  Now, I'm going to take it easy on the judges because the 'lathering' of mediocre performers is relatively minimal this year, but she has never deserved the praise she has received from J-Lo, Harry, and Keith if you ask me.  She's always sucked, and she chose a lousy song last night.  Pink's "Trouble?!"  Really?!  You can choose ANY Grammy-winning song EVER and you choose "Trouble" from PINK?!  You deserved to go home.

GIANNA - IF I AIN'T GOT YOU:  While I would have sent Avalon home in Gianna's stead, she certainly didn't win anybody over with her ambitious and mediocre rendition of Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You."