Carrie Underwood makes the Top 100

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood can add yet another honor to her list. Time Magazine has included her in their list of The 100 Most Influential people. Her friend and CMA Awards co-host, Brad Paisley, had this to say about her: 

The All Around American Idol
I remember Underwood early on telling me how badly she wanted to earn her place in our industry. It was 2005, and she had just won American Idol and had her first No. 1 song.
Fast-forward to 2014. Not only has she earned her place, she’s also raised the bar: she’s a prolific songwriter, a trendsetter and an Opry member. But it’s her decency as a person that is so impressive. She’s an advocate for causes like animal rights and the Red Cross. She has publicly challenged lawmakers when she’s disagreed with them, and covered controversial issues in her music. She can sing the fire out of a song and tell a joke. I’m always amazed at her comedic timing and instincts when we co-host the CMA Awards. She has faith, a sense of self and loves a good challenge. When most singers tackle a Broadway musical, it’s in front of a thousand people. She did it in front of 20 million.
So many young girls want to be just like her. In that sense, I see hope for the world. If I had a daughter, nothing would make me happier than to hear her say she wanted to grow up to be like Carrie Underwood.

Carrie Underwood - Milestone Award Finalist

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood has scored 18 top 10 hits on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, the best starting run ever by a woman. She has also innovated on the small screen, recently starring in "The Sound of Music Live!"

This has earned her the position as a contender for the Billboard Milestone Award. Voting is going on now and the winner will be announced at the Billboard Awards on Sunday May 18th. 

http://www.billboard.com/milestone

The Top 7 - Results

This week I did not correctly predict either of the bottom two. Unfortunately that means viewers will have to suffer through more boring performances from CJ and Sam as well as having to endure the annoying vocal efforts of Jena.

The bottom two ended up being Jessica Meuse and Dexter Roberts. Jessica has a great voice and draws comparisons to classic rockers like Stevie Nicks as well as Ann Wilson of Heart. Dexter is a real down home country boy and every word he sings comes off as genuine and authentic. He has delivered very good performances week after week, so it is very sad that he ended up being the lowest vote getter this week and he has been eliminated from the competition too soon.

The Top 7 choose for each other

This week we got an American Idol first. The contestants were given the opportunity to suggest the song choices for their competitors. The finalists were then able to select their favorite from the options they were given.

Alex Preston has once again risen to the top with his exceptional performance of Ed Sheeran's A-Team. Alex is quite simply a gifted musician and vocalist. With everything her does it is obvious that being a recording artist and live performer is what he is meant to be. Not only can he play multiple musical instruments, but his vocal range is nothing less than impressive. What's most amazing is that he makes it look so effortless.

Jena Irene, on the other hand, is nothing but overrated and annoying. To hear the judges gush about her you would think she is good, but the reality is that she is a whole lot of nothing special. There is nothing exceptional about her from her voice, to her appearance to her stage presence. She said it best herself in the song lyrics to Radiohead's Creep, "what am I doing here. I don't belong here."

So along with Jena, my prediction for the bottom three is CJ Harris and Sam Woolf. Both CJ and Sam take boring to a new level of drab and dreary. After being in the bottom for the past three weeks, CJ will finally be the one going home.

The Top 8 - Results

This week only a bottom two was revealed instead of a bottom three. That being the case, I only got one of my predictions correct as I knew that CJ Harris would be one of them.

Had there been a bottom three I am certain that Sam Woolf would have been there, but as it turns out, he was safe this week. Instead, the delightful and talented Malaya Watson was not only in the bottom two, but she was the lowest vote getter and her time in the competition has ended way too soon.

In her time on the show she has quite skillfully performed songs by powerhouse divas such as Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and Jennifer Hudson. Even while overwhelmed with emotion she was able to deliver an outstanding rendition of I Am Changing from Dreamgirls as her final performance.

The Top 8 sing 80's

As they prepared to sing music from the 80's the Top 8 finalists had the chance to work with the Season 7 Miss American Idol winner, David Cook. David set the standard for reinvented a song and making it his own every week during the competition.

The best of the bunch this week was Alex Preston once again. He very masterfully injected a gripping new layer of depth and emotions into Every Breath You Take by The Police. He truly made it into a brand new song and it is already charting on the itunes top 100 singles list. Also, continuing her improvement this week was Malaya Watson who tackled Through The Fire by Chaka Khan.

My prediction for the bottom three this week is the same as last week. Jena Irene tried her best to reinvent I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett, but it was a humongous epic failure. CJ Harris took the dreadful Free Falling and made it even more unbearable with his dreary interpretation.

Rounding out the bottom three should be Sam Woolf who I correctly predicted as the lowest vote getter last week, but the judges decided to save him. And for what? So he could bore us to death with his flat and lifeless rendition of Time After Time. This week he will be the lowest vote getter again and there will be no saving him.

The Top 8 - Results

The Season 5 Miss American Idol 3rd Runner Up, Chris Daughtry, may not have won the crown, but he did go on to become one of the best selling finalists in the history of the show. Last year he released his 4th album called Baptized and the single Waiting For Superman has been slowly rising on the charts since then. After performing it on the show tonight it should get a good sales boost.

And speaking of sales boosts - the original song, Fairy Tale, that finalist Alex Preston performed last night is available for download on itunes and it is all the way up at #38!!! The songs by all of the Top 8 are available, but his is the only one that is having such an impressive and significant impact.

This week I am happy to report that I correctly predicted two of the bottom three. Unfortunately, Malaya Watson was in the bottom three along with CJ Harris and Sam Woolf. In his third week in the bottom three, Sam Woolf was finally the lowest vote getter and on his way out. His singing and personality are completely boring bland, but somehow as he was putting us to sleep singing for the judges save they actually decided to use it and bring him back next week!!!!

The Top 8 audition again!

This week the top 8 finalists were given the chance to re-sing the song they did at their original audition, but this time is was with the full band and in front of millions of fans.

Once again Alex Preston has come out as the front runner. He performed an original song of his called Fairy Tale that could easily be a hit for him. Jessica Meuse also shined tonight doing one of her original songs and it helped to propel her as a strong contender. Malaya Watson was so bad with her first performance in the top 13 that she should have been sent home, but after surviving that week she has consistently improved. Tonight she completely delivered Ain't No Way and she is on track to make it all the way to the finals.

My prediction for the bottom three this week is that same as last week. CJ Harris can only do one thing and unfortunately he doesn't really do it all that exceptionally well. Jena Irene made a mess this week of Rolling In The Deep. She has a very annoying voice and totally lacks any star quality. But the worst of the worst continues to be Sam Woolf who is so boring and bland watching grass grow would be more interesting. He has been in the bottom three for the past couple of weeks so this should finally be the week when he gets sent home.