American Idol Grammy Nominations

The nominations for the 59th Grammy Awards have been announced and once again there were some Miss American Idol finalists who heard their names called.

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson is nominated for the Best Pop Solo Performance for her track Piece By Piece that she performed live this season when she was a guest judge. 

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, is up for Best Country Solo Performance for her track Church Bells.

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner Fantasia is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance for her track Sleeping With The One I Love. 

The winners will be announced on Sunday February 12th.

And the Season 15 Miss American Idol winner is...

We all know this is the last season of American Idol and whoever wins tonight will be the last Miss American Idol winner. So while Trent and La'Porsha wait patiently all of the fans were treated to the most fantastic parade of Miss American Idol Superstars!

The show opened with a close up on La'Porsha starting the opening line of Barry Manilow's hit, One Voice. But just like in the song, her voice was joined by one Idol alum after another. It was a rousing and spectacular opening and triggered the first of many tears to be shed throughout the night.

Way back in the finale for Season 1, Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini performed a duet of It Takes Two. Tonight, Trent and La'Porsha paid homage to that historic moment with a recreation of that performance.

Idols are Top Earners!

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood tops this year's list of the highest-paid "Idol" alums, pulling in $31 million thanks to platinum-selling "Blown Away," extensive touring and endorsement deals with the likes of Olay. All in all, Underwood has earned $83 million over the past five years, and she's one of many acts continuing to profit from her exposure on the show. 

Kelly Clarkson ranks second with $7 million, banking the bulk of her bucks on the road. She's followed by 2012 winner Phillip Phillips and 2009 runner-up Adam Lambert, who are tied for third with $5 million apiece.

"Adam used the launching pad of 'American Idol' very well to have a successful recording career," says his co-manager Martin Kirkup. "I think the main part of his career still lies ahead of him."

Phillips, meanwhile, has been quick to capitalize on his 2012 "Idol" win. His coronation song, the Mumford-esque "Home," went on to sell more than 4 million copies--the best of any in Idol's history -- and his debut album earned platinum certification. He's been adding to his coffers on the road, playing more than 90 shows in our scoring period.
The show itself, now entering its 13th season, is on a more dubious trajectory.

Ratings have dipped 30 percent each of the past two years, a trend that "Idol"'s brass is trying to stop by revamping the show. There's a new set, new lighting, new theme music and new judges: Harry Connick, Jr. and Jennifer Lopez will join Keith Urban, the lone holdover from last year's trio.

Despite the negative trends, last year's winner Candice Glover should be optimistic: Phillips and Scotty McCreery, who ranks sixth with $3 million, are reversing a trend of recent winners who've gone on to have underwhelming solo careers. Even older victors like Fantasia Barrino (2004) and Taylor Hicks (2006) cracked the list, with $1.5 and $2.5 million in income, respectively.

"The platform of 'American Idol' changed my life," says Hicks, who now owns a restaurant in his native Alabama and recently became the first Idol alum to land a Las Vegas residency. "I am very thankful. ... To have that platform has allowed me to blossom."

Earnings estimates are calculated with the help of data from Pollstar Pro, the RIAA, Nielsen SoundScan as wells industry veterans, the musicians' handlers and some of the artists themselves. These numbers reflect pretax earnings from June 2012 through June 2013.

Older graduates of the show no longer have to worry about handing back the bulk of their bucks to "Idol," but more recent winners must turn over about half of their income -- before paying any remaining agents, managers and attorneys, not to mention Uncle Sam. Last year, McCreery estimated he'd only pocket somewhere around one-fifth of his gross earnings, though he didn't seem to mind too much. "It's depressing when you look at it, but I'm still making a good amount," he said. "I'm not in any way complaining ... I'm doing a lot better than I was a few summers ago, living off the coin jar in my truck."

American Idol Superstars 2013

Even though there are new singing competition shows on that are getting attention, none of them are getting close to the standard that has been set by American Idol. While people might be gossiping about X-Factor and The Voice, the reality is that, they are complete failures at finding or creating new music superstars. In the many seasons that these shows have been on, there hasn't been a single finalist or winner to even make a ripple in the real world.

The American Idol winners and finalists, on the other hand, can be found actually working and thriving in the music business. Many of them have become viable stars on their own apart from their initial American Idol exposure. They are winning awards, appearing on TV shows, starring in movies, getting radio airplay and the public is buying their music! Just look at the impact the American Idol Superstars had in 2013: 

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner Phillip Phillips was all over the radio with his two hit songs Home and Gone Gone Gone. According to the Billboard Year End charts he had the #14 album of the year! He was even nominated as the Favorite New Artist at the American Music Awards.  

The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner Scotty McCreery released his third album and saw it come in at #1 on the Billboard Country albums chart. At the American Country Awards he actually won the award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. 

The Season 8 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Adam Lambert started appearing on the hit TV show Glee where his distinctive singing, dancing and acting style is being put to use every week. 

The Season 5 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Katharine McPhee completed her starring role in the musical drama series Smash. 

The Season 5 Miss American Idol finalist Kellie Pickler is a consistent award nominee for her country music and this year she ended up winning the Mirror Ball trophy on Dancing With The Stars. 

The Season 5 Miss American Idol finalist Mandisa has totally dominated the Gospel world with the release of her album Overcomer. She has earned three Grammy nominations for her music this year. 

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner Fantasia released her 4th studio album and has also received impressive critical acclaim including three Grammy nominations. 

The Oscar winner and Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson starred in the movie Winnie Mandela that is now streaming on netflix. 

The Season 2 Miss American Idol winner Ruben Studdard was a contestant on this season of the Biggest Loser and he has already lost over 100 pounds. Even though he has been eliminated, by the end of the season he hopes to lose another 100 pounds. 

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson started out the year by winning her third Grammy (Best Pop Album) and she ended the year with the very successful release of her holiday collection, Wrapped in Red topping the charts and also allowing her the opportunity to have her own Christmas TV special. 

2013 Year End Charts

The #1 album on the Billboard charts for all of 2013 is The 20/20/ Experience by Justin Timbelake.

There were some very strong showings from the Miss American Idol finalists on the 2013 year end charts. The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips has the highest ranking at #14 with his album The World From The Side Of The Moon. The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood comes in at #31 with her album Blown Away. The Greatest Hits album by Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson lands at #42. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, comes in at #98 with his holiday collection Christmas With Scotty McCreery. Side Effects of You from the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner Fantasia is the #104 album of the year. The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson also ends the year at #170 with her holiday collection, Wrapped in Red.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood had the #9 Country Album of the year with Blown Away. The Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, has two albums on this chart. Christmas with Scotty McCreery is at #25 and he comes in at #47 on this chart with his debut album Clear As Day.

The Top 5 singles for 2012 on the Billboard HOT 100 are: #1 Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, #2 Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, #3 Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, #4 Harlem Shake by Baauer and at #5 Can't Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

The Miss American Idol finalist who makes the highest showing on the year end singles chart is Season 11 Miss American Idol winner Phillip Phillips with Home at #46 as well as Gone Gone Gone at #61. The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson is on the year end chart at #68 with Catch My Breath.

The Miss American Idol winners also had an impressive showing on the Billboard 2013 Top Artists of the Year chart:  The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips ends up at #26 while The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood comes in at #43. The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson lands at #47.

American Idol Grammy Nominations

The nominations for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards were announced, and an impressive eight nominations went to three Miss AMERICAN IDOL finalists and one IDOL judge. 

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, got three nominations: 

Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Get It Right" 

Best R&B Song for "Without Me" feat. Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliot

Best Urban Contemporary Album for Side Effects of You

This makes Fantasia an 11-time Grammy nominee! She won the award once in 2010 for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for “Bittersweet.”

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, got one nomination: 

Best Country Duo/Group Performance "Don't Rush" feat. Vince Gill

Kelly will be going up against Idol judge Keith Urban in this category for his song "Highway Don't Care" with Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift

This is also Kelly Clarkson's 11th nomination, and she's won three times before!

The Season 5 Miss American Idol 8th Runner Up, Mandisa, also has three nominations: 

Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance "Overcomer"

Best Contemporary Christian Music Song "Overcomer"

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album "Overcomer

Mandisa has received three Grammy nominations previously in her career, and that number has now doubled to six.  

The Grammy Award winners will be announced on January 26, 2014.

Fantasia is #1

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, has made a strong debut at #1 on the Billboard top R&B albums chart with her fourth studio effort, Side Effects of You. 

This was good enough for her to start out at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with one week total sales of 91,000. It matches the 2004 "American Idol" winner's highest rank, logged when her 2010 set "Back to Me" also debuted and peaked at No. 2 with first week sales of 117,000). However, "Side Effects" represents the smallest opening week for Fantasia, though it's not all that far from the sales start of "Back to Me" almost three years ago.

The Results - DIVAS

This is the first time in 12 Seasons of American Idol that the Top 5 finalists have all been girls. And on top of that, they are all very talented.

The Top 5 girls opened the show with a Disco Diva medley of some classics from the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. They started with Last Dance, Heaven Knows, Dim All The Lights and closed with She Works Hard For The Money. They all did a great job.

Also adding to the Diva theme of the week was the surprise appearance from former American Idol judge and hit maker, Paula Abdul. She showed her appreciation and support for Candice who had just done a wonderful job with her interpretation of Paula's first #1 song, Straight Up.

The Season 2 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up, Clay Aiken, came back to the Idol stage to talk about the success of his charity, The National Inclusion Project, as well as remind us all that he is still one of the best vocalists to ever graduate from the competition. He performed an outstanding rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water just like he did way back then during his time on the show.

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, has a new album coming out next week and she came back to perform the first single, Lose To Win. She tore the house down with her unique and passionate R&B style and impressive vocals.

It was then revealed that Kree and Janelle were the two lowest vote getters. When Janelle had to sing for her life she performed her amazing take on You Keep Me Hanging On, but it wasn't enough to convince the judges to use their save.

Unfortunately, I got my prediction wrong this week. It's sad to see the vibrant, likable and bubbly Janelle be eliminated while the drab and bland Kree is coming back for another chance.

The Top 10 sing the American Idols!

The Top 10 finalists must select a song that was performed by a previous American Idol winner:

Curtis Finch Jr. selected the winning single from the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, that hit #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 in 2004. I Believe is a wonderful R and B Gospel, anthem that Fantasia truly soared, but Curtis simply does not have the same impressive range. It fell a little flat in comparison.

Janelle Arthur selected a song that Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, performed once. Gone by Montgomery Gentry allowed Janelle to strut around the stage and belt out some aggressive and strong vocals. She definitely showed more style and personality that Scotty ever did.

Devin Velez selected the song Temporary Home that hit #1 on the Billboard Country Songs chart in 2010 by the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood. He has a very nice voice, but where Carrie made it into an emotional showcase with her outstanding vocal range, it sort of just fizzled with Devin. This shouldn't hurt him too much for now, but he needs to really make more stand out choices in the future.

Angie Miller selected a song that Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson performed. I Surrender by Celine Dion truly highlighted the fact the Angie is the front runner in the Season 12 competition. She looks fantastic on stage and her vocal range is pure, powerful and effortless. Genuinely wonderful!

Paul Jolley selected another song that Scotty McCreery did once. This time it was the Billboard HOT 100 #1 hit from 2001, Amazed by Lonestar. Paul provided a toned down tender vocal that illustrated his range and abilities. He's a good guy and very talented.

Candice Glover selected a song that the Season 6 Miss American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks, totally took through the roof, I Who Have Nothing. Candice was able to take this very challenging song and tear another hole through the roof. This girl knows how to take command of the stage and sing!  

Lazaro Arbos selected the title track from Kelly Clarkson's huge hit album, Breakaway. He completely immersed himself in the lyrics expressing all the vulnerability and raw emotion in him. Lazaro is an absolutely charming and sincere presence on the stage and it comes through in everything he does. He can do no wrong.

Kree Harrison selected a song that Carrie Underwood performed. Cryin by Roy Orbison is an emotional and vocal rollercoaster that Kree merely performed going through the motions. While her voice sounds strained at times it is pretty good, but she completely lacks any personality, stage presence or style. She's a nice, frumpy girl but she is completely forgettable compared to Janelle, Angie and Candice.

Burnell Taylor selected the winning single from the Season 2 Miss American Idol winner, Ruben Studdard, that peaked at #2 on the Billboard HOT 100 in 2003. Flying Without Wings is a simple little inspirational ballad and, to be blunt, Burnell did nothing with the song. It actually sounded like he was straining to hit most of the notes.

Amber Holcomb selected the winning single from the Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, that hit #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 in 2002. A Moment Like This set the standard and as Amber stood center stage and belted it out with her joy and enthusiasm she easily lived up to that standard.

The girls did a great job tonight so none of them will be in my prediction for the bottom three vote getters of the week. The three boys who will be at risk of going home are Curtis Finch Jr., Devin Velez and Burnell Taylor. I think Curtis will be the one going home.

The Top 10 Boys take their first shot

The Top 10 Boys can sing any song of their choice to try and win your votes:

Elijah Liu started the night out with a performance of Rihanna's hit Stay that is currently in the Top 10 this week. He is young and cute and this song presented himself as a pop star who is ready to be loved by the masses.

Cortez Shaw also took on a song that is presently dominating radio airplay. The recent #1 smash from Bruno Mars, Locked Out Of Heaven, allowed him to have fun and show off his dance moves as well as sing. He is very handsome, but his voice isn't the most impressive instrument of the group.

Charlie Askew is clearly on a search to find himself with this American Idol experience. He started out as a quiet awkward kid and now he is a loud and obnoxious awkward kid. He performed Mama by Genesis and he went out there playing dress up and looking kinda silly and foolish. And then there was the completely messed up vocals. Hopefully it was therapeutic for him, but it was unpleasant for us. 

Nick Boddington sat at the piano and performed a sincere and vulnerable rendition of Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. He is a very nice guy who is clearly passionate about music and that comes through when he performs. 

Burnell Taylor tried to recreate the magic of the showstopper I'm Here from the musical The Color Purple. Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, does this song and totally hits it out of the park, but Burnell just sounded like he was going through the motions. It lacked spirit, energy and left us without delivering a big powerful ending. 

Paul Jolley is a tall, handsome and talented singer with a great smile. The song choice  wasn't as strong as it should have been, but his personality and voice helped to compensate. He needs to lighten his style so he doesn't come off as so serious.  

Lazaro Arbos has already won my heart in the past few weeks and he solidified it even more with his stellar performance of Feeling Good. The Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson has made this song her own and now we have witnessed another Idol take it for himself. Lazaro is charming, sweet, easy on the eyes and his voice will just make you melt. 

Curtis Finch Jr. hoped that his gospel infused rendition of R. Kelly's I Believe I Can Fly would make us all believers. While he has the passion and the heart every time he hits the stage, the problem is that his vocals aren't that impressive. 

Devin Velez delivered the pop standard It's Impossible with effortless vocal ease. He has a smooth voice with a great range that he can sing in both Spanish and English. American Idol may have found their first international superstar. 

Vincent Powell attempted to tackle the huge #1 hit from 1993 End of the Road by Boyz II Men. Unfortunately the song proved to be too big for him. His vocals got lost in there, even though we know he's good. He just didn't show it tonight. 

The boys were supposed to bring their A Game tonight, but many of them didn't seem to get the memo. Here's my prediction for who I think should make the Top 5: Lazaro Arbos, Paul Jolley, Devin Velez, Elijah Liu and Nick Boddington. 

Phillip Phillips is #10

The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, can now claim his first hit on the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart. His single, Home, that he sang during the finale, sold a very impressive 278,000 downloads in it's first week available and it enters the chart all the way up at #10.  

With Phillips' single landing in the Top 10, he ends a three year absence in the upper portion of the chart for the debut single from Miss American Idol winners. The last victory single to reach the Top 10 was The Time Of My Life from Season 7 Miss American Idol winner David Cook that peaked at #3 in 2008.

For the record, the Season 8 Miss American Idol winner, Kris Allen, hit #11 in 2009 with his winning song No Boundaries. The Season 9 Miss American Idol winner, Lee DeWyze, was only able to get to #24 in 2010 with his winning song, Beautiful Day. And last year, the Season 10 Miss American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, hit #11 with his winning song I Love You This Big.

Incidentally, for the first 5 seasons of American Idol, the show was able to generate a #1 smash hit on the Billboard HOT 100 singles chart starting with A Moment Like This by the Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson. The Season 2 Miss American Idol 1st runner up, Clay Aiken, topped the chart with his single This Is The Night. Fantasia, The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner hit #1 with I Believe. The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, reached #1 with her winning victory single Inside Your Heaven. The last #1 winning single came from the Season 5 Miss American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks and his hit Do I Make You Proud.

And the Season 11 Miss American Idol winner is....

The Season 11 Top 12 finalists opened the show with a very fun group performance of the Bruno Mars track Runaway Baby. It was great to see Colton, Deandre, Skylar and Hollie out there showing off what they can do.

Credence Clearwater Revival accumulated 17 top 40 hits on the Billboard HOT 100 in the four short years between 1968 and 1972. They did them all with the impressive lead vocals of John Fogerty. John took the stage with Phillip Phillips to sing Have You Ever Seen The Rain and Bad Moon Rising and what stood out most is that after all these years John still a a great vocal range that makes Phillip's pale in comparison. 

The Season 11 2nd Runner Up, Joshua Ledet then performed the Elton John classic Take Me To The Pilot with the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner Fantasia. With their voices and musical styles being so similar it was hard to distinguish where Joshua ended and where Fantasia began. But then all you had to do was realize that Fantasia was the one wearing the glittery body suit that was slit up and down both legs! And she thought everyone was going to be paying attention to her glamorous, silky long hair....

Erika, Elise, Shannon, Skylar, Jessica and Hollie performed a medley of Chaka Khan favorites including Ain't Nobody and Through The Fire. It culminated with the diva herself joining them on stage to sing I'm Every Woman. It seems like she took fashion advise from Fantasia as she chose to rock a glittery body suit as well.

Since 2006 pop princess Rhianna has been cranking out #1 hits on the Billboard HOT 100 with We Found Love, Only Girl in the World and S&M being the three most recent. With tonight's explosive performance of Where Have You Been it's quite likely that she could be adding another one to the collection.

Skylar Laine then had the opportunity to strut her country girl stuff for a duet with legendary superstar Reba. They performed her recent hit, Turn On The Radio and they were both in their element looking and sounding great.

Early in the season, Jessica Sanchez set herself apart as the clear front-runner with her exceptional rendition of the Whitney Houston smash #1 hit from 1992, I Will Always Love You. Tonight she recreated the moment with flawless vocal perfection.

Colton, Heejun, Jeremy, Deandre and Joshua took over the stage to sing the Neil Diamond anthems America, Cracklin' Rosie and I'm a Believer. The grand finale came when the man himself joined in for Sweet Caroline. It was quite the fun karaoke party on that stage!

Jennifer Lopez took advantage of the chance to perform in front of this huge audience. She served up some more of her signature dance, latin, pop music.

The Season 3 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Diana DeGarmo and Season 5 Miss American Idol finalist Ace Young have been maintaining their music careers on the Broadway stage where they had a chance to meet and get to know each other better. In a romantic surprise Ace took advantage of being back on the American Idol stage to ask Diana to marry him and she immediately accepted.

Hollie Cavanagh showed off her amazing voice on You'll Never Walk Alone and demonstrated what a fierce competition it would have been if she had been in the finals going head to head with Jessica Sanchez. Hollie welcomed the Season 6 Miss American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks on stage with her and this turned into a lovely duet with two beautiful young women. Colton, Heejun, Jeremy, Deandre and Joshua then got together one more time to perform a Bee Gees medley in tribute to Robin Gibb

Jessica Sanchez continued to be the front-runner throughout the season when she performed the dramatic ballad from DreamGirls, And I Am telling You I'm Not Going. Tonight she had the privilege of singing it with the original artist who set the standard that all other have tried to live up to, the amazing Jennifer Holliday. It was truly electrifying to see them together and actually keep pace with each other.

Since Jennifer had her turn to perform, it was only fair that Steven Tyler and Aerosmith also got a chance to perform a medley of their hits.

Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes spent three weeks at #1 in 1982 with Up Where We Belong. It was a classic combination of the soft paired with the scruffy as Jessica and Phillip did one last duet together. They then both went center stage to have the final results revealed. The Season 11 Miss American Idol winner is.... PHILLIP PHILLIPS!

He took his guitar, he sang his debut single Home, and the glitter fell around him as he held back tears.

  

The Top 7 - two songs

Each of the top 7 finalists will sing two songs tonight.

Hollie Cavanagh got things off to an amazing start with her outstanding rendition of Adele's Rolling In The Deep. It was the biggest #1 hit song of 2011 as well as the Grammy winning Record of the Year. Hollie used her impressive vocal instrument to raise this song to an even higher level. It was confident and entertaining.

Colton Dixon kept things at a high energy pace as he rocked out his own version of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance that peaked at #2 in 2010. He definitely made it his own while still staying true to the dramatic performance art vibe that Lady Gaga originally created.

Elise Testone did her best to compete as she performed the Alicia Keys #1 hit from 2007, No One. But rather than presenting an effortless expression of her talent she seems very strained and forced.

Phillip Phillips kept things in the strained and forced direction as he attempted to sing the song that Usher took to #1 in 2001, U Got It Bad. Instead of being able to demonstrate any range or levels of dimension in the song, it was just unpleasant from beginning to end.

Jessica Sanchez brought the night back on track with a musical master class worthy interpretation of Alicia Keys #1 hit from 2001, Fallin. Her voice is pure, powerful and passionate. She looks like a seasoned professional as she takes the microphone and completely owns the stage.

Skylar Laine provided a down home country version of Lady Gaga's 2011 #1 smash Born This Way. The vocals were good and it was a perfect fit for her image.

When Fantasia was crowned as the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner in 2004 she hit #1 with her first single, I Believe. Joshua Ledet used this inspirational anthem to showcase his ability to be up there with the winners. It was an ideal match for his vocal range and it showed off his talent at his best.

Hollie Cavanagh makes singing clear and perfect notes look so easy. She has a true gift and it comes through every time she is on stage. And Wow! she looks so cute in her outfits and high heels. This time it was an adorable pink mini while singing Dusty Springfield's Son Of A Preacher Man that hit #10 in 1968.

Earth Wind and Fire had a #8 disco hit song in 1978 with September, but Colton Dixon re-imagined this jam as a piano driven ballad. This arrangement was a smashing success to connect him to an even bigger and broader audience.

When Marvin Gaye hit #1 in 1973 with Let's Get It On, he made history with one of the sexiest songs of all time. Elise Testone was completely lacking in any connection to this song with this awkward performance.

Wilson Pickett hit #21 in 1965 with In The Midnight Hour. This song fit the narrow, limited range of Phillip Phillips perfectly. This is all that he knows how to do, but even this was weak and boring.

Otis Redding made a classic out of his #25 hit Try A Little Tenderness from 1966. Jessica Sanchez delivered a rousing new classic version for 2012 with her vocal throw down performance. It was raw and emotional while still being a cut above the rest.

Skylar Laine gave the fans another country version of a popular favorite. This time it was I Heard It Through The Grape Vine that Gladys Knight took to #2 in 1967. Skylar is starting to go on auto-pilot doing the same thing every time regardless of the song.

A Change Is Gonna Come hit #31 in 1965 for Sam Cooke. Joshua Ledet provided more of his classic soul vocals on this great song. Each note was packed with determination and sweat.

My prediction for the bottom three this week is an easy one: Phillip Phillips, Elise Testone and Skylar Laine. All three of them have nothing new to show us and no ability to grow into bigger and better music artists. It is time for these three to fade away and let the remaining stars in the competition shine. Elise should finally be the one going home.

SUPER American Idols!

Fun Fact: in the last 5 years the National Anthem at the Super Bowl has been performed 4 times by an American Idol finalist or winner! 2008 - Jordin Sparks, 2009 - Jennifer Hudson, 2010 - Carrie Underwood and 2012 - Kelly Clarkson!

In addition to the Season 1 Miss American Idol winner doing the National Anthem at this year's Super Bowl, there was also some significant presence of some other Idols there over the weekend.

The Season 3 Miss American Idol, Fantasia, brought the house down with a rousing performance at the 2012 Super Bowl Gospel Concert.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood, performed a live concert for CMT Crossraods at the Super Bowl Pepsi Fan Jam with American Idol judge Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. They performed duets of many of their hits including an astounding mash-up of their songs Dream On and Just A Dream.

Super Bowl weekend ended with the premier of the Season 5 Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Katherine McPhee starring in Smash. There were so many commercials for Smash shown during the game that it was sure to be a huge hit in the ratings. It's a great show and it desrves to be a huge hit!

The Results - Elton John

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood took I Told You So to #9 on the Billboard HOT 100 in 2009. Tonight Lauren and Scotty gave us their own inferior interpretation before hearing the news that they are safely returning next week.

Ashford & Simpson had a #12 hit with Solid in 1985 and Jacob and Naima tried to do it justice tonight. Right afterward Jacob learned that he is safe, while Naima is the first to be in the bottom three.

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, made a return trip to perform the third single from her Grammy winning latest release, Back To Me. She looked wonderful in a sparkly red gown and a fresh new blond do. The song, Collard Greens & Cornbread, is a fantastic slice of retro, old school fun and her vocal performance was perfect.

Thia, Haley and Pia then took the stage to perform the super-awesome best song of 2010, Teenage Dream, that Katy Perry took to #1 for 2 weeks. Thia and Pia continue to sound great while Haley is just confusing. In an unfortunate twist, Pia and Haley are both safe while sweet and talented Thia had to join Naima in the bottom three.

Paul McCartney and Wings hit #1 in 1974 with Band On The Run and the four remaining boys, James, Stefano, Casey and Paul all combined forces to make their own band and perform the incredible pop masterpiece. After the mis-guided judges save from last week, Casey learned that he is once again coming back to scream at us next week. James and Stefano are also safe leaving Paul to round out the bottom three.

Because the judges save was used last week, we are unfortunately losing two of the bottom three this week. With Paul being revealed to be safe that means that the very talented Naima Adadepo and Thia Megia are leaving the competition way too soon and instead of others who should be leaving before them.

I correctly predicted that Paul's hot mess of a performance last night would land him in the bottom three, but America is clearly throwing their pity party votes to Casey. Hopefully, the sympathy votes won't last long. Also, I now am very suspicious of what is really going on that is keeping Haley coming back each week. She is seriously not good.

Lip Sync For Your Life!

Next to American Idol, the best reality competition show on TV is RuPaul's Drag Race. If you have not seen it, you really should see what you've been missing as they compete to show off their Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent to be crowned the Next Drag Superstar!

In a very exciting pop culture collision the worlds of American Idol and RuPaul's Drag Race came together last night when the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, was a guest judge on the the show!

The queens needed to create three looks to walk down the runway that showcased distinct hairstyles. It was three times the fun as usual and one of the best episodes EVER!

At the end of the show two of the queens must lip sync for their lives in order to avoid elimination and they song they used, Even Angels, was from Fantasia's latest album. The two drag queens put everything they had into this performance, but this song required that they be able to portray all of the emotional depth in the vocals and lyrics, and one of them just wasn't up to the task. RuPaul had to tell Shangela that it was time to Sashay Away.

Fantasia on the Drag Race!

Some very fun television to look forward to:

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, will be a guest judge on Monday's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race!

Now in it's third season, RuPaul's Drag Race has been providing some of the best entertainment on TV. Fantasia is sure to add some of her special R&B diva energy to the show. :)

Fantasia Brings Home A NAACP Image Award!

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia's newest album, Back To Me, achieved another great milestone this weekend after winning a NAACP Image Award.

Fantasia's first single, "Bittersweet," won the award for Outstanding Song against talented musicians like Sade and Alicia Keys.

The Top 12 girls take their first shot...

Tonight we get to know what these top 12 girls can really do - they can pick any song they want to present themselves to America for the first time:

Rihanna took Only Girl in the World to #1 in 2010. Ta-Tynisa Wilson used this Grammy winner for Best Dance Recording to strut her stuff in high heels and belt out some big notes. She did a pretty good job showing off her potential to be a radio friendly hit-maker.

The Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia, performed Summertime and to this day set the standard for best Idol performance ever. Naima Adedapo did her best to mix things up with a more bouncy and light jazz arrangement to make the song her own. She was actually quite successful showing off a great vocal range and professional performance style.

Christina Aguilera included Impossible on her 2002 album Stripped. Kendra Chantelle has a nice voice and is quite pretty, but she didn't add anything special or exceptional to her performance of this very hot album track.

Fiona Apple took Criminal to #21 in 1997. Rachel Zevita served up an almost unrecognizable burlesque version of the song that was partially entertaining, but sort of awkward as well. It's clear she has ambitions to be an all around entertainer, but this performance did not showcase her voice at it's best.

Mariah Carey took Hero to #1 for four weeks in 1994. Karen Rodriguez stepped up to the challenge and and hit it out of the park with her wonderful Spanglish interpretation of this popular favorite. She exuded stage presence, confidence and class.

Lauren Turner took the stage and presented herself as a sort of female version of Season 5 Miss American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. She was singing some bluesy number and she was running around all over the stage.

Monica released Love All Over Me from her under appreciated 2010 release Still Standing. Like Monica, Ashthon Jones definitely has all the necessary qualities to be chart-topping hit-making DIVA herself. She looks beautiful and her voice can powerfully belt out the big notes with passion and emotion.

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, took Breakaway to #6 in 2004. Julie Zorrilla should unfortunately not expect to have any success after her very weak rendition of the song.

Alicia Keys took Fallin to #1 in 2001. Alicia went on to become a Grammy favorite winning Best New Artist, but Haley Reinhart should not expect the same results at all after this forgettable and clumsy performance.

Irene Cara took Out Here On My Own to #19 in 1980 from the Fame Soundtrack. Thia Megia stood center stage in a spotlight with almost no musical accompaniment and showed all of the other finalists, both the boys and the girls, what it's like to have a truly pure and exceptional vocal instrument. Thia is exactly the kind of talent that American Idol was made for. If America has any sense at all, this extremely talented 15 year old is on the track to reaching her very own success story to FAME!

Country music superstar, Reba, is having current success with her latest single Turn On The Radio. Lauren Alaina infused this fun anthem with some youthful energy and did a great job showing off her nice voice and fun personality.

The Pretenders took I'll Stand By You to #16 in 1994. Pia Toscano did not hold back at all in her genuine efforts to show off that she is the whole package - voice, confidence, beautiful good looks, and stage presence.

Now it's up to America to vote so you can go online to support your favorites at http://www.americanidol.com/. My top 5 will be: Thia Megia, Pia Toscano, Karen Rodriguez, Ashthon Jones and Naima Adedapo.

Thia Megia is the clear front-runner by a wide margin. :)

Fantasia - Grammy Winner!!!!

In the 10 year history of American Idol there have only been three finalists who have gone on to win Grammy recognition:

The Season 1 Miss American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson was acknowledged with two Grammys for her 2005 megasmash Breakaway and Since U Been Gone.

Season 3 finalist and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson got a Grammy for her debut album.

And, of course, the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood has the most Grammys with 5 including the 2006 Best New Artist and then the 2006, 2007, and 2008 honor for Best Female Country Vocal.

But now another Miss American Idol has joined this elite group as the Season 3 Miss American Idol winner, Fantasia has won the 2011 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal for her fantastic song Bittersweet.

Unfortunately, Carrie Underwood did not win again in her category this year and neither did the Season 8 Miss American Idol 1st runner up Adam Lambert. He ended up losing to Bruno Mars who had a great year with his #1 hits Just the Way You Are, Grenade and Nothing On You.