The Top 3 Sing

The Top 3 finalists will all sing three songs tonight: The first one will be selected by mentor Jimmy Iovine, The second will be selected by Mariah Carey and the rest of the judges and the third will be selected by the American Idol producers.

Round One:

Kree Harrison started out the night with Perfect that was a hit for Pink in 2011. The song has a nice message, but vocally it didn't offer her much to do. Overall it was a flat and lackluster performance.

Candice Glover put her own spin on One by U2 from 1991. Her outstanding vocals were a wonderful match this song. She sounded like a pro.

Angie Miller took on the hit that Elton John took to #6 in 1976, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. It was subtle, lovely and showed off her entire vocal range. She decided to just stand center stage rather than play piano and the choice completely worked in her favor.

Round Two:

The judges chose Next To Me by Emile Sande that is currently #36 this week on the Billboard HOT 100 for Candice Glover to sing. It allowed her to perform something fresh and vibrant while also showcasing her exceptional vocal abilities.

The judges chose Try by Pink that peaked at #9 in 2012 for Angie Miller to sing. This is an example of a finalist delivering a performance that far surpasses the original. Angie's vocal range is nothing short of incredible and she brought amazing energy and presence to the stage.

The judges chose Here Comes Goodye by Rascal Flatts for Kree Harrison to sing. Once again, it was a simple little song that when paired with her bland performance style left no impression to speak of.

Round Three:

For the first time in the evening Angie Miller sat at the piano for her performance of Maybe by Emile Sande that the American Idol producers selected for her. With this performance she illustrated the bottom line that separates her from the other finalists: Angie is the total package. She is an exceptional singer with the most impressive vocal range, she looks amazing every time she takes the stage and she is an accomplished musician. On top of that, she is also a songwriter. She should easily make it to the finals next week and she should be the ultimate winner as well.

That sound you hear is the energy being sucked out of the room when Kree Harrison starts to sing. She contributed nothing to Better Dig Two by The Band Perry that the American Idol producers selected for her. It sounded even more dreary and morbid than the original.

At only 23 years old, the American Idol producers added a few decades to Candice Glover's age with their selection of Somewhere from the classic musical West Side Story. Now that being said, she definitely has the vocal skill necessary to do it justice. Very well done.

After seeing and hearing all of these performances tonight it became very clear that Angie and Candice should be the ones to make it to the finals next week. They are stepping up their game and delivering outstanding performances every time. Kree does not seem to be putting much effort into her performances and she should be eliminated tomorrow night.

The Results - Shania Twain

Unstoppable by Rascal Flatts is the latest in their long string of hits. They opened tonight's results show with an inspiring performance of this song.

Lee, Aaron and Crystal are safe leaving Michael, Casey and Siobhan as the bottom three this week.

Sons of Sylvia is a new band that is getting a huge break with the release of their new album - they are going on tour with the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season Four winner, Carrie Underwood! She was here tonight to introduce them as they performed their latest single. It was good, but to hear them at their best you really must listen to their duet with Carrie, What Can I Say, that is track 12 on her latest release, Play On. It's an outstanding song that is packed with emotional lyrics and wrapped up in an amazing vocal arrangement.

The best song of 2010 so far is actually a song that was a huge favorite in 2009 as well. Lady Antebellum released their single Need You Now last year and it was instantly a huge hit on the country charts, but it didn't stop there. This fantastic song about drunk dialing in the middle of the night just keeps getting more popular. With the Academy of Country Music Awards winners for Best Vocal Group performing tonight on the American Idol stage their audience of fans is certain to get even bigger.

Shakira is one of the first beneficiaries of the American Idol Bump when her single Hips Don't Lie skyrocketed to #1 on the Billboard HOT 100 after she performed it on American Idol in 2006. Tonight, she's sure to be hoping for a similar bump for her latest single, Gypsy, which she performed with Rascal Flatts.

Both Casey and Michael are safe which means that Siobhan Magnus is going home way too soon. She left the audience with one last performance of Think - you better think about what you're trying to do to me...

This week I only got one of my predictions correct with Casey being in the bottom three.

The Top 12 boys take their first shot...

After the lackluster performances from the girls last night, the boys have hopefully learned their lesson and are ready to blow us away tonight...

Todrick Hall is 24 and he decided to sing Since U Been Gone that the Season One Miss American Idol winner took to #2 in 2005. You have to applaud Todrick's effort to mix it up and take this pop rock anthem and turn it into a hip hop jam, but his weak vocals took all the excitement away.

Aaron Kelly is 16 and he decided to sing the 2009 Rascal Flatt's hit Here Comes Goodbye. Aaron took a risk by singing a song with the word "goodbye" in it as he could be predicting what he'll be doing tomorrow night. The vocals were pretty good, but the performance was plain boring.

Jermaine Sellers is 27 and he decided to sing Get Here that went to #5 for Oleta Adams in 1991. Jermaine did his best to over sing this jazzy old person favorite and make it more exciting than it actually was.

Tim Urban is 20 and he decided to sing the 2007 hit Apologize that hit #2 by One Republic. Tim owes many people including One Republic and the entire listening audience an apology for taking up 5 minutes of our lives with this bland offering. Next time it is suggested that everyone turn the volume down and just look at his cuteness without listening.

Joe Munoz is 20 and he decided to sing the non-hit You and I by Jason Mraz. It wasn't a hit for Jason and this forgettable rendition will not be a hit for Joe either. His nice vocals did very little to leave much of a mark.

Tyler Grady is 20 and he decided to sing the classic rock anthem that hit #1 in 1970 from the Guess Who, American Woman. Tyler has the image to be an entertainer in the spotlight, but his vocals simply aren't that good.

Lee Dewyze is 23 and he decided to sing Chasing Cars that was a hit in 2006 by Snow Patrol. Lee is the raspy singer that the rock fans are going to love, but he kinda made the song almost unrecognizable with his screaming.

John Park is 21 and he decided to sing the jazz standard made famous by Billie Holiday, God Bless The Child. This song was clearly very special to John, but even his impressive vocals weren't enough to make it sound current and fresh for a new audience.

Michael Lynche is 26 and he decided to sing the 2004 top 5 hit by Maroon 5, This Love. It's most noticeable that Michael is a really big guy taking up space on the stage, but he actually has some talent in there as well.

Alex Lambert is 19 and he decided to sing a complete hot mess disaster called Wonderful World. This poor young guy was such a nervous wreck on stage that it was a huge relief when it was finally over.

Casey James is 27 and he decided to sing the lovely ballad that Bryan Adams took to #1 in 1985, Heaven. Casey has a very easy going manner and vocal style that worked well with this familiar old favorite.

Andrew Garcia is 24 and he decided to sing the 2005 top 10 hit Sugar We're Going Down by Fall Out Boy. Andrew did his best to reinvent this fun rock song and make it into a boring acoustic ballad. It showed some originality, but it went in the wrong direction.

I wouldn't have believed it could be true, but the boys actually did worse than the girls! None of them really took advantage of the opportunity to make an exciting first impression. Casey James and Michael Lynche should be safely coming back next week, but the rest of these guys better hope their moms are calling in many votes to save them. I predict that Tim Urban and Alex Lambert will not be so lucky when the votes are counted....

The People's Choice

The 2010 People's Choice Awards were on tonight and as expected, The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season Four winner Carrie Underwood has added yet another award to her collection. Based on the online voting process Carrie won the award for Favorite Country Artist. She was up against Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift and managed to come out on the top of the heap!

Season Five Miss American Idol 3rd Runner Up Chris Daughtry was in the category of Favorite Rock Band, but he ended up losing to Paramore. Season Three finalist and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson was in the category of Favorite R&B Artist but she was up against the biggest superstar of all-time, who of course ended up getting the most votes, Mariah Carey.

And in another instance where there was no competition, in the category for Favorite Competition Show it's no surprise at all that American Idol, still the highest rated show on TV, was clearly the People's Choice and the winner.

As we get closer to the start of the ninth season of American Idol we can look forward to meeting an entirely new group of finalists who will hope to someday be the people's choice. We can look forward to Ellen Degeneres joining as a judge and seeing if any of the music will make an impact on the charts this year. And as a matter of fact, the winner of the People's Choice award for Favorite Talk Show was the Ellen Degeneres Show!

Speaking of having high hopes of having chart impact, Season Five Miss American Idol 1st Runner Up Katherine McPhee is releasing a new album today called Unbroken. In her new video for the single Had It All she's almost unrecognizable from the finalist who stood next to Taylor Hicks when he won the crown as she has dyed her hair blond! Will the music buying public know it's even her? Next week we'll be able to see how well it sells to debut on the Billboard albums chart.

Also coming up this Monday January 11th is the premier of something new and completely different from Season Three Miss American Idol winner Fantasia. She will be starring in her own reality show on VH1. I can't wait to see it and see if she can get some more singles or albums back on the charts as a result of this kind of promotion.

The Top 9 sing the Top itunes downloads

The top 9 finalists had the chance to visit with Ryan in the radio studio this week as he counted down the Top 40 hits of the week. The top 40 is tabulated by combining the songs with the most radio airplay with the songs with the most sales into one comprehensive chart. Sales and Airplay is what it's all about in the music business and that's what these finalists hope to achieve. Here's how they sound trying to sing the songs that are currently the top selling downloads at itunes:

Usher hit the top 10 in 2006 with Caught Up from his top selling multi-platinum album, Confessions. Anoop Desai wants so much to be in the same league as Usher, but this performance showed very clearly that he is not. While he has demonstrated his ability to sing some nice and soulful vocals, his stage presence is simply not up to par.

I'm not really sure how Bob Marley's Turn Your Lights Down Low qualified as a top download, but Meagan Joy performed it somehow. It was more of the same bouncy quirky essence that she delivers every week. If you are a fan you will like it, but if not, you are ready to see her go.

Rascal Flatts had a huge #1 Country Hit in 2006 with What Hurts The Most. Danny Gokey has already shown us that his limited vocals are perfect for butchering a Carrie Underwood song and tonight he has done the same to Rascal Flatts. Every note was strained, weak and so much worse than the original.

It was 1995 when No Doubt dominated the airwaves with Don't Speak. Alison Iraheta made her big pink hair even bigger as she played her guitar in accompaniment to her rocking vocals. She did a great job adding her raspy edge to this great song. Very well done.

In 1978 Billy Joel won the Grammy for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Just The Way You Are after it peaked at #3 on the Billboard HOT 100. (I'm really not understanding the theme this week) Scott MacIntyre sounded great with this piano anthem. His vocals were very strong and he continued with his signature warmth and sincerity. Last week he allowed his people to dress him in pink pants and tonight he let them give him a big moussed up 80's hairstyle. It's kinda funny, but he needs no gimmick to shine - his genuine talent is all he needs.

You Found Me by The Fray is currently #23 on the itunes Top Songs chart. Matt Giraud seems, like me, to have taken a more literal interpretation of this week's theme as he played his piano in the middle of the audience and performed this hit. This week he didn't make a fool of himself as much as he did last week, but with only his vocals to consider, they just weren't that good. Boring and bland is all that can be said.

In 2002 Celine Dion released I Surrender on her album A New Day Has Come. In addition to showing us a new hair style every week, Lil Rounds makes a genuine effort to give us something different every week. Tonight it was a straight up adult contemporary power ballad. Her vocals are far superior to most of the other finalists, but it would have been nice if she had served us a current hot selling hip hop song. We know she can do it, but she's not illustrating it every week. I don't ever want to hear her sing Celine Dion again.

Wild Cherry became a one hit wonder after spending three weeks at #1 in 1976 with Play That Funky Music. Adam Lambert decided to try and take this classic oldie and make it sound current and fresh. Every week he has shown us that he is not going to play it safe and tonight this rendition was captivating and energizing. He leaves us looking forward to what unexpected and exciting thing he's going to do next week.

Bill Withers peaked at #3 in 1971 with Ain't No Sunshine. Kris Allen put down the guitar, sat at the piano and showed that he's so much more than a pretty face. This completely different arrangement would make a video that is worth both watching and listening to. An excellent presentation.

So this Top itunes downloads theme ended up being an unfocused sloppy mess, but there were still some good performances that came out of it. My top five continues to be Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta. The others are simply failing to impress. While Danny Gokey is an over-rated tragedy on stage I'm going to stop predicting that he will end up in the bottom three. That leaves my prediction being Anoop Desai, Meagan Joy and Matt Giraud. I think Anoop will be going home.