While the theme (“A little bit of country, a little bit rock and roll”) might evoke Donny Osmond, most of the acts tonight felt far more modern, which is a good thing.

There was only one truly disastrous performance and that was CJ Harris’s country song, a theme you’d think he’d excel. But he chose a mid-tempo Zac Brown tune and botched it big time. I think it will cost him votes and kill his shot at making the top 5. Yes, my prediction is simple: CJ goes home tomorrow.

Jena Irene’s “So Small” did nothing for me either but I think [More]

Malaya Watson didn’t make it through the fire of her shaky performance last night and was ousted.

The excitable band geek with braces did make it far further than I expected when she entered the top 13. I was surprised she even made it to the top 13 in the first place.

She was an untamed lioness on stage, who had no clue what she was doing at first. Vocally, she was also all over the place. Even when she found her big notes, they lacked the fullness of more mature singers. She often sounded shrill, which is what happened last night.

I [More]

You have to wonder if the contestants are aware of the plummeting fortunes of ‘American Idol” among viewers as the show hits series low after series low week in, week out.  Past participants say they live in the ‘Idol” bubble, but in this day and age of social media, how can they not know? That has to be demoralizing for everyone involved to know the franchise is fading away before them no matter what they try.

But as the cliche goes, the show must go on.

“American Idol” went back to those moldy oldies of the 1980s, the period when MTV played [More]

I don’t think I’m going to change much in my Power 8 this week considering everybody performed decently last week.

The theme this week is the 1980s, which is pretty open. Season 7 winner David Cook will be the mentor.  That’s really oldies nowadays, isn’t it? Most of these contestants weren’t even alive during the 1980s! The song spoilers are out and it’s a bit disappointing. I won’t reveal them. (You can read them here.)

1. Caleb Johnson. He is so good with the rock genre, judges want him to go power ballad. “Here I Go Again.” “Love Bites.” “Wanted Dead [More]

Sam Woolf was the person I called to win this competition five weeks ago before the top 13 live show.

That was a mistake.

He hasn’t lived up to early expectations and has not improved enough to garner a bigger fan base.

Voters have placed him in the bottom three three times and he got the fewest votes this week.

But the  judges used their save for the first and only time this week. So nobody is eliminated.

Did Sam earn the save?

Marginally. His chances of winning over stronger performers such as Jena, Caleb and Alex are slim to none at this stage.

He clearly isn’t [More]

This year’s producers have tried to change up the themes this season to shake things up and maximize success for the singers.

No more narrower Motown, country or Billy Joel themes. Instead, they’ve gone as broad as possible. They’ve had songs since 2010, songs that involve a band and this week, the same songs they sang during their audition week.

The reason these eight singers are even here was because they nailed their song choice and performance before the judges at the audition cities. How could they blow songs they’ve practiced umpteenth times already?

As a result, this theme worked like a charm. [More]