Wildcard Round: American Idol Season 8

I can almost smell the kick-off for American Idol Season 8’s “real” competition. Now that the first top 9 of the final 12 have been indentified, previous contestants will have a shot of becoming the final 3 that would complete the top 12 that will get to compete to become the American Idol winner for this season.

Some of those that skirted through the first 9 positions in the top 12 were tough competitors, but after a four-year absence, the Wildcard mechanic to the show was brought back. This provided an opportunity for previous contestants that did not get enough viewer votes to prove themselves yet again, this time to the judges. Personally, this delighted me as some of my favorites in the top 36 did not make the initial cut.

Before providing a rundown of the eight contenders vying for the three wildcard positions, let’s do a little recap of the first 9 contestants who are set to compete in the top 12.

First round:

*Alexis Grace

*Jeremy Michael Sarver

*Danny Gokey

Second round:

*Adam Lambert

*Kris Allen

*Allison Iraheta

Third round:

*Lil Rounds

*Scott McIntyre

*Jorge Nunez

Two people I am most pleased about of making it into the Wildcard round after failing to get enough votes to make the top three for their respective batches are Megan Corkrey and Anoop Desai.

Simon Cowell of Anoop Desai: original, likable and talented.

Anoop Desai impressed judges right off his initial audition and during the Hollywood elimination. But more importantly, he endeared several fans of the show. He did a pretty magnificent job with his rendition of Monica’s “Angel of Mine”. But he was undeniably a part of a tough group during the first batch of elimination round. Cowell referred to Anoop as “one of the easiest decisions out of the eight [for the Wildcard]“.

Megan Corkrey is one of the judges' favorites all along.

These two contestants have the talent, plus they are both spirited and fun performers. I believe they’d deliver much to the weekly competition, if they do make it to the final 12.

The rest of the eight contestants vying for the final spot after the Wildcard round include: Matt Giraud, (drama queen) Tatiana del Toro, Von Smith, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, and Jesse Langseth.

idol marathon

My entire weekend consisted mainly of listening to my younger brother lament the fact that he has to say goodbye to his teenage years, and me confirming just why I deserve the title of being the world’s biggest couch-potato there is (haha, no puns!). Yes, aside from the fact that I was feeling too lazy to get out of the house (despite Ed’s insistence on me getting to do more outdoor stuffs and exercise), I have found one reason to make the television set my bestest buddy even just for this weekend.

And come on, pardon me, okay? I mean, everyone’s so hyped up over this whole “American Idol” frenzy. This weekend was probably the only time I was able to sit down and watch the entire season, on a marathon at that. Yes, it started out from the auditions to the trimming down of the contestants to twelve, and up to the final two Davids. And my dad’s quite confident that Cook had this in the bag (so reminiscent of Paula’s comment that she is “looking at an American Idol” after one of Dave’s performances on the Neil Diamond episode). I agreed with him, but wouldn’t make it quite obvious because he thinks he has an ear for music (sorry dad!).

Watching AI actually led me to make the following observations:

1) That Jason was eventually doomed, and was quite lucky he went as far as top 4.

2) This was probably one of only few times that Simon gave some “good” feedbacks (as he likes to play the role of the “hard-to-please” judge) on a contestant’s performance, most of them on Dave Cook’s.

3) Such a pity for Carly when she finally got a thumbs-up from Simon, that’s when she was sent packing (kiss of death, indeed!).

4) Quoting Randy Jackson to Jason Castro: “But you’re a beautiful guy!” (under ordinary circumstances, that would have been taken as a compliment, right?).

And lastly, 5) David Cook. Hmm, how can any man look so good and sound so well at the same time? If I would have been single, the thought of him alone would have made me glad I was. haha

That’s it for now. Can’t wait for the finale.