American Idol - Four More Gone

Nick Pedro and AJ Tabaldo performed their final verses in one of the corniest American Idol results shows I've seen in a while. And by a while I mean since last week. The show opened with the final 20 performing Joy To The World, possibly the corniest rock song ever written. The show also featured an corny but sweet performance from American Idol alum Kellie Pickler.

I always liked Kellie Pickler's personality but never thought she was that great a singer. They did her a favor by letting Ryan interview her because that really is what she does best - being adorable. She hasn't lost the small town charm that gives her the "it" quality sadly lacking in so many of the contestants this season. The song she sang seemed tailor made - about a father living apart from his daughter. She was in tears by the end of her performance, as was I. If you recall, she was raised by her grandfather because her mother abondoned her at the age of two and her father has been in and out of prison her whole life. Her life is basically the country song she was singing last night. And even though she sang most of it out of tune, it was still nice to watch her. Am I alone in believing that she had a boob job?

The other two contestants that went home certainly deserved to go. Leslie Hunt and Alaina Alexander both turned out mediocre performances in Wednesday's show. The biggest surprise was that Antonella Barba wasn't sent home but her demise is iminent. If she does make it past next week, I'll just have to assume that there is a national conspiracy to screw around with the American Idol formula.

SIDE NOTE
When Sanjaya was told that he was safe and that AJ Tabaldo was going home, he looked utterly surprised. Then when the judges were asked if the right people were going home, they claimed that they weren't and that this was a singing contest and implied the votes didn't reflect that.

For the record, AJ Tabaldo does not sing as well as Sanjaya Malaker. AJ Tabaldo deserves to go home as does Nick Pedro. Sanjaya is a trained singer with a beautiful natural voice. He's just lacking experience. I hope he pulls it together next week and chooses a really good song so everyone else can see what I see which is a shit load of hardwork and talent that deserve recognition. I would love to hear him sing some really cool contemporary Indian music or some cool Qawwali music.