Idol Chatter - Two Must Go!

It's Elimination night and no one is safe from exiting the show after the judges used the first ever Judge's Save last week to extend the Idol career of Matt Giraud. We start the evening with seven Idols, but by the time you finish reading this entry, there will be but five vying to join Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, David Cook, and the other who came before them. I'm predicting double the tears of a normal elimination show and to help the tears along, Idol has invited last year's runner-up, David Archuleta, to sing one more time on the Idol stage.

A night after singing Disco songs as solo artists, Ryan brought on the Idols to shake their groove things while lip-syncing to "Shake Your Body Down (to the Ground)" by The Jackson 5--dance steps courtesy of Idol judge and famed choreographer, Paula Abdul. As far as elimination night group sings go, it was alright, but they have to get rid of the lip-syncing--this is a singing contest and the Idols should be allowed to sing. But it's over now, so I'll just have to let it go because there is so much more to report from the show--we're less than 10 minutes into the 60 minute snooze-fest.

At minute 14, Ryan asked to dim the lights and then he had Lil Rounds stand up to get the recap from last night (not good) and learn her fate (even worse). Ryan escorted her to the far end of the stage and then dropped the bomb--that her Idol journey ends right here, right now. Wow! I'm not shocked that she is gone--I predicted it during last night's show and I pretty sure Lil knew it was going to happen as well, but to be booted so early in the show has to be a huge blow to the ego. If it's any consolation for all of you Lil Rounds fans, she sounded the best she has since the first week of the finals. The judges all offered Lil encouragement as she moves on to new things--including the Idol tour this summer. Hopefully Lil finds herself, hooks up with a record company, and puts out a killer R&B album. She's got mad singing chops, she just forgot to use them the last several weeks.

So with a half-dozen Idols sitting nervously on the sofa, Ryan introduced Disco Diva, Freda Payne to sing "Band of Gold". Looking quite nice in her sparkly floor-length dress, Freda pretty much made a mess of the song--I'd say she's lucky America wasn't voting for her survival on Idol because she would be sharing a ride home with Lil.

Once Freda was done butchering her song, she introduced Thelma Houston who looked pretty much like Big Bird in a yellow frock and Jason Castro-inspired dreadlocks piled upon her head. Like Freda, Thelma didn't sound that great as she performed her Disco-era anthem, "Don't Leave Me this Way". It appeared that she couldn't hear the band, the background singers, or herself for that matter--not good.

Let's see what KC of KC and the Sunshine Band can do with "Get Down Tonight". Looking a little chunkier than in his heyday and wearing a bright--and I mean BRIGHT, red shirt, KC was flanked by four dancers/back up singers who helped him sound a whole lot better than he really did. Nice move, KC, draw attention away from your has-been vocals and "steal" the night from the Disco re-treads.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I am a big fan of Disco-era songs, but after watching those three destroy their most famous songs, I'm rethinking my allegiance to that genre of music.

Back to the elimination process and the darkened studio. Ryan asked Kris to stand up and quickly sit back down because America still likes him. Adam was next and after chatting with Ryan about his decision to rework the fast-paced song into a power ballad, he took a seat--no big shock. Danny was also safe and lives to sing another song and try to impress Simon next week.

As happened last week, Anoop found himself in the Bottom 3--which has turned into a B2 with Lil's early exit. The final member of the B2 was going to be either Allison or Matt. Would judge's favorite Allison be sent to the stools or would Matt be facing double jeopardy? Ryan did his thing and quizzed Allison on her choice to make crazy changes to her song--she felt she had to to avoid the dreaded Karoake label. Ryan also asked Matt if he made the most of being saved by the judges last week--he said "yes"...but what was he supposed to say?!

After building up the drama, Ryan finally announced that the second member of the Bottom 2 was...Allison! That's right, America saved Matt and put Allison in danger of being sent home. Talk about drama--and a bit of an upset. But just because she is in the B2 doesn't mean she's going home...or does it?! We'll have to wait to find out after Archie sings a little song for his fans.

Looking even younger than he did last season when he made it all the way to the final 2, David had the tweens in the crowd clapping and singing along with him as he smiled his way through "A Little Too Not Over You" which was definitely not written by David's English teacher. When he finished, he and Ryan shared a hug and some mindless chit-chat. David sounded out of breath as he told his adoring fans he was headed to the UK for some concert gigs and then he offered some advice for Anoop and Allison before we were mercifully sent to commercial.

When we returned from commerical, Ryan told Anoop that he didn't receive enough of the record 45 million votes and he is going home. I think the only person surprised at this turn of events was Anoop who, if nothing else, is one confident Tar Heel. As is the Idol custom, Ryan gave Anoop the microphone to sing one last time on the Idol stage. Anoop looked rather casual with his hand in his pocket as he delivered an irony-filled version of "Dim All the Lights"--and quite well at that.

And because Idol managed their time better tonight than in recent weeks, we got the chance to watch Lil and Anoop's Idol journey which reminded everyone of why these two made it as far as they did on America's #1 show.

Now there are five Idols fighting it out for a chance to wear the Season 8 Idol crown. Tune in next Tuesday to hear what songs they sing for your votes and a chance to make it one step closer to their dream.

Until then, I will continue watching TV so you don't have to...

Peace!