After weeks of America’s votes choosing the contestants that will continue on to the top 12 on American Idol, the judges were given their say with the wild card round.
On Wednesday night Paula, Kara, Randy, and Simon chose eight past semifinalists to take a second shot at landing one of the coveted spots in the finals: Tatiana Del Toro, Anoop Desai, Megan Corkrey, Ricky Braddy, Jesse Langseth, Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray, and Von Smith.
Each contestant got the chance to use the criticism they recieved when they originally got the boot and wow the judges. Unfortunately, not eveyone took advantage of their second chance. Many fell victim a second time to poor song choice.
Jesse Langseth’s bluesy voice is one to marvel at, but sadly, she doesn’t know what to do with it yet. Her performance of “Tell Me Something Good” didn’t show off her golden pipes.
Von Smith was another casualty of bad song choice. He struggled to find the right key to sing in when he started “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” and never got on track.
Tatiana Del Toro opted to sing “Saving All My Love For You,” a song she’s performed on the show twice before. An annoyed Simon tried to get to the bottom of her choice to sing the song so many times, but ended up cutting her off when she attempted to explain, saying her answer was “rubbish.” She claimed she couldn’t clear a new song in time, when said she just loves the song.
Anoop Desai also repeated his song: Bobby Brown‘s “My Prerogative,” but he added a new, funkier spin to it, showing off sexy moves no one knew he had.
Ricky Braddy showed more personality than he did in his first performance, but choosing a song like Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition” almost always comes off as karaoke delight.
Jasmine Murray went against the judges urges to choose a younger song and picked the big Christina Aguilera ballad “Reflection.” Her risk paid off. She showed off amazing range that surprised all of the judges.
Megan Corkrey picked a song as quirky as she is: “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree,” and although it was resoundingly flat overall (not to mention the horrid dancing), the judges fell deeper in love with her “current” sound.
Matt Giraud, who admitted Coldplay is who he wants to be like in the industry, did a little backtracking and fell into the soul lane again. His soulful voiced shined bright on “Who’s Loving You?” And even though Simon trashed what he was wearing, everyone agreed his performance was great.
After everyone performed, it was time for the results–and there was a big surprise.
Jasmine Murray was first to receive the news that she’d be continuing on.
Megan waited to find out her fate with Tatiana. When it was announced that Megan would go on, Tati broke down. Paula gave her a pep-talk before she left the stage in tears.
It came down to Matt and Anoop. The guys waited in suspense as Simon paused to create drama. He eventually announced that Matt made it through. Anoop, clearly disappointed, was ready to leave the stage. He was stopped by the judges. Simon then announced that the judges decided only recently that there would be a top 13 and Anoop would live to sing another day on the Idol stage.
So for the first time in American Idol history we have a top 13! See the top 13 perform next Tuesday and find out who will be the first to go home next Wednesday.
I dont even like these people but Anoop took my heart real quick…maybe its the indian love I have but anyway Simon saying Anoop made it..first top 13..I was shock and happy. I know Anoop wont let us down!!
poor Tatiana, but it was inevitable that she would be cut anyway; I just hope there aren’t any more “wildcards”