The Rushfield Review: The last of the 36

We have now seen our next American Idol.  After all the buildup, one by one, all 36 warriors of competitive singing have been paraded before us. Somewhere in that lineup stood our next pop overlord; the one who 12 weeks from now will stand anointed in the footsteps of Clarkson and Underwood, Sparks and Cook.

It has been a shaky preseason, with semifinals rounds heavy on the train wrecks. The work of sorting the wheat from the chaff in this new format, having to pull out three singers from the pool of 12, has at moments over the last couple of weeks felt like work.  But in the final night of the semifinal rounds, "Idol" delivered a pool overall worthy of its legacy. 

The preseason has been short on "Idol’s" trademark star-is-born moments, but finally, in the very last performance of the semifinals, we got one and a star was born in tornado survivor Lil Rounds, who delivered a drop-dead Mary J. Blige that will live forever in "Idol" lore.

Here then is a roundup of the night:

Top 12-bound:
+ Lil Rounds (pictured): Belongs to the world now.

+Scott MacIntyre: "Idol’s" first legally blind contender delivered a solid if not earth-shattering “Mandolin Rain.” His Forrest Gump-like naïve, unguarded earnestness won the room though.

+ Jorge Nunez: "Idol’s" first great Latin heartthrob’s waterworks should melt enough hearts to see him through.

+ Ju’Not Joyner: Little seen in the preseason, which may mean he had too far to come tonight to win over the voters, but his quietly effective performance was one of the night’s best.

Wild card maybes:

+ Von Smith: Grated on America’s nerves in the preseason, but delivered well tonight with few traces of prior shoutiness. 'Tween appeal means he can’t be counted out.

+ Arianna Afsar: A favorite of the preseason delivered a misguided somber Abba rendition.  Her vocal skills and winning persona may earn her a second chance on Thursday.

+ Felicia Barton: Recalled after the Joanna Pacitti dismissal, Barton proved that she deserved a place in the Top 36, but is up against too much talent to break through this week.

+ Kendall Beard: Bubbly heiress to the Kellie Pickler country gal throne.  Likability could carry her through despite a so-so performance.

Heading home

+ Taylor Vaifanua: Very likable but stepped into the classic "Idol" teen pitfall of shooting for Celine Dion instead of Katy Perry.

+ Kristen McNamara: The Napa karaoke hostess was solid and likable, but that likely won’t be enough to see her through against a strong field.

+ Alex Wagner–Trugman: L.A.’s local nerd instantly cast himself into Vote for the Worst territory.

+ Nathaniel Marshall: The designated train wreck of the week came in as over-the-top as could be hoped for.

So it should go, but the "Idol" electorate works in ways mysterious it's wonders to behold. Will they follow the playbook?  We'll see Wednesday night, when the final pre-wild card seats are filled.

NOTE: Please join us tomorrow, Wednesday at noon PT for our post-game chat here at latimes.com/idoltracker.

SECOND NOTE: A previous version of this piece referred to the song Scott MacIntyre sang as "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me."  Thanks to commenter Daniel M. for catching that and alerting us.

 

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo:Fox

Rushfield Review: the semifinal frontier

It must be said that this has been one of the bumpier preseasons in "American Idol" history. The seat-belt sign has long since been lighted on a run featuring Bikini Girl madness, Tatiana hysterics, a joke contestant making past Hollywood,  a new judge, no clear front-runner, a new format with rules that remain mysterious, one expulsion and a couple of weeks of very uneven singing. 

But are we so PR-sensitive that we have been conditioned to believe all of the above is bad when, in fact, looking at it from the flip side, those are a lot of conversation starters for a show in its eighth season to put forth into the world, and the fact that all of those topics have dominated chatter for the last few weeks' shows how much the juggernaut remains the dominant force on the pop cultural scene.

The question also remains: Are these preseason bumps merely air pockets in a flight that is otherwise on course, terrifying but destined to be forgotten as soon as they pass?  Or are they a sign that a gremlin is loose on the wing, pulling the wires out of one of the engines?  It is hard to say at this point, but for a sense of the impermanence of our quibbles, it is hard to even recall that two mere weeks ago the punditry was up in arms that there was so little singing being heard.  In the end, all we really have to acheive in these rounds is find three acceptable singers a week. As painful as it may be to sort through the field, this is the work we take upon us in the quest to find our pop ruler.  And in the end, it will be who wins that we remember; not who came in 17th through 31st.

Some other burning questions raised by tonight's show:

—Can Anoop be saved?  He is the critics' favorite to be brought back for the wild card, but if every week puts through two boys and one girl, by the time of the wild card, the boys' ranks of the top 12 will be filled up and only girls' slots will be left.  Thus Anoop fans would be wise to vote for a girl tonight.

—Will Nick/Norman sink Adam Lambert?  Did Nick's performance poison the well for over-the-topness that will result in a backlash against Adam's just rightly over the top performance?

—How much eyeliner will voters tolerate on an Idol man?

Phil Stacey Blog: A rough night for Round Two

Coming into tonight’s "American Idol" broadcast, I was eager to see Matt Giraud and, of course, find out what Norman Gentle would end up doing. But an hour into the program, I was a little bored and felt bad for all the contestants. In my opinion, it was an utterly forgettable night.

However, as my job here is to give you my input as a former contestant, I would like to rant a little on something.  There is a claim that the "American Idol" process reflects that of the real industry. But tonight, which I would like to dub as "night of wrong song choices," "Idol" was anything but reflective of the industry.

In the REAL music industry, the record label does NOT let you go out and perform songs that are not right for you.  It doesn’t matter how much you love it. If it isn’t going to sell you, they won’t put their money into it. On the same hand, I know that it is against the rules for anyone from the "Idol" staff to help anyone because it may give someone an unfair edge. However, they do have a show to sell. It would be cooler to see people bust something out and kill it.

That being said, only a couple really shined; one was Allison Iraheta. And she chose an "Idol" big voice standard –- “Alone” by Heart.  Unfortunately for Allison, I still remember Carrie Underwood's performance of the same song in Season 4.  And when you are stacked against one of the greatest voices in the music industry, it’s hard to compete. But she did pull it out and I will be very surprised if she does not make it through this round.

Meet Your Top 36: The List

Here they are, with links to more info.  Somewhere in the column below, is the name of our next champion.

Kris Allen
Arianna Asfar
Kendall Beard
Anne Marie Boskovich
Ricky Braddy
Matt Breitzke
Casey Carlson
Megan Corkrey
Tatiana Del Toro
Anoop Desai
Stephen Fowler
Matt Giraud
Danny Gokey
Alexis Grace
Mishavonna Henson
Allison Iraheta
Junot Joyner
Kai Kalama
Brent Keith
Adam Lambert
Jesse Langseth
Nate Marshall
Scott MacIntyre
Kristen McNamara
Nick Mitchell
Jasmine Murray
Jorge Nunez
Joanna Pacitti
Lil Rounds
Michael Sarver
Von Smith
Jackie Tohn
Alex Wagner Trugman
Taylor Vaifanua
Jeanine Vailes
Stevie Wright

--Richard Rushfield

Photo:Fox

The Contenders: Meet Jeanine Vailes

Jeanine Vailes, "28 years young," auditioned for "American Idol" Season 8 in San Francisco. The short-dress, long-boot-wearing Sherman Oaks resident got encouragement from her sister to go for it this season on "Idol," and what do you know? She made it to Hollywood!

In the first Hollywood episode, Jeanine Vailes was featured alongside Joanna Pacitti and Danny Gokey in a fancy Range Rover-esque Ford SUV headed for the Kodak Theatre.

Jeanine always knew she wanted to be a singer-songwriter, from the time she was 4 singing in a church choir.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins