The Top Ten - and who makes the Summer Idol Tour

I found the Results Show!



This determines the ten people who make the Summer Tour - and that is worth a decent amount of monthly income as well, of course, as plenty of good publicity for career progression those who didn't win but still did well. So for the one person missing out tonight this is a particularly rough deal - worse really than coming 8th, 9th 10th.

Ben and Majesty are the first two declared as in a bottom three this week. I would not have put Majesty there. We also learn that MK had been in the bottom two twice running so she must have not been as popular before as I'd expected. Having said that, she has clearly redeemed herself now, coming at least 7th. I must be missing something about Malaya who seems to be through pretty easily. After a timing problem with the band Jessica still makes it which I'm glad about as she has something special about her.

The Bottom Three this week are Sam, Majesty and Ben. Surely Majesty must be safe. But no, it's Sam who gets 8th place. Majesty gets 9th and that leaves Ben to sing for what is an option for the panel to save him. Quite what that means about making the tour I don't know. Maybe if they don't save him it won't arise anyway.

I think coming 11th is about right and still a damn fine achievement so well done, Ben, but no, there's not going to be any save.

Just a thought as I watch these shows with more of Ryan Seacrest than the auditions showed. he is looking decidedly older, or something has changed about his face that makes him look a bit odd now. Perhaps the makeover team need to sort him out a little. A fine host, though.

The Top 12 Perform. Ben and Malaya look vulnerable.

Here are just the Top 12 performances with no commentary in between. Again, make your mind up! One has to go. Kristen left last week after a pretty poor effort. This week they all seem to have upped their game somewhat.

As before, I have included the whole show at the end of this post.

Jena

Another good performance. A bit desperate at the top of notes and not stunning. he has to stand comparison with Jessica and I feel she is losing.

Alex

He lost his way a little, maybe concentrating on the electric guitar more than he should have been. That made this a bit boring and not as inspiring as his first week. He ought to be safe though. He reminds me of a young Dylan and is definitely a stand-out in this competition. I reckon he stands a chance of winning, despite ths less than memorable week.

Jessica

With No Surrender Jessica managed to equal Dido if not actually out do her. A very well-presnted track and she is reay ahving a good series so far. She is up against Jena in some ways and so far is winning. This is classy and you start to feel that you can believe her and also rely on her to come across well.

Dexter

Good ol' boy doing Good Ol' Boy things. He does them well enough, but is this really what we want of an American Idol? In 2015.

Emily

Yes. She is piutting a very firm marker down in this competition with Let's Get Loud. marvellous and that was what the audeinec wanbted. real taleny and she seem to be diverse too.

Caleb

Another strong and very competent number that is unlike anything else on this show. How can he survive? I suppose as the one and only of that genre he is mathematically more likely to survive than the three or four counry dudes. Except for the Texas vote.

MK

A much better track this week but a much more nervous and flailing performance that showed lots of vulnerability. That may not do her any harm but she'll be gone if she continues in that vein. Nice genre but not well performed

CJ

He's OK, but needs better songs, This just started and stopped and he didn't get a chance to do anything much with it that we could remember. He shouldn't go just yet but he'll have to pull a lot more out of the bag to survive much longer. Maybe he's just cruising at the moment.

Sam

Definitely appealing to the girls and the Country scene with a gentle rolling number that was ideal for his voice and this stage of the competition. He could have put himself up there in the top 3 with that. well done. Not as good as Jessica but good, nevertheless.

Malaya

Someone ust have had a word with her after last week. Better hair and stage presence generally and she is in more control. Well, up to a point. She is dreadfully off key most of the time and screeching at the top notes like a wailing mouse rather than hitting them like a decent performer that we might pay for should.

Ben

Great voice and so easy-going on stage as if he has been there for years. Nice tone and he makes some effort to get a message across but loses that and it finishes rather worse than he would have wanted.

Majesty

With the blue painted guitar and the classic Fix You she ends the Top 12 show with a very, very clear lead. There was a major wobble as she sang I'll try... near the end but that will probably get forgiven and I imagine she won the week hands down.

The Top 13 perform, or just try to, as the case may be

With no transmission of the series now in UK I shall use this excellent set of clips which will give you a good idea of who did what. This excludes all the judges' comments but that's not such a bad thing at this stage. Make your own mind up! If you want to see the whole show, it's at the end of this post.

I spotted Alex & Sierra in the audience. There are two or three who really don't look like staying and one or two who have made a clear mark on the leader board.

Dexter

Dexter kicks off this season's Live Shows. Not very well, though. He's a Country-style boy but this was pretty tedious and very uninspiring. Some would have turned off I imagine. He is competent but the song was rushed and just a mess to listen to. Not much to watch either.

Malaya

Oh dear. This was awful. Malaya was running through this with no feeling whatsoever. Running too, far too fast and losing the rhythm and any hope that we might want to stay with her. An odd performance in many ways, with trousers that just looked grubby. She needs to start again.

Kristen

Another nervous and wobbly performance from this girl. She didn't look too great this week either and won't have done anything to help gain the fans she'll need to survive. A beautiful disaster? No just a disaster. Sorry, Kristen but that was almost as bad as Malaya's.

Ben

The first to sound confident and at home. Good ol' Country stuff but with a bit of a hard edge. He can sing fine, this guy. He could be anything between 50 and 95, though. Not too sure about his audience being AI voters.

CJ

Another reasonably confident performance although was so uninspiring I almost fell asleep. The guy's pleasant and talented but I don't see him getting far. He deserves to get further than the first three though, I have to say, on present form.

MK

A great singer but she is taking a huge risk with this number for her first live show performance. She really ahs an unusual, jazz-influenced style that could well be very cool and perhaps even the next big thing but it just seems a bit earlier to go to extremes with the voters she needs at this stage.

Majesty Rose

At last! This is someone who, as Randy would have said, is in it to win it. A speedy number that is almost flawless. Excellent. the best by far so far.

Jena

A little shouty but no more than can be fixed with some guidance. She has a strong voice that isn't too tinny like some and she has the power to convey emotion well as well as looking good on stage. She deserves to stay a while.

Alex

Superb performance! He doesn't look ike someone who would win Amrican Idol but this was so good, better than Majesty and she was damn good. That could be the performance of the night. Amazingly good first effort by Alex.

Jessica

Another good one. maybe they saw the first few and realised they needed to do something a lot better. I like this girl and her tone is soulful and determined. She deserves to be around for some time yet too.

Emily

The prettiest girl and she can sing and hold our gaze for more than just the way she looks. Nice job, with feeling and if the voters are like X Factor USA then she stands a good chance of reaching the final stages.

Sam

Sam Woolf is another who deserves to keep going. He has a good voice and knows what he's doing. This wasn't as appealing as some of the others before him have been but so much better than many of them.

Caleb

The rocker - like something from the 80s American Heartbeat era. He has a great voice and this was flawless and powerful up to a point, but only so far. Maybe the song was wrong but it didn't pull us in and, despite nice studio echo effects, it just didn't go anywhere and the ban sounded a bit thin as backing for him. A talented guy, for all that who may stay a while if the voters are into his thing.

This is your Top 13 for the Live Shows.

I'm confused again as the programme starts by saying that '20 have performed'. No they haven't. 10 girls have and 10 of 15 boys are about to. Or have we missed something in an effort to catch up with the States?

We get glimpses of some of the guys performing but no more and then Ryan is announcing the first person through. So here are the ten that get though on the votes of Idol fans: Malaya, Ben, Emily, Alex, Jessica, Dexter, Caleb, Majesty, MK and Sam. So they're the ones who have made the best impression on voters. The guys are an extraordinary bunch - not exactly guys who we'd expect on a model calendar!!

There are three wild card entries that the judges will decide. They get five more to perform. CJ Harris is first - a super performer and singer who I expected to have appealed to the public. He is totally natural, obviously loving the music and just such a nice guy. He gets a lot of criticism from Harry about something having gone wrong and both he and Keith felt he'd not maintained a contact with the audience. Interesting.

Next up is Jena Irene with a last chance. She did really well and surely won't be accused of not connecting. That was excellent.

Spencer Lloyd, the good-looking one, gets a chance. The show needs him, really it does, with its crazy male line-up at present. That was an underwhelming sort of performance of Ordinary Girl but he's popular with that crowd for sure. He is modern and in the time zone, unlike quite a few others.

Fourth with a shot is Bria Anai. She does It's A Man's World very effectively and oozes talent that none of the others have shown so far in a way to compete at all. Surely she must have saved herself with that performance.

Harry thinks it was all over the place, though. Hmmm, that was surprise.

Last is Kristen O'Connor. Her Unconditional is poor, however, as she is drowned by the band and begins to look a bit desperate.

I'd put through Bria, Jena and Spencer or CJ.

Jena makes it. Kristen does. Wow. Didn't see that coming. Last one - CJ! Great. Not what I expected them to choose but well done.