Last night's elimination round may be the best one yet. American Idol voters astounded many fans when they failed to vote for Michael Lynche's performance on Tuesday night.
On the night the eight male contestants performed, Michael Lynche sang This Woman's Work and many fans like myself, felt that Michael sealed his place in the American Idol spotlight for season 9.
The results of last night's American Idol voting, proved what Benjamin Franklin said in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789: "...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
If you have been watching American Idol since the beginning, you know what that means. Many times people say that when a talented contestant with a large fan base, receives the lowest number of votes, it is because voters felt other contestants needed the votes more. I believe this was the case with Michael Lynche.
Michael Lynche receiving the fewest votes would have been more tragic, if it were not for the addition of the judges' ability to "save" an eliminated contestant. I am proud of the judges for realizing that their reviews of Michael's performance of Eleanor Rigby on Tuesday night may have cost Michael a chance to advance to the finale of American Idol.
I suspected that Michael was going to be in the bottom three after Ryan announced in the beginning of the show that it would be a shocking results show. I never guessed he would be the one eliminated, however. I did not think that was possible.
Last night, Ryan put all three of the remaining female contestants in a group on stage, and for dramatic purposes, led some viewers to believe one of the girls would be in the bottom three. I never liked the thing American Idol does with splitting the contestants into groups and then asking the judges which group they believe is the bottom three. One reason is that I think the judges already know who is eliminated before the show airs. The other reason is that it is just another way to drag out the results show.
Ryan then revealed that all three girls were safe and would be around for another week of competing. Taking a break from the eliminations, Jason Derulo performed, and it was simply another rap song among all rap songs, that have nothing to do with singing, so I fail to understand why they bring that onto a singing competition show because to me, rap has nothing to do with singing. After revealing the eliminated contestant, I wonder how people can think that this Jason is more talented that Michael Lynche, because I did not see that at all.
David Archuleta, American Idol's runner up in Season 7, performed John Lennon's Imagine, a song he performed during one week of competition in Season 7, and then in the finale as his choice. He can still sing the phonebook and I wonder how nervous some of the current contestants felt after hearing his flawless performance.
Finally getting back to the results, Ryan breaks the six male contestants up into two groups. Lee Dewyze, Casey James, and Tim Urban made up one group, while Michael Lynche, Aaron Kelly, and Andrew Garcia made up the second group.
Remembering what Ryan said about the shock to come, I figured the group with Michael, Aaron, and Andrew were the bottom three. I thought Aaron was the contestant with the least votes, but did not understand why that would be a shock after the judges' negative comments about Aaron's performance of The Long and Winding Road.
Then I wondered if the shock was that Lee and Casey were in the bottom three because the judges loved Casey's performance the previous night.
Leaving us hanging again, the other guest singer, Rhianna, performed. I hate to be the party crasher all the time, but I fail to see the talent in this woman as well. The song was awful; a repeat of the same line over and over again, the body gestures and the suggestive lyrics did not belong on American Idol, a show that has young and old fans. For the young, it was too much, for the old...well, it was also too much.
My teenage son thinks she has talent, but I think her performance was as offensive to American Idol viewers as some claim Adam Lambert's performance on the American Music Awards show was for them.
Personally, I do not mind the bumping and grinding as much if the person doing it can actually sing, and we all know how well Adam Lambert can sing.
Finally getting back to the real point of the show, Ryan sends Aaron back to safety, eliminating any shock value at this point for me, because eliminating Andrew would have worked for me weeks ago.
After Ryan announced that Andrew was safe, I was shocked, Ryan was right. I was so shocked, in fact, that I completely forgot that the judges had yet to use their 'save', and could put Michael right back into the competition, where he belongs.
While Michael gave the audience a stellar performance, proving he belongs in this competition, I saw the judges talking and remembered that they might very well use their 'save' on Michael.
After Simon tried to spice up the already disappointing results, by dragging the drama out further, he announced that the judges unanimously decided to save Michael and that he would remain in the competition.
For me, the judges redeemed themselves last night by not allowing the opportunity for one of this season's most talented singers, to slip passed them.
I disagreed with the judges on almost all of their reviews last night of the contestants' performances, so I was happy that they agreed with me last night and saved Michael Lynche.
Given the departure of Paula Abdul this year, and the threat of Simon's departure after this season looming, I am glad they gave credibility back to their job of constructive criticism.
The judges let the voters know that they eliminated the wrong contestant last night. I hope they learned a lesson last night, and will never assume that someone is safe, and will continue to vote for Michael Lynche in the coming weeks.
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