Idol 8 Wild Card Results

(Ricky Braddy, robbed by American Idol)

Listen to Ricky perform Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" (mp3)

This season really irritates me. Despite more unflawed vocals, Ricky Braddy was not picked by the judges for the Finals over some pathetic contestants. The show changed it up and put four in, not three, but of the three I predicted on Wednesday/Thursday's blog, all three were chosen: Anoop, Matt Giraud, Megan Corkrey. Jasmine Murray also advanced and that was no surprise either.

If he's so good, why not Ricky?

He's very good but they don't see him as commercial or fitting their desired demographic (numbers are down this season). As for Ricky, I don't know a thing about him but wish him well. My interest in the show is at new lows and I don't much care how it plays out.

Idol 8 Wild Cards

(Clockwise from Top Left: Megan, Jasmine, Ricky, Anoop)

Best - Great voice and control, good stage presence.

• Ricky Braddy

Next best - Decent voices; lousy songs or weird stage presence.

• Von Smith - Jesse McCartney looks with a far better range, people make fun of his wide open mouth singing, comes across as phony like a theme park attraction singer rather than recording artist.
• Anoop Desai - bad song, "drunken fratboy" vibe
• Tatiana Del Toro - sung the song ok but bizarre persona
• Jasmine Murray - pretty, ok voice, lousy song choice

Meh - No thanks.

• Jesse Langseth - mediocre voice, bad hair, weird outfit and presence
• Megan Corkrey - nice, quirky look and vibe, not a great voice
• Matt Giraud - weak voice, bad song, too much the Timberlake imitator, way over sold

That said I suspect these to go through to the Top 12: Giraud, Anoop and Megan.

I’m not really liking this season. Kristen McNamara was just great and deserved a WC slot but her song choice (Gimme One Reason - Tracy Chapman) and “sound” was probably panned as too “old skool.”

While I see potential in Kris Allen, I really don’t see anyone clearly relevant to the current market besides Lil Rounds.