So some of my friends went to see The Last King of Scotland tonight, and a) I wasn’t terribly excited to see the film (I’ll see it eventually, probably, but eh) and b) AMERICAN IDOL COMPETITION STARTS TONIGHT. Yeah, I’m obsessed. It’s a sad thing. By the way, I was watching American Idol Rewind the other day, where they’re repeating Season One, edited a bit. And it’s BAD. Really. The production values are crap, the talent isn’t that great (I was like, wait, this person and KELLY CLARKSON in the same group of 30 singers? No way)…they haven’t gotten to the Top 10 yet, but in the semi-finals, there’s not even a band! Just a piano. I’m sort of glad I didn’t start watching then. I probably would’ve stopped. Seriously. (Seriously? Seriously! Sorry. Grey’s Anatomy moment.)

I’m gonna keep track of all the songs sung and everything, but I’m not always that good at IDing songs if they don’t say, so if I put a question mark, help me out if you can. (I’ll get them all caught up later from other recaps.)

Rudy Cardenas
song: Free Ride
original artist: Edgar Winter

Nice upbeat start to the competition. Nothing too incredible, but not, you know, bad.

Brandon Rogers
song: Rock With You
original artist: Michael Jackson

His voice is like butter. Gorgeous. But that’s not rocking, as he says he’s doing in the song. I don’t know if that’s the song or the way he’s singing it. But like I said, love his voice.

Sundance Head
song: Nights in White Satin
original artist: The Moody Blues

Meh, sort of off. A bit better than Hollywood week, not as good as the audition. Apparently he just needs to sing “Stormy Monday” every time.

Paul Kim
song: Careless Whisper
original artist: Wham! (also performed by George Michael)

Really weak falsetto, the rest was fairly forgettable.

Chris Richardson
song: I Don’t Want to Be
original performer: Gavin McGraw

Please be good, Chris. Okay, a definite step up from the last ones. ‘Bout time. He was actually into it, looked comfortable, very nice.

Nick Pedro
song: Now and Forever
original artist: Richard Marx

Okay, he can be my man whenever he wants. I’m not totally sure what I like so much about him. But I really, really do. It wasn’t a terribly memorable song, but I still like him. He should do more standards. Because I like him, and I like standards. See the logic there?

Blake Lewis
song: Somewhere Only We Know
original performer: Keane

I don’t think he’s one of the strongest singers, but that was very nice. I’m really glad he chose that song. The show needs more indie pop. Also a good choice not to beatbox…we needed to know that he doesn’t need it.

Sanjaya Malakar
song: Knocks Me Off My Feet
original performer: Stevie Wonder

Aw, he’s so sweet. And it wasn’t that bad. Guys, it wasn’t THAT bad! It was pretty. Randy just doesn’t like anybody singing Stevie songs, because he’s totally in love with Stevie.

Chris Sligh
song: Typical
original performer: Mute Math

Don’t love the song, but he did a’ight.

Jared Cotter
song: Back at One
original artist: Brian McKnight

What a little hottie. A few pitchy notes, but the falsetto was very nice.

A.J. Tabaldo
song: Never Too Much
original artist: Luther Vandross

I enjoyed that…he’s comfortable, he’s into it. The judges are right, though, not challenging for him.

Phil Stacey
song: I Could Not Ask For More
original artist: Edwin McCain

Okay, I may have to revise my opinion of him. I was quite impressed. One of the better performances of the evening.

Top Performances: Phil Stacey, Blake Lewis
Going Home: Sundance Head, Rudy Cardenas, or possibly Paul Kim
What do y’all think?

I’m making a playlist of the songs as originally performed: You can see that here, but due to copyright restrictions, the site requires that the playlists be at least 45 songs long before it will play, and then it does it randomly. Still, it’s one of the better legal sites for listening to full songs, so that’s why I’m using it. Next week there’ll be enough songs for it to play and I’ll embed it over here.