Who Should Go Home on ‘American Idol’?

The field is down to thirteen finalists.  Though last night was much better than last Wednesday night's performances, there were still more bad singers versus good singers -- in my opinion.

I thought Lauren Alaina shined last night.  Despite fighting the flu, she worked the crowd, put her own country twist on Melissa Etheridge's music and gave a pretty good performance.  It was not flawless by any means, but I felt she really gave it her all even though she wasn't feeling well and still managed to out do almost all of the other contestants.

Pia Toscano and Scott McCreery have been very consistent thus far.  However, I'm starting to get bored by both of them.  Pia only sings epic type songs and Scott needs to be careful not to completely tire out the country angle.  They both need to do something  fun and/or entertaining to work the crowd more.  Though I don't think either will go home this week, I think Pia & Scott need to step it up a bit with their stage presence. 

Haley Reinhart was't too bad vocally.  She started off a little shaky, but snapped out of it quick.  It was just a little painful at first because you didn't know what direction she was headed in.  My only recommedation for Haley, after seeing the last few weeks, is get some dancing lessons.  Watching her trying to move around on stage is more painful to watch than it is to listen to her.  Otherwise she'll have the whole package.

Casey Abrams sang the first ever Nirvana song in "American Idol" history.  Though it was not bad, like Jennifer Lopez said, Kurt Cobain did not scream when he sang that song.  Though its a passionate song, you still need to construe the passion without screaming the notes.  I'll be curious to see if Casey's unique choice this week won America's votes or vetos.

James Durbin, Paul McDonald, and Stefano Langone all chose safe songs.  What I mean is they were all songs that fit each of their musical personas.  James sang Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There for you."  Love that song!  Great pick for James.  Paul sang "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues."  He nailed his performance, but how could he not.  He sounds just like Rod Stewart.  And though I've never really cared for Stefano, I thought he did very well singing "If You Don't Know Me By Now."  However, again, I think it was a safe choice because who doesn't like that song. 

As for Thia, Naima, Karen and Jacob -- not good.  I'm trying very hard to like Naima, but her vocals aren't consistent and certainly weren't very good last night.  Jacob was very pitchy and I just didn't like his song choice.  Thia was off-key and boring, to say the least.  And Karen, she started off terrible and got better, but just really didn't do anything for me.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of these four are some of our bottom contenders on tonight's show.

I'll be curious to see who goes home tonight.  You never know with "American Idol."  They might send home not one, but two contestants tonight.  To see any of this week's performance go to American Idol.