American Idol, Top 8

Tonight's theme-songs from your birth year-made me feel about 90 forms of OLD. Especially since the oldest contestant is three years younger than me and the youngest contestant was born when I was in high school.

Danny Gokey - 1980 - “Stand By Me”: I didn't recognize this song at first, but sort of liked the new arrangement. Danny gave a good solid performance as usual, but nothing that made him stand out from the crowd tonight.

Kris Allen - 1985 - “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”: Y'all know I am a BIG Kris fan, but this was not my favorite performance of his ... it was still much better than others though.

Lil Rounds - 1984 - “What’s Love Got To Do With It”: I thought this was a good song choice for her, but it turned out to be another fairly lame (and forgettable) performance. On another note, she has looked great the past weeks ... maybe her stylist can pick a song for her next week? It was interesting to learn that her real name is "Lil" and not a stage name or short for "Little" ... obviously Simon missed this since he still called her "Little" in his critique.

Anoop Desai - 1986 - “True Colors”: one of my favorite performances of the night. Anoop can sing. Tonight he showed his true colors ... like a rainbow ... or a yo-yo. You pick. Does anyone else get the sense that Anoop just sings as a hobby and will one day take over the world with his brilliant mind?

Scott McIntyre - 1985 - “The Search Is Over”: I was so having junior high flashbacks during this song. Can you vote people off on this show ... if you could, I would vote for Scott. (NOTE: I have never actually voted for a contestant on American Idol.) I like Scott, but he is clearly out of his league as far as singing goes. I think overall, he is a great singer/songwriter, but he does not have the chops to go much further in this competition.

PAULA-YOU HAVE LIPSTICK ON YOUR TEETH.

Allison Iraheta - 1992 - “I Can’t Make You Love Me”: Good performance ... no GREAT performance. One of the best of the night. She is so mature and controlled as a vocalist to be so young.

Matt Giraud - 1985 - “Part-Time Lover”: Matt is finally back ... he did what he does best tonight. Great performance. I think I like watching him perform just as much without a keyboard as I do with.

Adam Lambert - 1982: Our DVR cut off too BooMama so I missed Adam's performance. (The ONLY drawback to watching AI on the DVR.) I'm sure his performance was very "Adam" whatever it was.

Favorites of the night were: Matt, Allison and Anoop. Least favorites were Scott and Lil.