American Idol Season 10 Episode 27: Goodbye, Rose suit

American Idol Season 10 Episode 27: Goodbye, Rose suit

Television review

By our guest blogger, Catherine Fuentes

Each week I write about the importance of voting for your favorites on American Idol, since it seems as if this is going to be a complete crapshoot of a season. On Wednesday night I forgot to vote for my favorite, and now, Paul McDonald has been the first male contestant of the season to be voted off.

I blame myself.

Now with online voting, it’s too easy to cast a vote, and too silly not to. I’ll miss Paul’s flashy suits and his blinding white smile; I’ll miss his raspy voice and his “quirky” vibe. But at least I got to hear him sing “Maggie May” as his perfect send off song, as I began to hope that his stint on ‘Idol’ helps propel his band to some sort of fame. I’ve always said that Paul McDonald might not be the perfect American Idol contestant – and clearly he wasn’t – but he’s perhaps the only person in the history of the show whose post-Idol career excites me. I can see myself listening to his music, seeing his concerts, and really appreciating what he does as an artist that he could not do on the ‘Idol’ stage where he’s limited by theme nights, restricting song choice lists, and instrument usage caps.

Joining Paul in the bottom three were Haley and Stefano, neither of whom were particularly surprising. Haley didn’t give a strong performance the night before, and while Stefano really did, he hasn’t been performing as well as the other ‘Idol’ hopefuls in recent weeks.

It was a bummer to see Haley in the bottom after what was her best performance on the ‘Idol’ stage to date. Moments before being banished to the silver bottom three chairs, Haley and her rumored-beau Casey Abrams took the stage to sing a jazzy duet of Charles Mingus’ “Moanin’” – the perfect song for them to showcase their growly voices and their jazzy vibes. The duet is actually one of the best things I can recall seeing on ‘American Idol’ in quite some time – so look for a video on YouTube if you just tune into the last five minutes of the results show.

Stefano, Paul, James and Jacob sang Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson,” which was great and lively and upbeat, but also made me miss Casey James and wish he joined them on stage. If Kelly Clarkson could be there, then so could Casey James.

I feel that barring a huge misstep from either Lauren Alaina or Haley, the two girls will be in the show for a while more. I honestly can’t see the American Idol producers letting there be one girl with so many guys still left in the competition.