Not counting the week the Judges’ Save was used, the contestant with the fewest number of votes each week has been a girl. That means the gender split is overwhelmingly in the guys’ favor (six to three). Will that change when the results of the Top 9 performances are revealed?
To see if that will happen, let’s take a look back at the contestants’ most recent performances to see who’s staying, who’s in danger and who has the biggest chance of going home
Definitely Safe
Jax: I love when Jax performs at the piano, something she did on “You Give Love a Bad Name.” Outside of one moment when her voice went off, she was great all throughout, from the quiet start to the building momentum and then back down at the end. She’s safe.
Nick Fradiani: Nick delivered one of the best performances of the night with “Man in the Mirror,” which I’ll admit is my favorite Michael Jackson song. Not only did he sound amazing, but he successfully communicated the message and theme of the song. I don’t see him being in danger anytime soon.
Clark Beckham: As with every week, it seems, the person most safe out of everybody is Clark, who maintains frontrunner status with “Every Breath You Take.” I mentioned above that I like when Jax performs at the piano. Well, I loved that Clark not only performed at the piano during this performance, but he stayed there the entire time and I couldn’t help but be drawn in by this beautiful rendition.
In the Middle
Quentin Alexander: Quentin can be hit or miss. Overall, he was great on “In the Air Tonight.” Yes, he had some pitch issues at times; that’s to be expected with him. But what I found interesting was that those issues weren’t distracting because he still had one of the better performances of the night.
Joey Cook: Jax stumbled on “Blank Space.” Tyanna did the same with “The Circle of Life.” And now Joey is in that unfortunate spotlight. Hindsight is always 20/20 with things like this, but if I were giving her advice, I would’ve suggested performing the acoustic arrangement of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” But like with Tyanna, I think Joey has built up enough support that she should be safe, though you never know.
Tyanna Jones: I’m glad Tyanna is heading back on the upswing, but I can’t put her back in the Definitely Safe category until she delivers the kind of top-notch performance we’ve come to expect from her. Taking on Whitney is bold, but fortunately “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” wasn’t a disaster, and as a result, I believe all of the girls will be safe, leaving the guys in more danger.
In Danger
Daniel Seavey: The only positive thing about Daniel’s cover of “You Make My Dreams” was that some of the notes at the end sounded better than what we’ve heard from him in recent weeks. But that’s not saying much as the rest was average at best. I also want to point out that he tried to add some more confident stage presence in this performance, but it just came off as extremely cheesy. But because this is Daniel Seavey we’re talking about, there’s a high likelihood that he’s safe, even if he does land in the Bottom 2 — especially with the added twist that I’ll explain in a moment.
Qaasim Middleton: We all knew Qaasim would be advancing last time around since the singer saved by the judges is always safe the following week. But what about this time? His performance of “Addicted to Love” wasn’t bad at all, despite some flat notes at times. It’s hard to pinpoint where he stands right now because of the Judges’ Save. With the support he got from his fans after that, are they still rallying around him big time? Or has it worn off enough to send him packing for good?
Rayvon Owen: I mentioned above that Tyanna is starting to mend after a weak performance. The same can be said for Rayvon. While “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” wasn’t mind blowing or anything, it was still very solid. It might be enough to save him, combined with performing last, but he was in the Bottom 3 during the most recent results, so he may be on his last legs in this competition.
Before I get to my elimination prediction, I should mention the new twist that we’ll see for the Top 9 results. If you watch The Voice, you’re familiar with the Instant Save, which allows viewers to save (via Twitter) one of the contestants who has the fewest number of votes. It looks like that concept is now invading American Idol. Ryan Seacrest teased this at the end of the previous episode, and Tyanna revealed more on Twitter: “Everyone performs but the bottom two are left in your hands to save your favorite.”
Since everybody will be performing before the Twitter Save occurs, this means that I’m making the following prediction without having all the necessary information. The people that vote during the Twitter Save will also be taking into consideration the contestants’ Kelly Clarkson performances. That could affect the outcome depending on how the Bottom 2 do with their performances.
Elimination Prediction
Qaasim Middleton: Getting support from people on Twitter will definitely benefit certain singers over others. And I’m betting that Daniel will get a ton of support from this Twitter Save if he’s in the Bottom 2. (Daniel has over 36,000 followers versus almost 14,000 for Rayvon and almost 11,000 for Qaasim). If it’s Daniel up against Qaasim, I’d say Qaasim’s heading home because it’s already been proven that he doesn’t have much support from voters (not to mention the big disconnect in Twitter followers between the two). And if it’s Rayvon against Qaasim, that might be closer because it’s a recent Bottom 3 singer versus a singer who needed the judges to save him from elimination. Either way, whether he stays or goes, Qaasim’s not in a good position right now.
Who do you think will be eliminated? Will a guy finally head home? Or is another girl about to bite the dust? And how will the Twitter Save affect the results? Share your predictions in the comments section below.
American Idol airs Wednesdays at 8pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
