Emily is Smiling

American Idol was last night, as you may have noticed.  If you tuned in last night, raise your hand.  Awesome, I did too.

I voted for...
- Pia Toscano
- Paul McDonald
- Casey Abrams
- Lauren Alaina
- Jacob Lusk

There were some highlights of the night. 
- Pia Toscano was phenomenal.  She pulled off that Celine song like it was nothing.  Her range is crazy-good. 
- I thought Paul McDonald was great too.  Quirky, but great.  I love his funny outfits, dance moves, and huge smile.  His voice is very recognizable and his style is unique as well.  If I heard him on the radio, I'd recognize his voice immediately. 
- Casey Abrams was amazing, as usual, although I thought he was trying too hard to sound like Joe Cocker. 
- Haley Reinhart was surprisingly good.  I haven't liked many of her performances in the past.  I love her diversity.  Alicia Keys to LeAnne Rhimes.  She can also yodel, interestingly enough.
- I don't like James Durbin much as a person, but I do like his diversity and his amazing range.  He pulled off Paul McCartney's song with ease.

There were some "okays."
- I absolutely adore Jacob Lusk.  His personality makes him seem perfectly lovable.  He's the kind of guy I would want to make friends with in real life.  However, his rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly" was too shrieky.  It seemed like he screamed the entire thing instead of using his amazing vocal skills.
- Lauren Alaina is one of my favorites for this season.  She's young, beautiful, and has a perfect country voice.  However, tonight just didn't work for her.  Choosing one of Shania Twain's most famous songs of all times was probably a bad idea.  Luckily, Lauren has a lot of fans, so I think she'll pull through.
- Naima Adedapo is unique, but she doesn't seem to have a great vocal range.  She sang "Umbrella" in a croppy way when she should have used vibrato and I actually wasn't that big of a fan of her dancing.  I did enjoy the rapping though.
- Scotty McCreery is adorable.  I'm not a big fan of country music, but he has a pure voice, a cute face, and a sweet personality.  However, I didn't feel it tonight.  It just didn't work for me. 
- I'm not sure why Jennifer Lopez loves Stefano Langone as much as she does.  His voice isn't original enough for me and his performance just didn't stand out in my eyes.  Someone needs to teach him not to make funny faces when he sings as well, as they are a bit distracting.

I think the bottom three this week will be...
- Thia Megia.  I feel bad for Thia because I think she joined the competition too young.  She's beautiful and she has a beautiful voice, but she's done nothing but bore me so far.  She doesn't seem to have her own style yet and she hasn't shown us anything about her personality.  Tonight's song was a bit dull.
- Karen Rodriguez.  I loved her song last week, but tonight, she seemed strained.  I can understand why the producer warned her to not talk on the phone (and thus strain her voice).  Her range didn't seem big enough for her song.  She's a sleepy singer.  I found myself zoning out when she started to sing.
- Ashthon Jones.  Ashthon seems like a genuinely nice person, but I think she thinks her voice is bigger than it is.  She couldn't pull of the Diana Ross song.  There isn't much of a pleasant tone to her voice.  I can't imagine ever buying her album.

Agree with me?  Disagree?
Who did you vote for?