First American Idol post of 2009

Unfortunately, thanks to joining the concert band, I no longer have Tuesday night TV. That means that I will not be a regular watcher of AI this season, so I won't be able to do my usual analysis on my blog.

Thanks to our new President, however, this week I was able to see what was up since he pre-empted AI on Tuesday and Fox decided to go on Wednesday instead.

My impressions are that the guys are really good this year and the girls are pitiful. I think the best singers are Adam Lambert and Matt Giraud, with Danny Gokey and Kris Allen right behind. Based on this week's voting which put Matt in the bottom two, however, I'd have to say that Adam and Danny are probably the most popular.

Allison Iraheta is a wild-card at this point, and her future performances will tell whether she can figure into the competition. It looks like with the exception of Matt, the voting each week is more about the performances rather than favorites so far.

My rankings of those who remain:
1. Adam Lambert
2. Matt Giraud
3. Danny Gokey
4. Kris Allen
5. Allison Iraheta
6. Anoop Desai
7. Lil Rounds
8. Scott McIntyre
9. Meghan Joy

I firmly believe that Meghan and Scott will go down in the next two weeks, leaving a very good competition between the other seven. Lil is talented but pales in comparison to similar singers from previous seasons and I think she won't make it past the two weeks following. Allison is intriguing and will have to show versatility and consistency to make it into the final five. Anoop is popular but will need to show something more spectacular than he has so far to crack the final five. I believe it will be Adam and Danny at the end, with Adam winning. If Adam somehow loses out earlier, I think the judges will save him because he is the most marketable of the bunch.