From 20 to 10

It's taken almost two months, but we're finally ready to whittle these kids down to the top 10. Has it always taken this long to get to this point, or am I just older and tired?

Ryan explains the convoluted process that we'll be going through this evening to get to that top 10. Some sort of walk down an aisle into a room with video screens, out into a Hunger Games/Capitol like ampitheater where they'll sing a victory song if they've made it? Okay then. And this apparently will take 90 minutes, meaning I'll have to start Project Runway late.

Blahblah, judges intro, family intro, get on with it Ryan. I'm actually really eager to hear this group. I feel like the guys could go either way. I have my theories on the girls. There is a lot of talent in this top 20, actually, aside from like, Donut and Charlie, so maybe the judges sort of know what they're doing?

Oh my God, montage of auditions. WHY. We just saw all this! And of course we go to a commercial 6 minutes in without revealing anything. We're doing the guys first. Yet another montage, this time from last night. LONGEST RECAP EVER MY GOD. Almost 15 minutes in and we're finally getting to some results. The first guy in is CUTE PAUL JOLLEY! This is kind of anticlimatic, with Ryan and these ten guys in this little room that you know stinks like sweat and desperation.

Anyway, so now cute Paul is getting to sing. His victory song is "Alone" by Heart, aka one of the songs that's been done to death on this show, but it's Cute Paul.  He sounds pretty great, but it's a weird pick considering how he was all, I want to be country/pop last night. Whatevs, he's in. Sorry, I ain't got time for this judge feedback tonight, fast forward.

Okay, so the second guy is getting the news and it's....Burnell! Awesome, he was great last night. He's singing "Ready for Love" by India Arie and I love love love LOVE this song. We had this acoustic singer come to our college once and he did one of the most beautiful covers of this song I've ever heard. I wish I could remember his name. Anyway, Burnell sounds great. So far I approve of America's choices.

Commercials. Only three male spots left. And one of them goes to Curtis Finch Jr. I mean, I think Curtis is pretty awesome vocally but that song last night was SO LAME. I'm getting kind of nervous because I really like Lazaro and Nick and Elijah and clearly all three of them aren't going to make it, so. Eff. Curtis sings his victory song which is "Cloud 9" by John Legend. I don't actually know this song so I resorted to my old standby of Googling random lyrics.

God, more commercials. Who is going to take male spot #4? Devin Velez--wow, I actually didn't see that coming, even though I thought his performance was really nice last night. He seemed kind of under the radar to me. He's singing a song called "The Power of One" and continues to remind me of Clay. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it's there. Maybe it's the dorky dancing? LOL. His crazy mom screams some more. That's going to get really old during the rest of the live shows.

After the break, we're finding out who is taking that final spot in the top 10 for the guys. It's Lazaro! OMG I am so excited. Aww he's like spazzing out to one of the band members about his song, he is just so cute. I am sad about Nick and Elijah though. This is a very talented group of men, I think. Lazaro is singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which will never ever not make Brenna and I think of Clay. He sounds great though. This arrangement is like really slow or something, wonder what's up with that? I'm really happy for him.

So we're saying goodbye to Charlie (whew), Nick, Elijah, Vincent (boo to all three) and Cortez. Sad. 
And now it's time for the girls. This will be interesting because of how it's been shoved down our throats that THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE GIRL.  After a commercial, of course.

Recap of Tuesday night, blah blah. Lots of girls. If Tenna makes the top 10 I am convinced we'll see her vagina. Here comes Ryan to start delivering the big news. The first one in is Janelle Arthur, country girl extraordinaire. I'm surprised but not. She wasn't that great on Tuesday but Americans love their country, so. Her victory song is "Home" by Dierks Bentley. I am not familiar with this song at all. She sounds a lot better tonight than she did on Tuesday, so that's a plus.

ANOTHER COMMERCIAL. Ryan calls this a "supersized top ten reveal episode" hahaha. The second girl is Candice Glover. Yeah Candice! I feel like I'm not going to be able to say a lot about her performance because she always just blows it away. She is working the HELL out of "I'm Going Down" by Mary J. She is so much better than this show, seriously. That was pretty much flawless. LOL and Curtis like tackles her, nice.

Okay, more results without a commercial, thank God! Girl number three iiiiiiiiiissssssssssss....Angie Miller, YAY! Three for three with girls results here, I just hope Janelle didn't take Kree's spot, because I'd rather Kree but we're doing fine here. Angie is going to sing "I Was Here" by Beyonce for her victory song. Man, Angie is really good too. And probably super marketable. I feel like she would make a Kelly Clarkson-ish record. And we love us some Kelly over here.

So only two spots left. The fourth place in the top ten goes to Amber Holcomb. Amber is so cute. I love her outfit right now. I didn't really like her Whitney song the other night (was that her?) but I hope she's better tonight because she's inoffensive enough, haha. Her victory jam is "I'm Every Woman", so, Whitney again. Guess we know who her influences are. She sounds way better tonight than she did the other night. Though everyone seems to, maybe it's because people aren't voting for this.

We're finally to the end of this, and I have a feeling my DVR is going to cut off. Seriously, Ryan, KEEP THIS SHIT ON TIME. The last girl who makes it into the top 10 is Kree Harrison! Yeah Kree! OMG I'm sorry but I'm so happy that Donut didn't make it. Kree comes out to sing her victory song, and the girls all freak the fuck out when they see her. Her song is I don't know because my stupid recording cut off. DAMMIT.

Well, so that means Donut, Adriana, Breanna, Tenna and Aubrey are going home. See ya ladies.

This is actually a very good top ten. We should see some interesting performances in the coming weeks. We'll see you guys on Wednesday for more Idol fun!