American Idol Reaction: Top 10 Results

“I don’t think it makes any difference whatsoever what we say. You’re not gonna win but it doesn’t matter because you’re gonna smile, the audience is gonna vote for you, nobody cares and you’ll be here next week, so well done.” - Simon Cowell.

Ah, Simon. He's nothing if not bluntly honest and truer words couldn’t have been spoken last night as he weighed in on Tim Urban’s performance (and his laughter at the judges’ criticisms). We all know Idol’s something of a popularity contest and Tim wouldn’t be the first person to make it through to later rounds based on a charming smile and a fanbase of squeeing teenaged girls with no limit on their text-message plans. Was Simon right though?

In all fairness to Tim Urban, he wasn’t the worst performer last night. That award goes to Siobhan Mangus. Sure, she’s got the geeky-sweet thing going on but her performance last night was nothing short of disastrous and it seemed the judges were struggling not to be too harsh on her last night.

Before we get to tonight’s results, I also want to add my amusement in Simon’s remarks to Andrew last night. After weeks of the judges giving Andrew a hard time (rightfully so) for not living up to his “Straight Up” performance back the during Hollywood weeks, Andrew finally came through with a similarly acoustic version of Chris Brown’s “Forever.” He did a great job with the song, “making it his own” and what does Simon say in response to the performance? "You, as a person- and don't take this the wrong way - you come across as very boring." Yeah, Andrew. Nice job. Great performance. You’re boring… no offense.

Once again though, I have to agree with Simon a bit. I’m sure in real life, Andrew Garcia isn’t boring. In fact, I’m pretty sure being interesting is a requirement for getting a neck tattoo. Anyone willing to let someone dig into their neck with a needle has to be at least a little bit interesting, right? He needs to show more personality on stage. If it comes through in his performance and afterward on the stage, people will respond to it. We can’t hang out with you, Andrew. I’m sure plenty of people would love to. But the stage is where you need to let people see who you are. Just don’t take notes from Tim’s awkward “I’m laughing while you put me down” giggles.

Ok, that’s enough of my filler for now. Let’s talk about Idol results filler.

The episode held the usual amount of filler. Season 2 winner Ruben Stoddard took the stage to perform an R&B song. His vegan diet is clearly paying off. Not only is he a much more trimmed down version of the big singer America voted to beat Clay Aiken, but he was also far less sweaty than I remember him being. Vocally, he’s still singing as good as he always was. Speaking of Clay, Ruben announced that he and Clay will be touring together this summer.

Usher, who served as this week’s mentor also performed tonight. He was joined on stage by Will.i.am to perform “OMG.” I wasn’t blown away by the song but I do love to watch that boy dance.

And now on to the results. America voted and here are this week’s Bottom Three:

Katie Stevens
Didi Benami
Tim Urban

Would we call this a fair bottom three? Based on overall performance, I’d say yes. Based on last night alone, I think Siobhan belonged there but we all know that’s not how America as a whole votes.

Katie was the first to be sent back to safety, leaving Tim and Didi to wait it out while Diddy-Dirty Money performed “Hello, Good Morning.” This included a brief seizure-inducing light-show as Diddy and his group performed. Diddy's energy came through brighter than the lights on stage as he followed the performance by rushing to the judges to greet them and the crowd. His new album "Last Train To Paris" comes out June 22nd.

After the break, Ryan announced that Didi was the lowest vote-getter and as Simon predicted, Tim was safe. Will the judges save Didi? She made the wise choice of repeating her performance of Rhiannon to appeal to the judges. Of her performances, that was probably the best and most memorable one. She even hit the semi-high note, though it came out a little bit like a yawn (but she hit it, so it counts!). Did the judges save her?

Nope. Simon said the performance was a million times better than what she did last night. It wasn't enough to save her though and Didi was eliminated.