American Idol: Top 9 Revealed

(S07E25) Hey, let's just keep this chat love going and going and going. And I promise the link is there now. Go ahead, click it. If you haven't joined in on one yet, you should check it out. We're getting some lively and opinionated discussions going. What's better than real-time commentary from fans just like you? Tonight's live chat will start shortly before the 9pm ET elimination show. Watch the results and see what bizarre wardrobe choice Paula goes with tonight. Talk about Clay Aiken's BFF Kimberly Locke coming back to the Idol stage. And see if America got it right ... or if Kristy Lee is still alive.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

Voting last night set a record for the season with an impressive 30 million votes coming in. Tonight's medley was a preview of what the tour will bring, with the Top 10 dancing and singing just as awkwardly as every other group performance. Maybe they should get Paula to choreograph these things. Can you believe Ramiele is again sporting the off-the-shoulder look? And Jason Castro was having way too much fun with this number; disturbingly so. "Hey guys, if you are supposed to wave one arm up, I'm going to flail both of my arms and jump around in a circle. Cool?" But in the end, Carly was the one who fell over trying to keep her balance. These things are a disaster, does anyone truly like them?

We got some background information on the iTunes tracks. I didn't know that they were re-recorded in a studio, and that they got to sing the full version of the song rather than the bastardized minute-and-a-half version we get to see on the show. Man, that makes the iTunes downloads almost worth it in some case. I'm totally downloading Kristy Lee Cook's "God Bless the USA." And I'm not believing for a minute that Carly isn't familiar with the boards in the studios considering she's already recorded a major album. And she also wouldn't be getting a huge kick out of seeing a single by her either. She's recorded a music video for cripe's sake! Of course, one iTunes single of hers has probably sold 100x what her album did.

FORD COMMERCIAL - "I Want You to Want Me"
What I can't believe is that Ford is three-for-three in commercials that are actually pretty good. This was the best one yet, with the contestants singing from shirts and posters and CD covers. Simple and effective. There's got to be a whole new team putting these together this year.

KIMBERLY LOCKE - "Fall"
She came in third behind the one-two juggernaut punch of Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken back in Season 2. She found success after the show recording a debut album and enjoying a modest hit with the single "8th World Wonder." After that run, she partnered in opening a steakhouse. She's lost forty pounds and has more confidence than ever before. And now she's on her second album, Based on a True Story. She looked great tonight and while the song didn't blow me away, she was every bit as great a vocalist as she was on her Season 2 run. If this girl had been on last year she probably could have run away with the whole thing.

LIVE PHONE CALLS
Chikezie - "You have such a great personality ... I was wondering if you are single?" He is. If he gets eliminated tonight, he'll even have the time to date.
David A. - "Why did you choose to sing 'You're the Voice'?" It's one of his all-time favorite songs and he thinks John Farnham is amazing.
Simon - "What do I need to do to take Ryan Seacrest's job?" You don't need a lot of talent.
Brooke - "If you could do a duet with anybody you wanted to, who would it be?" For a contemporary artist, she selected John Mayer.
Simon - "Do you consider yourself the most attractive person on the show, and why?" His response: "It's now what I say, it's what other people say."

"IDOL GIVES BACK" UPDATE
$76 million raised and tonight we got to see the local impact of that money. We learn that there are 10,000 kids in after-school programs now because of your donations. 120 million meals were delivered to the poor and three new medical units have administered 4,000 much-needed immunizations. 25,000 books were donated to impoverished communities. And in response to the wildfires of last year and the tornadoes in Tennessee, food and shelter was provided to evacuated families. I can't go on enough about how wonderful a program this is and how amazing that Idol uses their "power" for such great charity.

BUILDING THE BOTTOM THREE
One by one this week, Chikezie was the first to face the firing squad. And before Ryan could say anything, Chikezie was headed to the stools where the Bottom Three would sit. And he was right to do so. Next came Brooke White who wasn't hurt at all by her false start last night. Straight into the Top 9. Carly Smithson came out next and addressed a news story that she was pregnant that broke just before the story. The story is false and she'll be back next week to continue not being pregnant.

David Archuleta and David Cook quickly found their ways to the land of eternal safety, as did Michael Johns. but the voting wasn't as kind to Syesha Mercado. I don't know how that could be, considering she had one of the stronger vocals of the night, but America just isn't connecting with Syesha. And then there's Ramiele Malubay. Despite lackluster performances week after week, she pulled out enough last night to keep herself safe.

That left the final two contestants, Kristy Lee Cook and Jason Castro. One was safe and the other not so much. Well, considering the "shock" factor that Idol loves to manufacture, you just knew it would be Jason in the bottom three.

GOING HOME
Ryan brought all three center stage and while Jason rambled on and on about how he expected to be there, Ryan had to cut him off to tell him he was safe. That leaves Chikezie and Syesha hanging on by a thread. In the end, the axe dropped and cut Chikezie from the show. Of the two of them, this is the right choice, though I don't think Chikezie got the shake he deserved on the show.

MY PICKS
I got two out of three correct on the Bottom Three; I really thought Ramiele would slip in there, making it two weeks in a row I thought she'd be there and she wasn't. At least I got smart enough to stop thinking Kristy would get cut. In fact, for the first time in several weeks, I got it right with Chikezie. That raises my season total to 6-9.

YOUR PICKS
You guys put Chikezie and Syesha down there with Carly, so that's two out of three for you as well. Now if you guys keep it up like this, I'm never gonna catch up. That's right, you put Chikezie right in elimination's way, raising your season total to a stunning 11-4. Seriously, you guys should collectively go to Vegas.