Heejun Leaves American Idol

Last night, my Facebook friends were cheering and Moon was mourning. Heejun, American Idol's resident love him-or-hate him comic, was booted off the show. And, now, we are left with our remaining contestants, the Elite Eight (if you will). Who's gunning for the title at this stage in the competition and who is next to suffer Heejun's fate? Let's check in with our Idol expert Steve Thompson, who has listened to the feedback, watch the shows and graded all the Idol performances . . .

Take a listen to audio from this morning's American Idol review with Steve, Moon and me.

From Steve Thompson:

Suddenly this ship of state has embarked upon a course correction. For one of the first times in Idol memory, the public has decided to get rid of a weaker singer before involuntarily dismissing better singers. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and an Easter Bunny and... Well, we can't add that Dr. Pepper story can we?

It's true. Heejun took an inopportune time to start singing well after treating much of the last few weeks as a lark (please, for the sake of all that's holy, no more Alouette in these commercials.) Oddly, after tonight's last hurrah he seemed to have never sung better. Perhaps the people who watched Erika leave last week had their last laugh as well.

So... According to what Jimmy said while giving the rundown on Elise's performance last night, next week's theme is the 80s. Not very specific, but a little bit of everything could be in this mix. Jimmy thinks Elise could continue her winning ways with the 80s theme. This could lead to lots of worthless speculation, but I'm not licensed by the American Meterological Society.

Here's a quick rundown of our remaining contestants...

08. DeAndre Brackensick: You know the 80s had a lot of hair bands, but with his voice I expect either Prince or Phillip Bailey. He could redeem himself with the right song or cut his throat with the wrong one.

07. Joshua Ledet: I know there are hundreds of songs you can try to tag a gospel riff on from the 80s, but I'm not sure all of them really need it.

06. Hollie Cavanaugh: She could make a quick comeback with an uptempo song by Whitney Houston or someone like that-- but it would really help her in my opinion to saty away from the overused divas for a while.

05. Skylar Laine: She doesn't really have to sing country (as her trio appearance proved) so maybe she can get a little out of her comfort zone this week. We can only hope.

04. Jessica Sanchez: Jimmy pointed out something that had been bothering me. The difference between Jessica's ability to sing from the heart and Hollie's mastery of technique is the difference between being safe and being in the bottom three. If Hollie does better this week, Jessica better hope she does well to keep up the pace.

03. Colton Dixon: What will he choose? I'd be shocked if he goes toward Contemporary Christian again, but what would be the difference between choosing to sing CCM every week and choosing country like Scotty did every week last year? (That's a rhetorical question, Son!)

02. Phil Phillips: If Stevie Nicks likes him he must be the real deal. Hmm... I'm intrigued by where he goes this week. Wonder where that will be?