After weeks of saying goodbye to the ladies, American Idol, for the first time since we named the Top 13,  said ADIOS to one of the guys!  Nashville rocker Paul McDonald got the boot last night and his other friends in the bottom three, Hayley and Stefano, were sent back to safety!  What does our Idol expert think about it all?  Let's ask him . . .

From Steve Thompson:

Well, there doesn't seem to be as much outrage throughout the Idolverse tonight, so I suppose there has been no disturbance in the Force.  After another results show that stretched the bounds of the casual viewer's interest, America decided to single out (one) of the right contestants.

This was another night of duos and groups.  Once again, Lauren outsang and outlasted Scotty on a cover of American Honey.  Not every singer sounds good in a duet.  I'm fairly convinced Scotty is one of those singers.

The four guys-- Jacob, James, Paul & Stefano sounded horrible on two classic songs from the soundtrack of The Graduate.  Paul Simon may be weeping somewhere-- to the bank. 

The most pleasant surprise?  I thought Casey and Haley did a bang-up job on their jazzy duet.  I don't know if that translates well with the fans-- although Casey wasn't in the bottom three.  Maybe Haley still has time to fulfill the promise she showed tonight.

A quick note about Rhianna tonight.  How could she sound so bad in her duet with Jennifer Nettles and sound decent on her (solo) tonight--with the same song?  Is this a sign of the Apocalypse?

Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson sounded good in their newly minted platinum single.  Kelly might as well go ahead a go all in with a country album.  She had a killer duet with Reba and now with Jason.  It sounds like a no-brainer, which probably means it will take ten more years to happen.

Finally, the results...  Paul is no longer the votefortheworst poster child.  The interesting thing about Paul is that he sounded okay on songs by Rod Stewart or even The Beatles, but he often seemed out of his depth if he didn't have his guitar.  Maybe this holds well for the remainder of the season-- or maybe not.  We'll see.

Next week's theme is "Songs from the 21st Century."  Results show will feature David Cook with his new single and Russell Brand's wife (Katy Perry). 

@April 14, 2011  Stephen W Thompson

More From WBKR-FM