'American Idol' Top 13 :Wild Card Winners!

"American Idol" went wild Thursday night as three of the eight wild-card hopefuls made it into the Top 12 -- but in a shocking, last-minute turn of events, the judges allowed a fourth contestant through.Jasmine Murray, Megan Corkrey and Matt Giraud became the final three singers to get the judges' blessing -- that is, until Simon told Anoop Desai right before the show went off the air: "We decided recently we're going to make this a Top 13."

So, this season it will be Jasmine, Megan, Matt and Anoop joining Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, Jorge Nuñez, Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert in the Top 13.

Thursday night's wild-card round concluded with one of the most dramatic last-second turn-arounds in the show's history -- a decision to expand the final group from 12 to 13 to accommodate UNC-Chapel Hill student Desai. Earlier in the show, he performed Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative," earning generally positive marks from the judges.

"You slayed it," Randy Jackson said, although fellow judge Simon Cowell was more measured."You're like an enthusiastic dog," Cowell said. "Not the best singer we'll hear, but people like you."After his performance, Desai got in a shout-out to his hometown and the memory of Eve Carson, the late student-body president who was murdered a year ago today.

"It's been a tough day, we're all thinking of Eve and I love you, Chapel Hill," Desai said.As the judges announced their decisions at the end of the show, Desai was pitted against Matt Giraud for the 12th and final spot. Giraud was awarded the last spot, until Cowell announced that the final group would be a top-13 this year.

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Anoop Desai Sings "Angel of Mine" On American Idol

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Tonight’s American Idol sounded more like a Karaoke Bar than an amazing television show that has launched so many careers. The only high points of the night if you can call them that were seeing Neil Patrick Harris and Ted Danson in the audience! Overall I have to say the best performances had to be of Alexis Grace, Danny and Paula Abdul… I am still wondering what she really had in her coke cup.


Performances by order

Jackie Tohn - Little Less Conversation by Elvis Presley - What disappointed me the most out of her performance was that we know she can do much better and that she has a awesome voice when she uses it. If you go back to her Audition she started out with a poor vocal performance and then rose up once Simon mentioned trying another song and completely wowed the judges. Tonight however horrible is not even the word to describe how her vocal performance was. If she can’t throw her amazing voice out for the world to see except when under pressure, she should just stick to acting.

Ricky Braddy - performed a song by Leon Russel. I actually liked his performance. However his hair really annoyed me as it reminded me too much of David Cook and David Archuleta.

Alexis Grace performed Never Loved A Man by Aretha Franklin. This girl really packs a big voice in her little body. Overall the best real performance of the night.

Brent Keith was our country performance for the night and I have to say he was extremely bland with his voice and the song overall didn’t give his vocals enough work.

Stevie Wright - While I really felt bad for her as she is a beautiful young girl she sounded like she was singing to her brush in her bedroom which is where a performance like that should stay.

Anoop Desai sang “Angel of Mine” which was a hit for singer Monica. At this point of the night I felt this was one of the best performances and was really trying to keep myself awake. Overall he had a decent performance but could have chosen a better song.See Anoop Desai American Idol Song Angel of Mine Video here.

Casey Carlson - “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” by The Police
I don’t know why she chose this song but she was very much trying too hard to make this song fit her and seem like fun. It just did not work for her at all.

Michael Sarver - performed the ever popular Gavin Degraw song and wasnt impressive on any level.

Anne Marie - I actually enjoyed this performance and felt she actually put effort into her song choice and overall performance.

Steven Fowler - really needs some help with choosing his music in the future his performance again like many of the others we heard tonight sounded like it really belonged on Karaoke Night than on American Idol.

Tatiana - Performed Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love For You” I already knew before she started that she was going to be like the rest she had a few high points which were nice but overall another poor performance and song choice.

Danny - Danny performed the song “Hero” by Mariah Carey. When I first heard of his song choice I seriously considered switching the channel because if it was anything like the rest of the performances I just was not impressed at all and my head hurt. I was very blown away by his performance and how he adapted to it. They definitely saved the best for last tonight.

Out of all 12 performers tonight my money is on Alexis Grace and Danny leading the way. I think it will be a very close match on who is voted off American Idol because we saw so many poor performances and song choices tonight that viewers will probably be just as confused as I was until the end of the show.Meanwhile "American Idol" voting starts Tuesday night. In addition to text voting, AT&T customers can get involved with the show in other ways. Customers should note that standard rates apply in most cases.

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