For a few years now I’ve been blogging about my experience watching American Idol – some years I talk about it more than others. Last year I think I only mentioned it once but I watched the whole season eagerly. This year I only flitted through Hollywood round (ignoring the auditions altogether as they are my least favorite) but now that we are into the Top 24 I thought I’d start giving you guys my two cents (you know, when I remember).

This year I’ve already found a few contestants that I am excited about and ready to root for and was glad they made it into the semi-finals. This afternoon I watched the Top 13 guys perform (which means I didn’t get to vote) and I have to say there was a lot of great performances – like I’m actually sad that so many people will be going home this week.

I genuinely enjoyed 6 performances, found a couple others pretty good but not really my thing – and only downright disliked two. Not bad.

Here are my 5 favorites (in order somewhat): 

Reed Grimm is crazy. Like bouncing off the walls ape shit insane crazy. He oozes Star Quality to me though like he is literally just filled from head to toe with music and when he performs I just believe it, you know? He is possibly my favorite contestant right now. He is the Casey of Season 11, always delivering a surprise performance and his rendition of Moves Like Jagger … moved me. Move over Adam Levine, I think Reed Grimm did it better. Plus he’s from Wisconsin so you know I gotta root for him just for mentioning cheese curds last night!

Creighton Fraker was another contestant that seemed nearly off his rocker but delivered an amazing performance that got me excited about this season. His voice is just gorgeous – he sang Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” which seemed pretty risky to me, but it was GOOD and I think that kinda says everything. I think he’s one of those guys who could sing the phone book and it would be good. Every season has one.

Phillip Phillips I noticed early on in Hollywood Week and I’m a big fan. He is a major front runner for me – he sang “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins which could have been the nail in the coffin for me because I HATE Phil Collins’ music something fierce but Phillips’ performance of it was awesome. I love his voice and he is just so sweet.

Colton Dixon has weird hair but a great voice and I love watching him perform. I was a fan of his last year and was disappointed when he didn’t make it through so I was really glad to see him back this year and even make it into the semi-finalists. I thought he did a great job last night performing Paramour’s “Decode” – I’m not  familiar with them but I enjoyed his performance a lot.

Jeremy Rosado really surprised me. For some reason when I listen to him talk, I just don’t expect much out of him musically – but then he started singing Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity” which again, I thought was a weird song choice, but oh my gosh, it was beautiful. His voice is just stunning and I really enjoyed the performance. I’ll be interested to see what songs he performs next if he makes it through.

So this week America will vote in their Top 5 guys and Top 5 girls and then each of the judges will get one wild card vote each to form the Top 13 contestants. These guys would be my Top 5 – and just for fun, my wild card vote for the guys would go to Aaron Marcellus. He performed the Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye” and I really enjoyed it – I also thought he seemed like a really great guy watching his video before the performance. He and colton and Jeremy were honestly neck and neck for me so I’d be thrilled if he makes it through so that I can see more of him.

Are you following Idol this year? Whose performance was your favorite last night?