After 32 million votes, tonight the first cuts were made and we say goodbye to Paul Kim, Rudy Cardenas, Amy Krebs, and Nicole Tranquillo. I guess there weren’t too many surprises here although I’m sad to see Paul Kim go. His audition absolutely wowed me, if only he could have performed like that last night. What did surprise me was that Antonella Barba stayed, yes by now you probably think I’m picking on her but I thought Amy Krebs performed better than Barba last night. However she has a huge fan base which is huge at this stage in the game. I am very glad that Sundance Head and Sanjaya Malakar made it through as those were two of the guys that I really, really, like. As a matter of fact Sanjaya Malakar was one of the top four males – impressive. His performance wasn’t top notch but he also has a huge fan base (including me!) however he has much more potential than Barba vocally in my opinion.
It was also announced that the following top-notch music industry performers will be guest coaching on the show this season: Diana Ross, Jon Bon Jovi, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Tony Bennett, Martina McBride, Peter Noone, and Barry Gibb. Additionally Fantasia Barrino performed her song “I’m Here” and made the “Color Purple” announcement that Idolwire.com reported on yesterday.