I’ve been a fan of American Idol, on and off, since its inception.  I was excited about Kelly & Ruben winning, but I wasn’t so excited about Fantasia and Taylor winning. I missed Jordin’s season, but I got to see David & Kris from beginning to end.

This year, though, has got to be the worst season of American Idol they’ve ever had.

Are there people who can actually sing?  Sure…but there’s only one clear artist in the entire group.  And let’s be realistic, folks…even Crystal Bowersox won’t sell a couple million records because her style isn’t “mainstream”.

But I’ll get into that later.

So let’s just quickly dissect the remaining contestants, shall we?

Casey James
I’ll be honest…I like the guy.  He’s a bluesy guitarist with a pretty decent voice and I can see a solid fan base for him going forward.  Why? Because he’s different.  Sure…the judges all say he’s “just another guitarist with a decent voice”, but how many bluesy guitarists are out there right now?  John Mayer…Kenny Wayne Shephard…umm…yeah.  So while he may never go platinum, he’s got the potential to corner a niche market that could keep him busy on the road for a very long time.  Add in some good looks that make the women swoon and you’ve got a great future in the business.  But is he a superstar?  Oh heck no.  The guy is a walking snoozefest.

Lee DeWyze
This guy’s charisma (or lack thereof) makes Casey look like Jim Carrey.  Having said that, he’s probably a good bet to make the final three.  I don’t think his voice is that good and he rarely goes off song into anything truly original, but people seem to like him. A lot. His “I’m too shy to be charismatic” shtick has snowed-over the judges but I just don’t get it.  He reminds me of a less-talented Danny Gokey.  I honestly don’t see a big career for the guy.  I mean, at least Chris Daughtry and David Cook were original enough in their Idol performances that you could sense their ability to have successful pop/rock careers.  I really don’t get that from DeWyze.  Sure, he can sing…but so can most people who are on this show.  Nothing really stands out for him.

Tim Urban
Ummm…how do I even begin to describe “Teflon Tim”?  I’ve got one word for you: Sanjaya.  Honestly…this guy is a singing waiter and I cannot believe he even lasted in the competition as long as he did before his elimination last night.

Aaron Kelly
Pretty.  That’s how I would describe Aaron’s voice.  It’s not particularly strong, though, and he isn’t quite ready yet for the big stage yet.  “Karaoke Boy” is how I’d describe him.  He’s not really a lot better than any good singer you’d hear on karaoke night somewhere.  He’s like a less-talented David Archuletta…and we all know where HIS career is right now.

Siobhan Magnus
This chick bothers me.  Her voice when she doesn’t scream is just “really good”. And that’s the thing with her: when you take away the screaming big notes, you’re not left with much else. She started the competition as the “female Adam Lambert” but has fallen quickly in the past few weeks from that lofty comparison.  She started off as a unique singer with massive potential and it just appears as though she’s going week-to-week singing very boring blasé songs in a safe effort to get votes instead of just being herself and risk it all. And it appears that every week she is defending herself by saying that she doesn’t want to be put into a “genre bubble”, yet she’s singing adult contemporary songs that just don’t seem to go with her look.  I’m just confused by her and that bothers me. To me, she’s not being herself…rather she’s trying to win. I know that’s the goal, but I just don’t respect how she’s going about doing it.

Michael Lynche
“Big Mike” is my personal favourite. He reminds me of Season Two winner Ruben Studdard…and that’s a very favourable comparison in my book. In addition to the vocal ability, I think he’s got the most charisma out of the entire group. So what’s the problem with Lynche? His genre.  Listen…solid R&B singers aren’t easy to come by but the genre isn’t breaking any sales records. You’ve got occasional standouts like this week’s “mentor” Alicia Keys, but she’s made a career relying on pop singles to help sell her R&B albums.  I fear that Lynche, much like Studdard, won’t have much of a career even though he’s extremely talented and has all the tools.

Crystal Bowersox
Let’s face it…if Crystal doesn’t win this season then there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with the show. She is heads and tails above the rest of the competition in terms of overall star power and musical ability. People may have their favourites, but Crystal is far and away the best artist out of the bunch.  The problem, similar to Lynche, is that I fear that her style wouldn’t do much in terms of selling records. She’s a new-age Melissa Etheridge, and I mean that as a big compliment.  But for as much as I love listening to Bowersox sing, I just don’t know if I could listen to an entire album of hers.  I suppose time will tell.

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Add to these final seven (now six) some of the recently departed underachieving singers like Lacey Brown & Paige Miles, and it all adds up to one big ball of suck.

And what’s worse this year?  THE ADVICE!!  I won’t say that the judges are worse without Paula around because Ellen blows Abdul out of the water in terms of being an awesome judge.  So no, the judge change isn’t the problem…the week-to-week advice is the problem that makes these average performers even worse. One week it’s “do something different and step out of your safe boundaries”…then the next week it’s “you changed around the song until it was unrecognizable…where’s the person we know and love so much?”

It’s brutal.

I’m sure I’m not alone in my thoughts on this season.  Are there people out there who disagree?  Am I just not seeing something in these singers that you see?  What say you?