American Idol

A finalist on last season's American Idol, Chris Sligh has written a guest column for Entertainment Weekly. Below, he sizes up the top 12 men...

Several performances stuck out for me: David Archuleta is an incredible singer and performer. Though I dread hearing ''OMG!!! He's 17!!!'' for the next three months from the judges, he is one of the few 17-year-olds that deserve the ''pimping.''

Jason Castro's jazzy pop take on ''Daydream'' was inspired and commercially credible, and Michael Johns gave a somewhat pitchy but credible performance of ''Light My Fire.'' I think both of these guys will be around a while.

I personally am not understanding the judges' love of David Cook. His arrangement of the Turtles classic was horrid, and Randy comparing him to Alice in Chains was one of the most groan-worthy comments in 7 seasons of Idol. And on top of it all, his voice is just okay.

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