American Idol 2018 Top 10: Did America And The Judges Get It Right? [Op-Ed]

On Monday night, the American Idol 2018 Top 10 was revealed after America’s votes left us scratching our heads, and one of the judges’ decisions left us gasping for air.

Based on America’s votes, the six people with the highest votes were automatically placed into the American Idol Top 10. And they were Maddie Poppe, Cade Foehner, Gabby Barrett, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Michael Woodard and Catie Turner.

Those are all good choices for the Top 10, but there were some surprises. I didn’t expect Caleb Hutchinson or Michael Woodard to make it into the Top 10 because they haven’t been faring well in web searches and Michael didn’t get as heavy an edit during the earlier episodes of the season. That being said, Michael is very well deserving of the Top 10, so I’m pleasantly surprised there.

As for Caleb, I thought for sure America wold go for Garrett over him. Garrett is more Southern-Rock-Country than pure country, though, so maybe that’s why that happened the way it did.

As for the other eight finalists, I have to say I’m not surprised for the most part at where they landed after America’s vote, but that doesn’t mean I think any of the choices were right. Those eight were Michelle Sussett, Marcio Donaldson, Garrett Jacobs, Jonny Brenns, Dennis Lorenzo, Jurnee, Mara Justine and Ada Vox.

I thought Marcio Donaldson should have been in the Top 10 automatically, as should Ada Vox and Dennis Lorenzo. So those were the hardest ones for me to get past. I thought Garrett, Johnny and especially Michelle should be among those going home. It’s hard for me to decide what he fourth person should be, though. I guess Mara.

So after all the performances, the judges had to pick the four people they wanted to round out the Top 10. We already knew they were going to pick Dennis, and they did. And after Ada’s blowout performance of “And I Am Telling You,” that was an obvious choice as well. So the final two would be Jurnee and Marico. Right? Nope. Jurnee and Michelle. Michelle. What? I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I was literally shocked by Katy Perry’s decision to save her. It just makes no sense to me.

Marcio should have been saved over Michelle. Mara should have been saved over Michelle. I would have even saved Jonny or Garrett over Michelle. So that will be one of the biggest jaw-dropping moments in American Idol history for me. I will probably never understand it.

So did American and the judges get it right? Well that’s subjective, of course, but in my opinion, not not totally. I’m not surprised by America’s choices, though. America always loves the country singers and the quirky ones. And of course the guy with the guitar. This season they decided Cade is their favorite guy with a guitar. American Idol voters are always so predictable.

The judges picks other than Michelle didn’t surprise me either. They made the right choices with Jurnee, Dennis and Ada. I just wish that there was a spot in the Top 10 for Marcio. I’m going to miss his old soul and his energy. I’m definitely going to walk away from this season as a Marcio Donaldson fan.

I do wonder what the actual votes were. I wish we knew who of those bottom 8 contestants America like more. I think it would definitely line up more with our Top 10 predictions, than what we saw with the judges’ picks. Speaking of our Top 10 predictions, we got six out of 10 right, which is more than half right, but we are usually better at predicting these things. We’ve either gotten rusty in the past couple of years off from American Idol or American voters have changed.

What did you think of the American Idol 2018 Top 10 results? Did America and the judges get it right?

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