Rod Stewart night blew everyone away. I mean, who would’ve thought? My favourite performance of the night had to be my boyfriend Chris Daughtry’s, although others apparently were less than thrilled since he ended up in the bottom three. The hell? I’ll say it again: Kellie needs to go. Sorry, but she lost me at “What’s a ballsy?”

Ace said goodbye, which was really no big shocker (although I would have liked to see more of the ponytail, he just didn’t milk the falsetto enough). The biggest shocker of the night was Bocelli next week. I love Bocelli, went to see him in concert here, and tear up every time I hear Time to Say Goodbye. Hey, that’s a thought: how about replacing Bad Day with the latter on Wednesdays?

Suddenly, everyone’s obsessed with my boyfriend Taylor Hicks:

There’s Gray Charles, a Taylor Hicks weblog, which pronounces “Whoo!” as “the new Yeah!” and sells t-shirts, coffeecups and mousepads. Vote4Idol, an online voting site for fans, has Taylor leading the pack right now with 862910 (or 17.60%) of votes. And there are more articles about Taylor than any other Idol contestant so far.

Of course I love him. I was hooked the moment he started yelling “Soul Patrol!” Whoo!

Okay, so Stevie Wonder songs are hard to sing, but I really expected more from our Top 12.

Ace Young opened the show with “Do I do”- not a bad performance, but definitely manic. He’s gorgeous, though, so I wouldn’t worry too much. Kellie Pickler disappointed Simon, her Number One Fan, so that’s not good. I don’t even remember what her song was, only that I was bored. Elliott Yamin is one of the guys who has my heart, in spite of (or because of?) those teeth and ears, but we can all agree that his nerves were showing tonight.

Thank God for Mandisa, who really got the show going with “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”. Glad she lost the shoes. Bucky Covington did surprisingly well, despite the hair, and Melissa McGhee screwed up the lyrics but not the song. I really like her raspy voice. Have I said that before?

Lisa Tucker Signed, Sealed, and Delivered a great performance, and although I wasn’t crazy about her voice, she definitely deserves to be there. Kevin Covais, on the other hand, disappointed with a lackluster “Part-Time Lover” and an attitude I’m not sure I like very much. Simon is a judge. You’re not. Got that?

Katherine McPhee is amazing with “Until You Come Back To Me”, and would have been my favorite performance of the night- if she wasn’t followed by my boyfriend #1 Taylor Hicks who rocked the house with “Livin’ for the City”. He’s just adorable. Next, Paris Bennett finally redeems herself with “All I Do”- but for me, is really just an opening act for boyfriend #2 Chris Daughtry who knocks me off my feet (sorry, Elliott) with a rockin’ “Higher Ground”.

The Girls elimination was no surprise: no one could (or wanted to) save Brenna, and Heather struck out twice already. Actually, so did David. But Kevin and Sway in the bottom three? I expected Bucky and Will.

Ah well. I’m just glad my two boyfriends are still there.

Also: One of my favourite sites, Rickey, has a new tagline that I adore: Powered by Daughtry, Hicks & Young…. Heh.

We have our Final 24:

The Girls:
1. Paris Bennett
2. Ayla Brown
3. Heather Cox
4. Becky O’Donohue
5. Brenna Gethers
6. Mandisa Hundley
7. Melissa McGhee
8. Katherine McPhee
9. Kellie Pickler
10. Stephanie Scott
11. Kinnik Sky
12. Lisa Tucker

The Guys:
1. Robert Bennett, Jr.
2. Kevin Covais
3. Bucky Covington
4. Chris Daughtry
5. Patrick Hall
6. Taylor Hicks
7. William Makar
8. Gedeon McKinney
9. Sway Penala
10. David Radford
11. Elliot Yamin
12. Ace Young

Since the final 24 contestants were named, Idol fans everywhere have been chatting up a storm, discussing early favorites, wondering about the less popular ones, and so on. Which is why I share with you here my current favorites:

Taylor Hicks sounds great and is one of the most interesting Idol contestants I’ve ever seen.

Kevin Covais. Awww.

Katharine McPhee and Mandisa are my top two girls.

This’ll probably all change next week. Oh, and about the Brittenum twins? No comment.