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'American Idol' Top 8 Redux Results: Bye Ya, Malaya

This Thursday, on one of the least surprising "American Idol" results shows in recent memory, the bottom two were C.J. Harris and Malaya Watson, inarguably this week's weakest performers (and worst duet partners).

Perhaps the only surprising thing about this outcome was the fact that Ryan Seacrest merely announced a bottom two, not the show's usual bottom three. Gee, I wonder why? Did "Idol" producers not want to reveal that golden boy Sam Woolf, who'd been the controversial recipient of the Judges' Save last week, was already in the bottom three again, for the fourth time this season? That sure would have made the judges look foolish — even more foolish than when Keith Urban rocked a mullet or Harry Connick Jr. hoisted a random, terrified tween on his shoulders on Wednesday's show.

All I know is, when Malaya eventually got the boot, she sang her goodbye song, "I Am Changing," as if the Save were still in play. Through her girlish tears, she truly did seem to be singing for her life. This was a far from perfect vocal (it's hard to sing like a Dreamgirl when you're sobbing), but it was a monumental, memorable swan song. Really, if Sam's "Babylon" save-me performance last Thursday had been this unhinged, this heartfelt, I may have been more OK with the judges' decision to grant him a reprieve.

Malaya had a good run on the show, and — unlike C.J., the consistently pitchy contestant that I would have preferred to see go home in eighth place — she did seem to be evolving, growing, and learning from the judges' critiques. She was changing, just like her song attested. But the sweet 16-year-old just wasn't ready for prime time.

So next week is top seven week (obviously), and that's the week when, traditionally, many boy heartthrobs have been cut. (See: Ace Young, Sanjaya Malakar, Tim Urban, Stefano Langone, Colton Dixon). Will heartthrob Sam follow in their Conversed footsteps next Thursday? Yeah, probably — unless he can tap into the promise he showed on this week's "Time After Time," and really bring it.

Until then, Parker out.

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