Even though I am a fan, I usually am still not all that fond of Skylar Laine’s song choices. Last week I really wanted her to do “Fancy” by Bobbie Gentry rather than the song she did. I just think it really didn’t do her justice on stage.  Hell, I still want her to do ”Fancy” even if the judges would probably think it is too much of a ‘storytelling’ song. That song kicks butt and only a real country star can sing it properly.

This week on American Idol 2012 I was once again disappointed when I found out what Skylar Laine would be singing. When at first it looked like she was going to sing Dolly Parton‘s “9 to 5,” I was thinking that would sound great, although pit was rather predictable. Then Laine decided to switch songs after the mentors, including Gwen Stefani, heard her sing Bette Midler‘s “Wind Beneath My Wings” and went gaga over it.

I have heard “Wind Beneath My Wings” sung about five billion times by singers ranging from amazing to frighteningly horrific. I really, really did not want to hear it again.

As I sighed and sat back to listen to Skylar Laine sing Bette Midler on American Idol Wednesday night, I experienced a strange feeling. I didn’t hate it. I wasn’t bored by it. In fact, I actually kind of liked it. Then, right at the end, when Skylar Laine suddenly exploded and her voice went through the roof of the American Idol 2012 stage, I was like… WOW. That was really impressive!

The American Idol 2012 judges seemed to agree with me across the board. Randy Jackson echoed my “wow” with several more ‘wows’ and said he thought it was her “best performance on the show to date. Jennifer Lopez said the song proved American should not count her out. “You can sing with the best of anybody who’s here,” Lopez said.

Steven Tyler was also impressed, telling Laine it was “the best song you could have picked for your voice and the end of the night.” I never thought “Wind Beneath My Wings” would sound good in country form, but it actually kind of worked quite well.

Happily, Skylar Laine also sounded very lovely on her duet with Colton Dixon of “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Although somewhat the odd duet couple, the two blended beautifully and had a great performance.

I have been worried that Skylar Laine might find herself in the bottom of the American Idol 2012 elimination results this week after several weeks of what I consider not-so-strong performances. After her rendition of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” t his week, I would be kind of pissed off if she did end up in the bottom three.

>> Related: American Idol 2012: Colton Dixon Rocks Cyndi Lauper (VIDEO)

WARNING: AMERICAN IDOL 2012 SPOILERS AHEAD

Anyway, I digress. Tonight on American Idol 2012, my favorite boy Colton Dixon was faced with the task of choosing a song from the 80′s to rock out and impress the judges and the voters with his vocal prowess. Colton Dixon could have probably picked any number of songs from this decade that would suit his voice and style, but I was rather pleased he decided to go with Cyndi Lauper‘s “Time After Time.”

I always like it when one of my favorite American Idol contestants picks out one of my favorite songs. Then I have to sit there and worry about whether they are going to butcher it and make me mad for liking them.

Thankfully, Colton Dixon not only did not wreck the Cyndi Lauper song on American Idol Wednesday night, he actually rocked it out quite fabulously. Dixon pumped up the volume on the song, giving it a bit of a punk edge and making it his own. I felt it was one of his best performances in recent weeks and I’m even more annoyed now that I don’t think he stands a chance against Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips, even though I am a much bigger fan of Colton than either of them.

The American Idol 2012 judges were also quite taken with Colton Dixon’s Cyndi Lauper song performance. Steven Tyler gushed over Dixon with a dreamy expression, telling him he “could do a record right now.” Jennifer Lopez praised Dixon for being in sync with the band and said she “felt so many different things as I was watching that.” My favorite comment on Dixon’s performance came from Randy Jackson, who said “that breakdown with the half-time things with the drums was sick, dude.” Hell to the yeah!

Colton Dixon also pulled a lovely performance in his duet with Skylar Laine on the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton song “Islands in the Stream.” While I don’t really like the song that much, and I would have preferred to see Dixon do something either more emotive or more rocker, it was still a nice duet and garnered a lot of praise from the judges.

I think we can hopefully call that a winning night for Colton Dixon and rest assured we’ll be seeing him again next week!

>> Related: American Idol 2012: Did Hollie Cavanagh Do Enough to Save Herself? (VIDEO)

WARNING: AMERICAN IDOL 2012 SPOILERS AHEAD

Hollie Cavanagh managed to squeak into the American Idol 2012 top 8, but it is still a huge question of whether or not she will make it through to next week. She and fellow underdog DeAndre Brackensick are neck to neck when it comes to odds on who will go home this week.

For her song tonight, the golden girl with the not always so golden voice made a bit of a strange choice of song when she chose “What a Feeling” by Irene Cara from the movie Flashdance. I say the choice was odd because it was so atypical for Cavanagh and it is a very energetic, emotive song — not really the kind of thing I see Hollie doing well with.

Unfortunately, she did indeed fail to pull off the song. Hollie Cavanagh was much too stiff for the very upbeat, vibrant song all about celebration and movement. The judges across the board told Cavanagh she seriously needs to loosen up and go with her gut and her heart on stage.

“You are listening to what everyone is telling you, you have to let it go, with the movement it felt like you don’t let go, you have to free fall, you have to feel it from your haeart and soul,” Jennifer Lopez told Cavanagh.

Judge Randy Jackson agreed, telling Cavanagh: “You have the talent, your voice is amazing. I think you have to stop thinking and live it.” Steven Tyler was more blunt than usual in his critique of the 18-year-old singer, telling her flat out that her “pitch was all over the place” but kindly added that her songs “are always great at the end.”

Hollie Cavanagh did somewhat better in her duet with DeAndre Brackensick on “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters, but I don’t think it was nearly enough to save her from ending up in the bottom three… and very possibly going home this week.

>> Related: American Idol 2012: Did Jessica Sanchez Do Justice to Whitney Houston?

Naturally, “American Idol” producers could not resist exploiting the sad plight of 16-year-old contestant Symone Black, who took a header off the front of the state on last night’s episode. Bad enough that they used the incident as a depressing cliffhanger to close out “American Idol” last night. Even worse that they lingered over it for far too long on the follow-up Hollywood week part two episode.

Just in case you somehow missed it, Symone Black is perfectly okay after her “American Idol” fall off the stage. She was hurried off to the hospital and told she was dehydrated. Not getting enough liquids and nutrition, plus lack of sleep and incredibly hot spotlights, is a great combination for anyone looking to take a fainting nosedive off a stage. Luckily for Black, her pretty little rendition of Otis Redding‘s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” before she passed out got her through to the next round.

Then, instead of actually saving any time at all on the show to hear at least a few group auditions, viewers just had to watch a whole lot of other contestants puking, whining and complaining about feeling like crap. Which really does suck, don’t get me wrong. This is not “Fear Factor,” however, and I don’t tune in to “American Idol” to watch someone hunched over and about to hurl into a trash can.

For the rest of the “American Idol” season 11 episode, there was the usual scramble for a handful of outcasts to find a group. A whole lot of bitching about groups not meshing and people bailing when they should have stuck it out. More sick people. One sick girl with a plastic bag in her lap in case she hurled in the middle of rehearsing. Usually during this whole process, there are a few cool people who stand out as not being douche bags that get you through. This time around, pretty much everyone seemed either pathetic or lame. Not much to root for there.

Finally, after all this vapid running around and medical madness, the first group went to take the stage. Very un-originally named “the Bettys” stepped up to sing their little hearts out and… cut. That’s it. No soup for you. A whole night of watching puke and pointless posturing and no actual real singing.

If it weren’t for the whole mystery of what insane string of randomness interspersed with cuss-words is going to emerge from Steven Tyler‘s mouth next, I might just have to tell “American Idol” that I have become strong enough to quit you. Then again, I might miss Jennifer Lopez having another fiery laser eye battle with the stage crew over her missing black tights. Oh no!

>> VIDEO: American Idol Symone Black Hollywood week fall stuns viewers

The first round of American Idol season 11 Hollywood week ended on a seriously dramatic turn last night when teen singer Symone Black took a header off the stage following her performance.

Black had just finished a relatively decent rendition of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” right before the fall and was receiving her critique from the judges. Judge Randy Jackson asked why she chose the Otis Redding song, to which she replied: “I wanted to reach out to an older crowd, an older audience.”

Smiling along with the other judges, Randy Jackson teased Symone Black for her answer, asking: “Are you saying that we’re older?” The teenager slowly slurred out a “No” while she staggered toward the front of the stage. As Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez watched in horror, Symone Black fell right off the tall stage and crashed onto the floor below. In the American Idol Hollywood week fall video, it looks like Symone Black fainted as she tumbled off the stage. One of the cameramen attempted to dive and catch her, but only ended up knocking a camera onto himself.

As Lythgoe and other American Idol staff rushed to help Black, who was stretched out with a blank stare on the ground, the judges watched the drama unfold in shock. Steven Tyler, his mouth agape, could be heard saying quietly: “F*** man, she hit her head.”

American Idol fans will have to wait until tonight to find out the fate of fallen hopeful Symone Black. According to Lythgoe, Black wasn’t the only one to suffer physically from the stress of Hollywood week. “Hollywood #AmericanIdol week is so tough,” Lythgoe posted on his Twitter feed last night, “5 contestants collapsed with one falling dramatically from the stage. It was extremely frightening.”

Yes, it is that bad. No, I’m not taking it back. Listening to American Idol judge Steven Tyler singing the National Anthem at the Patriots-Ravens game on Sunday was horrible. Over the years, we’ve all heard worse performances of the song (Roseanne Barr anyone?), but Tyler’s cover was certainly not championship game worthy. He screamed, he scratched, he wheezed, he tortured the lyrics. Steven Tyler mutilated that song to death.

Sadly, this is not the first (and won’t be the last) time Steven Tyler has murdered the National Anthem. The Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge has screeched out the song repeatedly at various events for decades, including an equally terrible version of it at a Boston Bruins game back in 2010.

In none of the performances we could find available on video did a Steven Tyler National Anthem sound anything but extremely painful and dangerous to delicate eardrums. Even so, I guess Tyler still hasn’t quite reached the horror level of Christina Aguilera at Super Bowl XLV.

If Steven Tyler is feeling a bit sorry for himself today over all the negative criticism of his National Anthem performance, he does have one person he can have a pity party with. Remember Lauren Alaina, runner-up from American Idol last season? You know, the Steven Tyler adoring country singer the Aerosmith frontman called “the one” at her audition? Yes, well, she had her own very dark day with the National Anthem before a Packers-Lions game back in November. So maybe the two of them can shack up and drink a toast to mutual mangling of the country’s most famous song.

According to TMZ.com, American Idol wannabe Amy Brumfield — who revealed on last night’s auditions that she lives in a tent — has quite a checkered past. Brumfield, 24, has been arrested half a dozen times over the past seven years. Half the arrests involved some sort of alcohol-fueled behavior.

Brumfield, who sang “Superwoman” by Alicia Keys to raves by the American Idol judges, was arrested in 2005 for criminal trespass on private property. In 2007, Amy Brumfield was arrested twice. The first time was for “unlawful detainer (staying at a property after her lease was over) and the second time was for underage consumption of alcohol.

In 2010, Brumfield was arrested in early August after officers witnessed her under “extreme intoxication” outside of a store. She was arrested again in 2010 later that same month after she was reportedly so drunk inside of a Baskin Robbins lobby that she peed on herself.

American Idol has been seemingly been uncomfortable in the past with having contestants with a criminal record. In season two, Corey Clark was disqualified after it was revealed he was facing pending criminal charges. Clark later claimed he was having an affair with Paula Abdul and was disqualified over his relationship with the judge and telling other contestants, on her advice, to consult with a laywer before signing American Idol contracts.

Also in American Idol season two, semi-finalist Jaered Andrews was also disqualified over alleged criminal behavior. Andrews had been arrested on assault charge, which he had told Idol about. He was later acquitted but too late to do him any good, of course. Fan favorite Frenchie Davis was also disqualified in the same season after topless photos of her were found on an adult website.

In American Idol season five, twins Derrell and Terrell Brittenum were strong contenders during the audition rounds and were successful in making it thorugh the Hollywood rounds as well. The two were thrown off the show, however, after producers found out they were arrested for identity theft.

Even if American Idol doesn’t boot Amy Brumfield directly over her criminal record, we could see her sliding mysteriously under the radar of the judges now that her past has gone public. We’re very much doubting the producers really want to have someone who peed themselves in an Baskin Robbins representing them as the next American Idol winner.