American Idol: The Judges Choice and my picks....

Today the Idols went back to their hometowns for their superstar treatment. As opposed when they are eliminated and go back as losers with no looking at them and going back to work bagging grocery's (Yes I'm talking about you Charles Grigsby.) This happens every year and at this point the Idol will find out in public which judge picked the song they have to perform next week and which song it is. Except for last year in previous years on final three night they would have to do three songs. One the judges pick, the second was the contestants pick, and the third would be Clive Davis pick but since he can only come out from his crypt at night and he always choose something like "Open Arms" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" I think they've decided just to make it two songs for this week.

These are always very important picks Kris Allen won the competition last year by smartly choosing Kayne West's "Heartless" and Simon gave Katharine McPhee the moment of Season 5 by giving her "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to sing. So let's see what contestant had what judge and what song did the judge pick for them to do next week and my thoughts on the song.

CASEY JAMES

Judges: Randy & Kara as they share the same brain.

Judges Song Pick: "Daughters" by John Mayer

As much as I hate this song and I think this was chosen because of the stupid overdone joke about Casey and Cougars I think this is a great song for Casey. Casey is at his worst when he does bar songs (which I'm sure is going to be his pick) and he's had his moments doing softer songs that show his sensitive side i.e. Jealous Guy, Better, Mrs. Robinson. So with him singing this I think he's going to be able to give us the side of Casey that we connect to.

LEE DeWYZE

Judge: Simon (At this point is when I think the show is pimping Lee because Simon usually gets the person that he wants to win i.e. Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Adam Lambert notice a trend here.)

Judges Song Pick: "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

Honestly as popular as this song is and heck it's such a great song it even got Tim Urban into the top 12 I think this was a lazy choice. Simon used this song for one of the winners of the British X-Factor, his group Il Divo recorded a version of it and Jason Castro did this two years ago. This is the type of song that no matter how Lee sings it he's going to make the top 2. I expect him to have some great moments with it and his tone will sound nice and he'll be allowed to hide his lack of personality but I'm sure we'll here the pitch problems he's had on every single song he's done on Idol.

CRYSTAL BOWERSOX

Judge: Ellen

Judges Song Pick: "Maybe I’m Amazed" by Paul McCartney

At first I was worried when I heard this was the song as it's very gender specific type of song. However I then listened to a few different versions and think this is the best song pick of the three. It hasn't been done before and I can see Crystal adding blues riffs into this song to make it special. Unlike the other two songs which are filled with emotion that you have to bottle up this is going to give Crystal a chance to let it out and could really be the Idol moment we've been begging for.

Well those are the Judges picks. The contestants then have to pick a song either past or present that they feel represents them the best way. This is where it gets tricky last year Kris Allen was smart enough to chose a contemporary song you would never have expected him to sing like "Heartless" and gave him the chance to hit his peak at just the right moment. The two front runners Danny chose "You Are So Beautiful" and Adam chose "Cryin" two great old songs that made them seem less then current and I think is the reason they ended up losing the show (that and many other reasons.)

If I was the Idols and had a chance to pick anything in the world to sing I would go with:

Casey James: "I Need you Now" by Lady Antebellum or Spinning Wheel by the The Allman Brothers - I know it's a duet but it's a well known song that would allow Casey to show his popular emotional side but also allow him to rock it out a bit.

Lee DeWyze - Either "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's or something from the Dave Matthews Band. Songs that can play up to the female voters and show a sensitive side of Lee that aren't vocally difficult.

Crystal Bowersox - I would love to hear Crystal sing "Bring Me Some Water" by Melissa Ethridge, "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon, or "One of Us" by Joan Osbourn. I think Crystal should look for songs that she can let loose that blues rocker that we love about her.

At this point there is no room for a mistake the singers have to stay true to themselves however make it accessible to the voters and show people they can have a career after Idol. No pressure.