So, four hours later, we’ve seen both parts of the Season 8 premiere of American Idol, and what a rollercoaster ride it was!

We had emotion, not least in the form of 28 year old Milwaukee resident, Danny Gokey. He auditioned despite having lost his wife to a degenerative heart condition only four weeks earlier. Now that really is dedication!

We had familiar names, in the guise of Michael Castro (remember dreadlocked Jason, from last season?!). Although through to Hollywood, we have to question how much Michael wants it, because he literally took up singing as a ‘hobby’ three weeks before auditioning.

And we had hot young new talent, our favorites being:

Casey Carlson - 20 from Milwaukee
Lil Rounds - 23 from Memphis
Desai - from Chapel Hill, N.C.
Von Smith - 22 from Greenwood, MO.

What did you think of this first week’s shows?

So, the first half of the four hour spectacular American Idol 2009 season premiere has now been shown, and what a show it was!

Featuring the new judge, Kara Dioguardi, produced by a new producer now that Nigel Lithgoe has moved on to other projects, it was always going to be an event, and it didn’t disappoint!

What are you thoughts on the premiere? Cast your vote below, and add your comments if you want to elaborate!

Last night’s premiere showed us one thing - that we’re still raising talent here in America!

Two of the most talented auditionees that were put through last night were only 16 years old - that’s a whole year younger than last year’s talented teen David Archuleta!

Just like with the Archulator, both of these kids really look like nice people as well - here’s wishing them every luck in the next rounds!

Coming out of San Diego, is 16-year old Arianna Afsar. As well as having a beautiful voice, Arianna has done the rounds of the beauty pageants, and was San Diego’s and California’s Outstanding Teen 2005.

Secondly, J.B. Ahfua from Taylorsville, Utah went through. He is a talented young man, and if you want to see him covering a Rascal Flatts song, head on over to our video section!

So, on to the boys… Which of these final four will make it through to the final, and potentially on to stardom as 2008’s American Idol. So let us know your thoughts by adding a comment below!

Jason Castro

Dreadlocked Jason is a definite favorite with the fans, and for good reason. He’s cute, though in an ‘alternative’ way, he has a good singing voice, and also plays guitar, which he has used to good effect on a number of songs.

Michael Johns

Coming on strong in recent weeks, Michael is now becoming a bit of a threat. Despite a very slow start his performance in Queen week was particularly good. Does he have the momentum to pull through to the final? Time will tell…

David Cook

The first of the David’s left in the competition, rocker David Cook is filling the ‘Chris Daughtry’ slot in this year’s competition. He is also a firm favorite of Paula’s! David has been consistently excellent throughout the show, and hasn’t really received any negative comments from the judges.

David Archuleta

So, on to David number two - or maybe that should be number one… David A has to have been the favorite to win American Idol for some weeks now. The 17-year old has overcome paralysed vocal chords to get on to the show, and really has shone throughout the competition. It’s hard to pick a favorite performance, but if pushed, I think we’d have to say his version of ‘Another Day in Paradise’.

We can’t wait to watch the next few weeks!

20 year old Samantha Musa has to be the first person ever to get four ‘Yes’ votes during her audition! Bizarrely she and her sister are obsessed with Simon Cowell, and her sister got invited in to judge with the usual panel. Luckily, the weirdness appears to end there, because Samantha went on to complete an audition described by Randy as “Excellent” and Simon as “Great”. One to watch, we think!


16 year old David Archuleta is someone else with a sob-story - one of his vocal chords was paralyzed a couple of year’s ago. Not that you could tell by his audition, which was so good he even got Randy singing along - and giving him a “100 million percent Yes”.


Carly Smithson got her second (third, fourth… whatever) chance singing ‘I’m Every Woman’, and this time making sure she had her paper-work in order went she got through to the Hollywood stages by getting married!