AI is mixing things up a bit this year with a new method for building the Top 12.

In the past we’ve had weeks and weeks of Top12 guys/girls, Top 10 guys/girls, Top 8 guys/girls, you can see where I’m going with this. But not this year.

Out of the Top 36 were 3 groups created. Was that too Yoda of me?

First Group Results: Anyway, the first grouping performed this week and there was absolutely no surprise in the first three to join the Top 12: Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, Danny Gokey. The performances in the first batch were in general lackluster, and the only saving grace was a cameo from Michael Johns and Carly Smithson from the previous season (love them both). Big upset of the night was for Tatiana who was paired against Danny in the final elimination, and we all knew who was going to be chosen. I would, however, like to point out that there appears to be some stew brewing about Danny, and he may be losing popularity. Judge for yourself.

Second Group Results: Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta were joined by Kris Allen in the next batch of kids to move into the Top 12. Adam is the goth-emo-esque looking rocker, and Allison is the red-haired 16 year old rocker. Kris Allen – I actually had a hard time remember who he was…come to think of it, I still don’t remember him. Anyway, Adam was awesome – I have loved him from the start, from the look to the vocals. Allison has an insane personality (and not in a good way), but an amazing rocker chick voice. Will she be this years Amanda Overmyer? She can’t drive a Harley, so we’ll see. Sad news of the night is that Nick/Norman isn’t going through. Wild card?

Third Group Results: Not too many surprises for group three. We’re going to have Lil Rounds who is a major diva in the making with a mega-voice, Scott MacIntyre the blind singer who is charming and a great pianist, and Jorge Nunez the contestant from PR who took vocal lessons to lose some of his accent. I’m not surprised by these and I’m happy that they made it into the Top 12. What I’m not happy about is Tatiana being put into the Wild Card round. Enough already.

Wildcard Week: Jasmine Murray was in first, and this wasn’t a big surprise. They have always thought she has great commercial potential and she showed that she’s got potential for big vocal songs too. Megan Joy Corkrey was in next, and the only thing I can say about her is that she dances like an absolute freak. Simon absolutely loves her. Number 12 was next and that was Matt Giraud, the soulful singer who does dueling pianos. He gave a great performance and deserved to be there…and then the shocker. They decided to make it a Top 13 and they put Anoop Desai through. I’m pretty happy about that because he’s a great singer.

So there you have it folks – American Idol has the Top 13 this year, and next week we’ll really see what they can do. Check out the results from the Top 13/12/11.