‘American Idol’ season 12 promo: Johnny Keyser is back!

On “American Idol,” you really can come home again … at least so long as you don’t make it to the live shows. The contestant featured in the new promo for season 12 is not named as Johnny Keyser, but it’s pretty obvious from his look alone that it’s him.

Johnny had a little bit of an interesting run the first time around. He had a good audition and was pretty likable, then strangely got some sort of edit that suggested that all he really wanted to do was just hang around at the pool in Las Vegas (which was not really the case). He was a surprising elimination before the Sing for Your Life round, and it almost looked like he was going to be brought back as a wild card before the producers opted for Jermaine Jones instead (a decision that they are probably regretting now).

So has Johnny improved at all in the past year? His audition take on “Try a Little Tenderness” is solid, but it is one of those songs that we’ve heard on this show so many times before that it is hard to really say that it leapfrogs all of the other versions. The guy’s got some talent, so hopefully if he makes it through he’ll get some more chances to show it. After all, we’re still pretty convinced that he will make it pretty far if he gets put through to the live voting rounds … and do we really have to say why?

Don’t necessarily assume that Keyser’s performance will be during the premiere on Wednesday, as this clip is really just from one of the upcoming episodes.

What do you think? Be sure to share your thoughts on Keyser’s audition below, and also check out the upcoming “American Idol” season 12 schedule to get an idea of just what is coming up next on the show.

Photo: Fox