‘American Idol’ preview: Lazaro Arbos, Nick Boddington finally ready to perfom

The final round of “American Idol” in Las Vegas is set for Thursday night, and after some controversial past moves by the judges (even if we actually kind of dug Zoanette Johnson’s quirky “Circle of Life” performance), it’s pretty hard to predict just what Randy Jackson and company are going to do with the final ten guys. Who knows? Maybe Nigel Lythgoe will sneak Melanie Ademi and Rachel Hale into the lineup to try to make up for the fact that neither one of them advanced in the last show.

If we are basing this based on talent alone, there are three performers who are worth watching for various reasons, whether it be talent or being potential threats in the competition moving forward.

Lazaro Arbos – Lazaro is an interesting case on the show. He has a pretty tone, but there have also been performances where he hasn’t blown us away. The challenge for him this week is that producers are surely aware that he is going to be a major vote magnet if he makes it into the top 20, so they have to ensure that if they put him through, he has to be absolutely amazing. We’re not sure anyone has a bigger challenge tonight, so this one will be interesting to watch.

Nick Boddington – Our sleeper pick to go very deep this season is Nick, who combines the piano talents of Colton Dixon with some of the soul of a Joshua Ledet. He an immense talent with a great voice, but we see the same challenge for him long-term that we see for Devin Velez: will they be able to get some of the young girls who dominate this show’s voting block to pay attention to them?

Burnell Taylor – In speaking of Ledet, Burnell wins the award for being most like him out of anyone this season. HIs passion for singing comes almost out of a place of necessity rather than just something that he likes to do; you feel it in every note that he sings, and his outgoing spirit makes him infinitely likable even when he’s not performing.

Who are you looking forward to seeing tonight? We want to hear some of your thoughts below, and be sure to check out our full review of Wednesday’s show by heading on over to the link here.

Photo: Fox