Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Carrie Underwood in Season 4Eight years ago, a little Oklahoman farmgirl you may have heard of named Carrie Underwood tried out for a little show called "American Idol," and the rest was history. So when "Idol" returned to Carrie's original audition city, St. Louis, this Thursday, they milked it for all it was worth, all in an attempt to convince viewers that The Next Carrie was somewhere to be found here in the gateway to the West. (Or "the gateway to 'Idol' success," as Ryan Seacrest put it.) They kind of failed.

Last night, "American Idol" headed to Portland, where the judges found an adorkably awesome indie girl (Brittany Zika), a breakout R&B diva (Jessica Phillips), and a few other promising contenders. But with only one more auditions episode left (tonight in St. Louis) before Hollywood Week, and with "Idol" ratings continuing to slip,  my "Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I are starting to worry if there's enough standout talent in the mix to keep Season 11 going. Is Nigel Lythgoe saving the best for last? Or for Hollywood? Let's hope...

Melanie's singleMelanie Amaro is the girl who won "The X Factor" last year, in case the hoopla this week about all the shocking "X Factor" cast changes made you temporarily forget about her. But these days she apparently has the XC Factor. ("XC" is the Roman numeral for "90," fellow dorks.) Yes, Melanie may have sang mostly ballads during her run on the show, but on her new single--a '90s-retro, Hi-NRG, Hi-BPM cover of Aretha Franklin's "Respect"--she's definitely picking up the pace. And now I'm wondering if she was right to stick with ballads before.

Sarah has the spirit of St. Louis!Diehard "American Idol" viewers will remember Sarah Sellers as the geek-chic food blogger who made it to Hollywood Week last year. (Watch her Season 10 audition here.)  Sarah has since continued her food-blogging, and has been cooking up scrumptious snack suggestions for any "Idol" viewing party and posting them here exclusively in Reality Rocks. And she's back this season to get your mouth watering every Wednesday and Thursday night.

Sadly, no one covered "Portlandia's" "Dream Of The '90s" theme on "American Idol" Wednesday night (how cool would that have been?), but the dream of the Idols was still alive in Portland this week. Sure, some auditioners' dreams got crushed, like the fast-food worker with the unfortunate/kinda-awesome name David Weed, who tried to take on Rush, or hyperactive wannabe rocker Ben Harrison, who sang a version of Queen's "Somebody To Love" that nobody on the judging panel loved at all. But the show did start out with one quirky girl who was so cool, she should actually get her own "Portlandia" guest spot alongside Aimee Mann. (Fred Armisen, are you reading this?)

Jessica with boyfriend D'Angelo PerryBut more on Quirky Girl later. Portland's episode had its share of decidedly non-comedic moments too, like the audition by a Liberian refugee who grew up in a war camp, or the one by yet another single mother trying to make a better life for herself and her adorable kids. But the sob story that the episode saved for last, in its all-important pimp spot, was that of Jessica Phillips.

Brittany Zika on "Idol"Brittany Zika has only received about four minutes of "American Idol" screentime so far, but already I heart this girl so hard. I loved her goofy personality and dorky horn-rimmed spectacles from the moment this "Tripster The Hipster" tripped while bounding into the Portland audition room Wednesday night,  and I was thrilled/relieved when she sang Brandi Carlile's "The Story" and actually had a beautiful voice that belied her geek-girl exterior.

Brittany is a persistent type, it seems, since she once convinced her own idol, Sara Bareilles, to bring her onstage for a "Gravity" duet just by waving a glitter-glue cardboard sign above her head. "My dreams LITERALLY came true when Sara read a sign I wrote on cardboard a few minutes before I left home for the concert. The sign said,'Will you let me sing Gravity with you on stage...pretty please?' Sure enough, after a wink and reading my sign aloud to the audience, she let me up on stage for a duet!," Brittany posted on her YouTube page. "I was crying and nervous so I didn't do as well as I would have hoped, but I got REALLY into it! Hope I don't come off as UpStagey! Anyway...My life is either complete or just beginning when it comes to showbiz...either way, I'm the luckiest, happiest young woman in the world!!!!!!!"

photo: Derick TortorellaUnderdog Dia Frampton may not have been able to stop Season 1 frontrunner Javier Colon's season-long run on "The Voice" last year. But the soft-spoken singer-songstress nearly pulled off an upset, as she was separated from Javier by only 2 percent of the public vote, and her original song that she performed on the finale, "Inventing Shadows," went to number one on the iTunes chart, beating out Javier's "Stitch By Stitch." Considering that Dia was never a typical reality TV contestant--she suffered from stagefright, and her musical background was in emo/indie (she was a member of the cult duo Meg & Dia)--this was a victory for her indeed.

Sarah's spring rollsDiehard "American Idol" viewers will remember Sarah Sellers as the geek-chic food blogger who made it to Hollywood Week last year. (Watch her Season 10 audition here.)  Sarah has since continued her food-blogging, and has been cooking up scrumptious snack suggestions for any "Idol" viewing party and posting them here exclusively in Reality Rocks. And she's back this season to get your mouth watering every Wednesday and Thursday night.