Megan Joy seemed to know - from mugging for the camera to her overdramatic pop-eyed look during Ryan Seacrest's announcement - that this "American Idol" episode would be her last.

Joy, the 23-year-old single mom from Sandy, Utah - she of the tattooed arm and quirky hip swivel - was eliminated on Wednesday night's results show, with a gratuitously cruel flourish from lead judge Simon Cowell.

In shutting down hopes of a "judges' save," even before Joy re-sang her rendition of Bob Marley's "Turn the Lights Down Low," Cowell seemed upset that Joy didn't care about the judges' criticism.

"Megan, with the greatest respect, when you said that you don't care, nor do we," said Cowell - the judge who, more than any of the four, championed Joy's offbeat singing style in the early rounds.

Cowell's disaffection for his former favorite is another indication of "Idol's" central paradox: The judges demand originality from the singers - but when confronted with a singer who breaks the mold, the judges seem determined to shove that singer right back into the mold. (Take, for example, judge Kara DioGuardi's suggestion that Joy should have chosen "Chasing Pavements," a recent hit by Adele, rather than the Marley number.)

Now Joy gets to come back home to Utah and her little boy, and prepare for the "American Idols" tour this summer. Then she can go about applying that original voice, away from Cowell's disapproving stare.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Oh, for the love of all that's holy - Bob Marley?!?

On a week when the nine remaining "American Idol" contestants could choose pretty much any song they wanted (under the vague corporate-happy umbrella of top iTunes downloads), Sandy, Utah, singer Megan Joy - the perky blonde with the smoky jazz voice - picked Marley's "Turn Your Lights Down Low" and bombed with the judges.

"It was like watching paint dry," declared Randy Jackson. "Boring, indulgent and monotonous," said Simon Cowell. Kara DioGuardi said Joy was in trouble.

Expect Joy standing at center stage tonight, awaiting the bad news from Ryan Seacrest. My picks for joining Joy in the Bottom 3: Scott MacIntyre, for his screechy rendition of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are"; and Anoop Desai, who gave a funk-free version of Usher's "Caught Up."

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Maybe Megan Joy is right - her fans will see her through.

Enough of them saw her through to the next round of "American Idol," as callers and text-message senders gave the boot to oil-rigger Michael Sarver - confirming Simon Cowell's brutal assessment that "you're not going to win this competition."

In fact, Joy wasn't even in the bottom 3 - an all-guy trio that included Sarver, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre. Maybe somebody finally figured out how boy-heavy this year's line-up is.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Get ready for the montage of Megan Joy's "journey" to the Top 10 of "American Idol."

Joy (the 23-year-old from Sandy, Utah) fired up a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life" during Motown night on Wednesday night's "Idol" episode - and the judges' appraisal was particularly harsh.

Randy Jackson called it "a trainwreck." Kara DioGuardi said she should have sung another song. Simon Cowell said it was "atrocious" and that Joy was "in trouble."

Paula Abdul tried to compliment Joy's looks: ''Your stunning beauty takes my breath away.'' This prompted Cowell to mutter, "It's not 'Top Model.' ''

Joy's only hope is that the voting public - "my fans," to whom she gave a somewhat desperate shout-out - knock either Michael Sarver (who bulled through "Ain't Too Proud to Beg") or Scott MacIntyre (who did his piano-man thing to "You Can't Hurry Love") first.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

When you try to make the most wholesome show on TV - as the folks at "American Idol" do, as they try to satisfy teeny-boppers and their grandmas at the same time - even the most tangential link to pornography is going to get some attention.

In past years, contestants Frenchie Davis and David Hernandez got the boot after word of their extracurricular activities - respectively, topless photos on the Internet and stripping in a gay bar - came to light.

Expanding the Top 12 to a Top 13 this season presented a dilemma for "Idol" producers, because they had only secured 12 phone numbers for voting - and the numbers above and below the 12 secured numbers were owned by phone-sex companies. The show found an extra phone number to use, just in time for the first week of voting.

Now, contestant Megan Joy Corkrey - the tattooed divorced mom from Sandy, Utah - has stumbled into another small problem. The singer last week dropped her married name, Corkrey, and is now billed as Megan Joy.

Alas, there's already a Megan Joy out there: A porn star whose credits (according to E! Online) include "Sorority Sex Kittens: Kappa Kappa Sex" and "Cheerleader Auditions 6" (for those who thought the stories of "Cheerleader Auditions" 1 through 5 weren't thoroughly explored).

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Whether America liked her bluesy rendition of Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight" or felt sympathy for her bout with the flue, Utah's "American Idol" contestant Megan Joy survived another week on our nation's communal karaoke show.

Joy wasn't even in the bottom three, in spite of predictions from some blogs that she'd be sent home. Instead, little Alexis Grace (pictured) - dinged for a generic rendition of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" - was eliminated. (Grace's departure goes counter to the rumors, fostered by this New York Daily News item, that the fix was in and Grace was already chosen for the final four.)

The good news for Joy is that, because she's in the Top 10, she'll be part of the "Idols" tour this summer.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Megan Joy - the pride of Sandy, Utah - wasn't just singing a country song on Tuesday night's "American Idol." She was living one.

Joy - notice that the recently divorced 23-year-old mom has dropped her married name, Corkrey, adopting her middle name as a stage name - was on the bubble last week, and has been roundly criticized by "Idol" wags on the Internet. (The notorious VoteFortheWorst.com - the folks who lobbied for Sanjaya Malakar in an effort to take down "Idol" from within - has chosen Joy as their favorite this season.)

On Tuesday, Joy fought off a bad case of the flu - which put her in the hospital on an IV bag, and forced her to miss the show's dress rehearsal earlier in the day - to sing a passable rendition of Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight."

The judges were impressed with the effort. "You should have flu every week," said Simon Cowell, "because you were better this week than last week. And you look gorgeous."

(Cowell was also right that whoever is styling Joy is detracting from her tattoo-flavored quirkiness. She needs to wear something with a bra - the halter-top gown she was wearing does not pass the "pencil test.")

Of course, the strangest performance of the night was Adam Lambert's ill-advised attempt to turn Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" into a Depeche Mode song. Cowell again called it right: "What the hell was that?" (Randy Jackson, on the other hand, should be ashamed for his positive comment that it sounded like "Nine Inch Nails doing a Johnny Cash song." Randy should be forced to listen to Cash's late-career cover of Trent Reznor's "Hurt," to be reminded of what a Cash/Reznor collaboration really sounds like.)

If Joy survives tonight's results show - a big if, though Scott MacIntyre's uncanny ability to turn everything into a Bruce Hornsby song makes him a prime candidate for dismissal - she'll be in the Top 10, which means she'll go on the "American Idols" tour his summer.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

The "American Idol" producers decided to send a message to Megan Joy Corkrey on Wednesday's results show: You're on the bubble, so get better or go home.

Host Ryan Seacrest called Corkrey - the 23-year-old single mom from Sandy, Utah - down to the main stage to stand alongside Jasmine Murray (who, like Corkrey, was a judges' wild-card choice for the Top 13) to learn which of them would be eliminated. After a moment of tension, Seacrest told Corkrey she would be safe, and that Murray was going home.

(To add to Murray's misery, she was also told the judges - who now have the power to "save" one eliminated contestant - wouldn't be exercising that power with her. The same thing happened to Jorge Nunez, who got sent packing.)

The good news for Corkrey and her fans: If she survives next week (with the theme ''songs popularized by members of The Grand Ole Opry''), she'll be in the Top 10 - which means she'll be part of the national tour.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Can we all agree with Simon Cowell that "Rockin' Robin" was an atrocious song choice for Sandy's favorite tattooed single mom, Megan Joy Corkrey, on last night's "American Idol"? (Why couldn't she have done "The Way You Make Me Feel," instead of Lil Rounds?)

But not everyone thought Corkrey's performance was that bad. Michael Slezak, recapping "Idol" for Entertainment Weekly, wrote that she "interpreted the fusty old number with enough swing and sass that it wouldn't have sounded all that odd sandwiched between cuts from, say, Duffy and Nellie McKay."

Corkrey has got to work on her stage moves, like actually moving around on the stage. Right now, if a hurricane swept through the "Idol" studio, Ryan Seacrest and the others should tie themselves to Corkrey - because when she sings, she's as rooted as a tree.

Tonight we find out how America voted - and we learn about the mysterious new format change, which I suspect will have the judges taking the final decision out of the voters' hands.

While you're waiting for tonight's results show, consider this excellent column by Los Angeles Times' pop music critic Ann Powers, who urges "Idol" producers get over the homophobia that forces contestants to submerge their identities. (Consider Clay Aiken, who came out five years after his "Idol" season.) Powers' commentary is a reasoned call for the overly homogenized "Idol" to be as diverse as America itself.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

It's been the burning question all the nation has been asking, apparently: Just what is tattooed on Megan Joy Corkrey's right arm?

The "American Idol" finalist - and 23-year-old single mom from Sandy, Utah - explained it in a Q-and-A session (which MTV.com dutifully transcribed here) after securing her spot in the top 13:

"It's a castle, and there's a night sky above it. And the glass is stained glass, and it's my fairy tale. And there's a king and a queen, and that's me and — who knows? And then there's a fairy godmother, my mom; a wizard, my brother; and a prince, my son. Then there's roses growing up the castle."

Corkrey has seven tattoos in all: Her son's name on her wrist, two stars on her back (representing herself and her mother), her middle name on her hip, and "a jumble of things I love" on both feet.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

"American Idol" finalized its Top 13 (not 12, but 13, in a "surprise" twist) Thursday night, and Megan Joy Corkrey - the 23-year-old single mom from Sandy, Utah - made the cut.

Unfortunately for Corkrey, her big moment of triumph was upstaged by another singer's hissy fit.

Corkrey impressed the judges with a fiery cover of KT Tunstall's "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree." Simon Cowell, while saying it wasn't the best vocal ever heard, heaped praise on Corkrey.

"What I like about you is that you're current," Cowell said. "Sometimes this show can get a bit karaoke, and I don't get that from you. You've got originality, you're quirky, you've got your own thing."

(Cowell's comment drew this rebuke from Michael Slezak, who's recapping "Idol" for Entertainment Weekly: "What is it about her that's so current? The fact that she's going to need serious help from Auto-Tune when she goes in to cut her debut album?")

When Corkrey got the word in the episode's final minutes that she would be moving on to the Top 13, she had to share the stage with drama queen Tatiana del Toro - whose meltdown in front of the judges when she was eliminated stole Corkrey's thunder. (On the plus side, Corkrey is almost guaranteed a supporting role on tonight's episode of E!'s "The Soup," when Tatiana's crying fit gets played over and over again.)

Also, did you notice that when Corkrey tried to give a high-five to fellow Top 13 pick Jasmine Murray, she got left hanging? Welcome to Hollywood, indeed.

(By the way, Corkrey has her own website now. Here it is.)

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Reality show

Sixteen-year-old Hurricane resident Taylor Vaifanua was an early casualty on Wednesday night's "American Idol" results show - getting the word from Ryan Seacrest that she wouldn't be going into the Top 12.

But Megan Joy Corkrey, the 23-year-old divorced mom from Sandy, gets one more chance tonight to prove herself. Corkrey was one of eight competitors in the Top 36 who were chosen to compete for three wild-card spots tonight.

Michael Slezak, who writes the "American Idol" recap for Entertainment Weekly, thinks Corkrey might get the judges' approval to go on to the Top 12. He puts her odds at 3-1, just behind Anoop Desai and Ricky Braddy.

The show airs at 8 p.m. (Eastern/Pacific), or 7 p.m. (Central/Mountain) on Fox (Ch. 13 in Utah).

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Taylor Vaifanua

Sandy singer Megan Joy Corkrey missed the cut on "American Idol" Thursday night, but don't count her out yet.

The tattooed mom's jazzy rendition of Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On" - which Simon Cowell said she "oversang" in the second half - wasn't enough to convince the voting public to put her in the Top 12.

Instead, Kris Allen (who did a cover of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror"), Allison Iraheta (Heart's "Alone") and Adam Lambert (The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction") advanced.

But Corkrey's fans shouldn't give up hope. Several of the also-rans from the Top 36 will be back for a wild-card round on March 5. It's clear from the comments Wednesday night that the judges like Corkrey's jazzy sound - and Randy Jackson even opined that he wants to see her go farther in the competition. (He's not the only one: Entertainment Weekly's "Idol" blogger Michael Slezak picks Corkrey as one of the singers he'd like to hear in the wild-card show.)

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey

Set your TiVos for "American Idol" tonight: Megan Joy Corkrey, the 23-year-old divorced mom from Sandy, Utah, performs in the second wave of the Top 36 singers.

Tune in at 8 p.m. (Eastern/Pacific) or 7 p.m. (Central/Mountain) on Fox (KSTU, Ch. 13, in Utah).

(Hurricane teen Taylor Vaifanua will perform in the third group of 12 next week.)

Here's her rendition of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine" from the Salt Lake auditions.

Labels: American Idol, Megan Joy Corkrey, Taylor Vaifanua