Preview: Dallas Idol contestant Cortez Shaw sings to make the top 20

Shaw is current, which is something the show needs.

Fox

Cortez Shaw during his first audition on American Idol season 12

DALLAS — On Thursday's episode of American Idol, 10 guys will perform, with only five of them making it to the next round. These five guys will round up the top 20, who will be competing for the public vote next week, with only 10 of them making them into the finals.

Dallas’ Cortez Shaw made it to the top 40 last season but failed to make it to the public voting rounds. Will his performance tonight help him get to the top 20? We’ll have to see. Shaw has had some hits and misses so far, with Nicki Minaj giving him some harsh criticism after his rendition of a Whitney Houston song.

There is no doubt that Cortez is talented. He is also current, which is something that American Idol needs. He is the type of artist you could see having a hit on the radio, mainly because he has a good voice and doesn’t seem old fashioned like some previous Idol contestants. Hopefully tonight he will not over-do it and picks the right song. A bad song choice on Idol can send you packing faster than you can say “the judges want a girl to win this season.”

Also on tonight’s show, we will see Josh Holiday, who has apparently lived everywhere. His Twitter says he’s in Nashville, Idol’s press release says he’s from Celeste, Texas, and an Idol commercial shows him as being from Chicago. Who knows … he’s good but I’m thinking he is too similar to what the producers are wanting to stay away from this season, which is the type of singer that we’ve seen win for the last few seasons.

Here’s a video of Cortez in one of the group rounds performing as part of Young Love.