Jon Caramanica, NY Times:

Any of these paths can end in pop success, but the most plainly relevant contestant this season is Andrew Garcia, a YouTube-era star in the making, one of thousands of people who for the last few years have in essence been playing "American Idol: The Home Game" posting clips of their cover-song performances to the Internet in hopes they'd get noticed. In those clips, which still pepper YouTube, he's a clear adept, able to breezily disassemble and reformat popular songs for his limited vocal range — a recipe for modern "Idol" success. His version of Paula Abdul's hit "Straight Up" during Hollywood week has been this season's most memorable and thoughtful performance by far.

"Idol" might make Mr. Garcia a star, but he's done most of the heavy lifting already, a seasoned competitor on a show that prizes inventive revisions of pop standards. Mr. Garcia may not have a record deal, but in this regard, he's no amateur.

Full Story: http://nyti.ms/aDTMhR

TeamAndrewGarcia

We're gonna f'ing DOMINATE the American Idol polls so hard for Andrew, it's not even funny.

By the power of YouTube/Twitter/@BTVfam, we WILL get @AndrewAGarcia into the American Idol finals this season!

I don't expect you guys to read all of this...but I hope you take the time to answer this survey yourselves just to reflect on the past year. If you do this, answer truthfully and with meaningful answers that you can look back on several years from now; it's amazing to look back on how you've grown.

This is my 7th straight year of doing this, and it's an absolute TRIP looking back and my old posts. Anyways, here it is.

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