Audition Round 4 (Nashville)

Welcome back to Audition Round 4. After last night's emotional story of Chris Medina and his fiancee that got seriously hurt in an accident, tonight starts with a whole new set of contestants, this time from Nashville. You'd have to expect a good mix of country singers coming in, but let's get to it to see what comes about:

How Were The Contestants?:

*"I have the gift", this is what Christine McCaffery says before walking into the room singing, before she even says "hello" to the judges. A pretty interesting and actually kind of entertaining choice to start the show. Randy Jackson asks if "she is serious", I don't think she actually was. You always get a few of those.

*Ex boyfriend and girlfriend Rob Bolin and Chelsee Oaks have one of the weirdest stories ever. They break up, she starts dating another dude, brings the new boyfriend to the audition, Rob still pines for Chelseem but they come in and do a duet together. The most amazing part is that they both have really nice voices together and separately. Both get put through to Hollywood. The new boyfriend doesn't look pleased, J.Lo thinks that Rob and Chelsee will get back together and I think they might too eventually and because I think both Rob and Chelsee have really great voices that could keep them in the competition for awhile.

*Allen Lewis might be one of the more scarier lookin dudes on the show this season. A lot of times the voice doesn't match the look, but in this case his voice really matched him. Despite a valiant effort and a heart of gold, he leaves with 3 "no's".

*Former Miss Teen USA Stormi Halley looks like she can sing and quickly Steven Tyler is enamored. Tyler enjoys her voice enough and puts her through. Jennifer Lopez says "nope", but Randy puts her onto Hollywood. Lopez feels that the boys let her beauty move on and not the voice. Stormi probably won't go very far. Even the bikini girl from a couple years ago got to go to Hollywood despite a nice face and semi okay voice but she was quickly gone once you put her into a room with singers who have the whole package.

*I love the story of Adrienne Beasley. She is African-American and her adoptive parents are white. They adopted her and didn't care about the color of her skin or theirs for that matter. That's a beautiful sentiment. While in the audition room Adrienne seems to have a very nice controlled voice and looks the right part. All 3 judges put her deservedly so right to Hollywood.

*Kameela Merricks looks the part and the producers even show a little taped package on her, but she really can't sing. Randy Jackson tells her not to even practice singing, because it's not going to work out.

*A missing member of the Blue Man Group comes in, a few other not so good performers also try it out, and then they get pretty emotional with Ryan and with other family members. What is sad is that someone is telling these people for years that they are good, so when they hear they aren't it's such a shock to the system. Think if their family members or friends just told them the truth they wouldn't be as shocked and saddened as they are.

*Jackie Wilson is the first very pure country singer of the day. She has a beautiful voice. All 3 judges clap for her, which is very rare. I enjoy Jackie a lot. I'm not the biggest country fan, but Carrie Underwood made me appreciate country and maybe Jackie will as well. All 3 judges agree and send her through to the next round. Outside waiting for her is her mother and mother's boyfriend, but actually, like Ryan learned very quickly, it was really Jackie's. Whoops!

*LaToya "Younique" Moore has a CD of her singing. Given what she sang to the judges I am afraid of what is on that CD. No judge enjoyed and neither did an audience member.

*In a quick montage of 3 deserving guys. Paul McDonald sounds very much like Rod Stewart and has a nice voice, Jimmie Allen has a bit too many hand movements but a great voice. Danny Pate gets joined in singing by the 3 judges, which is always a good sign. All 3 are going to Hollywood.

*Country boy Matt Dillard is a member of family that cares for hundreds of foster children a year. He looks just like he woke up on the farm and forgot to change before going to work. He has a decent voice, Randy hesitantly puts him through, J.Lo says no, but Tyler puts him through.

*Last contestant of the day is 15 year old Lauren Alaina. Really beautiful voice and probably the best voice of the night. The judges feel that she has natural talent, J.Lo cries, Lauren cries and it's a really beautiful moment. Before the end of the show she and Steven Tyler have a beautiful quick duet singing "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing". Steven Tyler feels she is the "one" and she might be, you never know.

How Were The Judges:?

Steven Tyler: He likes the ladies. That's for sure. When Miss Teen USA walks in he goes googly eyes. When you actually remember that Tyler is more than 5 times older than the majority of these girls, it seems creepy, but he makes it like a fun creepy.

Jennifer Lopez: She tells Randy to "just say no and don't be mean". I know she is new but we(the audience) like the mean. Sometimes just saying "no" isn't enough. If these people don't realize that they are just really bad then might think they have a glimmer of a chance. Simon Cowell didn't make millions of dollars and huge popularity by just saying "no", it's because he was brutally honest and right on the money for the most part. Sometimes a little kick in the butt is what these people need, hopefully she learns this along the way.

Randy Jackson: As stated, Randy at least tells the contestants when they are terrible and are delusional. He has been doing this for 10 years, so he can pretty much tell who is playing around and who is there for real. I'll definitely give him some credit for that.

How Was The Show?:

I said it before and I'll say it again, 1 hour shows are perfect for audition rounds. It gives a much better mix and balance of great, well deserved singers to ridiculous, delusional ones. The hour flies right by.

This is now the fourth episode of the season and I have yet to see a time when one judge says "Yes", one says "No" and then the other says "No". Every single time that at least one member of the judge's panel puts someone through to Hollywood they convince the undecided member to agree to put them through. I would like a little more disagreement and debate between the judges. They are putting through some contestants that have no right being in Hollywood but get sucked in by one of the judges, and then the other judge gets convinced to change their mind. It'd be more entertaining if they disagreed.

Join us next week for Audition Round 5 in Texas. Only one hour shows next week. This kind of format is much better and I'dol Be The Judge will be back with its recaps and more commentary. We'll see you next Wednesday February 2nd. See you then.