Welcome back. The first part of Hollywood round was rather predictable. Almost everyone that we saw during the audition rounds made it through. But that was just the first round. This next round is probably one of my favorites, it is time for group performances. Why they do this round never made sense to me, given that during the entire American Idol run there are no times when you are judged for a group performance, but I digress. This round has all the emotion, and interesting aspects of Idol that we have grown to love, or even hate. How your group does could alter your future on the show. We will see how the groups are broken down, if there are emotional melt downs, and if anyone that we have yet to see through these audition rounds can make it. So let's get to it:
Picking A Group:
Before the performances even begin we are given a twist. The contestants had decided to group up with people from the day that they performed. As we know there were 2 days of the first round. The producer Ken Warwick explains to the contestants that the groups must be a mixture of Day 1 and Day 2 "for fairness". I can see why they do this. It isn't fair that the Day 2 contestants are 1 day behind in performing together. So with this twist we will see how it all shakes out. A lot of maneuvering has to go down now.
Tiffany Rios, the girl who showed us her "stars" and kind of tried to show up the rest of the contestants has a difficult time finding a spot. She tries to hook up with Scotty McCreery, the boy with the deep country voice, almost gets sucked into her mess, but wisely backs out, but then he kind of shuns Brett Loewenstern's group, which pisses me off. But then he gets shut down by Jordan Dorsey, which I did enjoy. Karma is a "you know what".
Rehearsing with Their Group:
There's a lot more scrambling for groups, and a lot of people are getting traded but it all comes down to the performance. So after a crazy shuffle the rehearsing begins. With 168 people all rehearsing in 1 hotel it's tough to find a little quiet. The group "The Minors" is a group of 15 and 16 year olds. It's a good concept, plus they all brought their moms, so getting a second opinion was a good idea.
Ex couple Rob and Chelsee and Jacqueline who had the boyfriend that couldn't take no for an answer form the group "Three's Company". Rob and Chelsee are barely on speaking terms at this point, so that makes things a bit more tenuous.
Ashley Sullivan, the girl who emerged from the "port o potty" a few audition rounds ago ditches her group and decides to quit the show instead. The producers try to help convince her to stay so she doesn't leave her group in a lurch. Ashley contemplates for a bit and decides to come back.
"Pinch your cheeks cute" Jacee Badeaux unfortunately gets kicked out of his group. That's a tough blow to a kid that already looks like he is 10 years old. He now has to find another group.
Jordan Dorsey the guy that wanted no part of Scotty McCreery now decides he wants no part of his own group and bounces to another. Weird.
Brett Loewenstern finds Jacee Badeaux and he ends up joining the group. It all works out in the end I guess.
Group Performances
Group 1: Pia Toscano, Alessandra Guercio and Brielle Von Hugel are 3 people I never heard of before but sound pretty decent, especially together. As I said I never heard of Pia before this, but she sounds really great. All 3 make it to the next round, and deservedly so.
Group 2: Abandoner from his original group Jordan Dorsey joined the group "4 plus 1". Jordan Dorsey, Robbie Rosen, and 3 other people who aren't named sing. All 5 make it through. So no matter what, Jordan made a great decision. Who knows if he would have done well in his other group but he made it with this one so there ya go.
Group 3: Jordan's former group mates "4-40" with Adrian Michael, Lauren Turner, and 2 other people who the producers don't name are part of this group. Lauren, Adrian and the other 2 people all make it through. It all worked out for them despite the craziness with Jordan.
Group 4: Tiffany Rios couldn't find a group and joined up with Jessica Yantz and only became a duo. Jessica was poached from another group by Tiffany, so we will see how it turns out. Tiffany sounds atrocious and Randy stops both of them mid song. Both girls are going home despite Tiffany's desperate attempts. Jessica might have done well if she just stayed with her original group. Guess we will never know.
Group 5: While waiting for group "Spanglish" Steven Tyler entertains everyone by playing the drums. Jovany Barreto, Kevin Campos, Jorge Gabriel and MySpace auditioner Karen Rodriguez try their best but it's a little rocky. Steven Tyler gets a bit confused and says the wrong thing, but regroups and only Jovany and Karen go through.
Picking A Group:
Before the performances even begin we are given a twist. The contestants had decided to group up with people from the day that they performed. As we know there were 2 days of the first round. The producer Ken Warwick explains to the contestants that the groups must be a mixture of Day 1 and Day 2 "for fairness". I can see why they do this. It isn't fair that the Day 2 contestants are 1 day behind in performing together. So with this twist we will see how it all shakes out. A lot of maneuvering has to go down now.
Tiffany Rios, the girl who showed us her "stars" and kind of tried to show up the rest of the contestants has a difficult time finding a spot. She tries to hook up with Scotty McCreery, the boy with the deep country voice, almost gets sucked into her mess, but wisely backs out, but then he kind of shuns Brett Loewenstern's group, which pisses me off. But then he gets shut down by Jordan Dorsey, which I did enjoy. Karma is a "you know what".
Rehearsing with Their Group:
There's a lot more scrambling for groups, and a lot of people are getting traded but it all comes down to the performance. So after a crazy shuffle the rehearsing begins. With 168 people all rehearsing in 1 hotel it's tough to find a little quiet. The group "The Minors" is a group of 15 and 16 year olds. It's a good concept, plus they all brought their moms, so getting a second opinion was a good idea.
Ex couple Rob and Chelsee and Jacqueline who had the boyfriend that couldn't take no for an answer form the group "Three's Company". Rob and Chelsee are barely on speaking terms at this point, so that makes things a bit more tenuous.
Ashley Sullivan, the girl who emerged from the "port o potty" a few audition rounds ago ditches her group and decides to quit the show instead. The producers try to help convince her to stay so she doesn't leave her group in a lurch. Ashley contemplates for a bit and decides to come back.
"Pinch your cheeks cute" Jacee Badeaux unfortunately gets kicked out of his group. That's a tough blow to a kid that already looks like he is 10 years old. He now has to find another group.
Jordan Dorsey the guy that wanted no part of Scotty McCreery now decides he wants no part of his own group and bounces to another. Weird.
Brett Loewenstern finds Jacee Badeaux and he ends up joining the group. It all works out in the end I guess.
Group Performances
Group 1: Pia Toscano, Alessandra Guercio and Brielle Von Hugel are 3 people I never heard of before but sound pretty decent, especially together. As I said I never heard of Pia before this, but she sounds really great. All 3 make it to the next round, and deservedly so.
Group 2: Abandoner from his original group Jordan Dorsey joined the group "4 plus 1". Jordan Dorsey, Robbie Rosen, and 3 other people who aren't named sing. All 5 make it through. So no matter what, Jordan made a great decision. Who knows if he would have done well in his other group but he made it with this one so there ya go.
Group 3: Jordan's former group mates "4-40" with Adrian Michael, Lauren Turner, and 2 other people who the producers don't name are part of this group. Lauren, Adrian and the other 2 people all make it through. It all worked out for them despite the craziness with Jordan.
Group 4: Tiffany Rios couldn't find a group and joined up with Jessica Yantz and only became a duo. Jessica was poached from another group by Tiffany, so we will see how it turns out. Tiffany sounds atrocious and Randy stops both of them mid song. Both girls are going home despite Tiffany's desperate attempts. Jessica might have done well if she just stayed with her original group. Guess we will never know.
Group 5: While waiting for group "Spanglish" Steven Tyler entertains everyone by playing the drums. Jovany Barreto, Kevin Campos, Jorge Gabriel and MySpace auditioner Karen Rodriguez try their best but it's a little rocky. Steven Tyler gets a bit confused and says the wrong thing, but regroups and only Jovany and Karen go through.
Group 6: Lauren Alaina the supposed "chosen one" by the producers, asks Steven Tyler to come sit in a chair in the middle of their performance while her group sings to him. This is a first. Well it's one way to get in good with the judges. But it only a quarter works because only Lauren gets through from the Group of 4. It's a bad sign when your name isn't even said on the screen. As Randy said "cut-throat" but it needed to be.
Group 7: We are told the next group was frustrated during rehearsals and cut it short early. Colton Dixon, Matt Dillard, another guy, and 2 girls are part of this group. Matt forgets the words, and only Colton gets through to the next round.
Random Acts of Bad Group Performances: Shannon Livewell, Brianna Tyson, Janelle Arthur, Alyson Jados, Catilin Koch all are very bad and go home. As does Paris Tassin, who I really enjoyed in the past rounds.. Too bad. "Cute as a button" Emily Anne Reed also went home, as does one of the Gutierrez brothers.
Group 8: This group consists of almost quitter Ashley Sullivan, Kierra Lyn Ford, Ashthon Jones and one other girl whose name we don't learn. Despite that all 4 singers get through to the next round. It was great that Ashley didn't quit, a very nice rebound story, she actually does have a nice voice.
Group 9: Adam Lambert try-to-sound-alike James Durbin's group is next up. Also in this group is Emma Henry, Danny Pate, Caleb Johnson and John Jordan . Together they sound really bad. James tries to end the song on a very very high note but it sounds more strange then anything else. J-Lo calls the performance "painful". Caleb and James are the only ones to stay.
Group 10: "The Minors", the group consisting of only 15 and 16 year olds features, Keonna Evans, Jalen Harris, Sarinna-Joi Crowe, Felix Ramsey, and Deandre Brackensick. They receive a standing ovation from the 3 judges. They sounded unbelievable. They all rocked it and understandably all 5 of them get through to the next round.
Group 11: The next group is an interesting mix. It features Steven Clawson who has the lyrics on his hand instead of actually remembering them, Corey Levoy, Hollie Cavanagh and 2 other people. Although it was a tough time for the group only Corey and Hollie make it through.
Group 12: Choosing not to use the musical accompaniment are group mates Dan Noguchi, Lara Johnston, Julie Zorrilla, Melissa Lucas, and Seth Rogen look-alike Casey Abrams. Only Julie and Casey go through, the rest aren't so lucky.
Group 13: Also choosing not to use any musical backup is the group that features Da'Quela Payne, Matthew Nuss, Naima Adedapo, Jacob Lusk and an unknown girl. All 5 make it through. Weird that we don't get to know who the unknown girl is yet she makes it. Very odd.
Group 14: The next group features Chris Medina, Caleb Hawley, Devyn Rush, Carson Higgins, and some other girl. Everyone but Devyn makes it through. Devyn was the singing waitress that we saw a couple weeks ago. She was pretty decent then but this time she obviously wasn't.
Group 15: Jacee Badeaux's new group is up next with Denise Jackson, Stevie Cain, Natalie Hanson and Brett Loewenstern. Jacee forgets his words but still makes his performance kind of cute. Jacee is one of the cutest contestants ever, he starts to well up before it is announced that all 5 make it through to the next round.
Group 16: The group that kicks out Jacee is up next. Scotty McCreery, Monique De Los Santos, Frances Coontz, and Clint Jun Gamboa all try to rock it out. Easily Clint is the best of this bunch. All 4 make it through to the next round. Scotty feels bad about what happened with Jacee so I give him credit for trying to make amends.
Group 17: The last group of the day is "Three's Company" with Jacqueline Dunford and exes Rob Bolin and Chelsee Oaks. Chelsee does decently, Jacqueline sounds really bad, Rob totally forgets the words. A real bad group performance for sure. Rob goes home but the ladies stay. I think Jacqueline got lucky that Rob was soooo bad, because they focused on his bad rather than hers.
That's a wrap. Hollywood Group Round is Over.
What have we learned from this episode??? If your name doesn't appear on screen then more than likely you are going to go home. When the producers don't even want to waste a second or two to put your name up on the screen it's probably not a good sign.
Please come on back tomorrow for the next part of Hollywood week. The contestants are on their own now, only solo performances. The group is cut from 100 to the Top 40. Should be interesting. See you soon.!
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