Welcome Back! It seems like it's been forever since there has been actual singing on American Idol, and when we break it down, that's because it has. The last legitimate music we heard was prior to Symone Black's fall in last Wednesday's episode. From there we have had nothing. I'm not even going to waste time on talking about last Thursday's episode because the episode itself was a waste of time.
So moving on, tonight we actually get to hear these groups that were for the most part crazily formed. There are over 180 contestants left, tonight we should see a significant amount of people going home.
It's a 2 hour show tonight, I'll try to get you through it, so let's get going:
Group Performances
Day 1:
Group 1 :
They call themselves "The Bettys". As a quick recap, this is the group that featured 2 contestants going to sleep while the other 2 sing through the night pissed at the sleepers and one getting violently sick. Fun Group! The group features Jennifer Malsch, Cherie Tucker, Cari Quoyeser, Gabrielle Cavassa, Brianna Bell. The only thing these 5 ladies have in common are that they are all really terrible. Who's Staying? =Jennifer and Cari
Who's Going Home? = Cherie, Gabrielle and Brianna
They call themselves "Group Sauce". The group consists of Reed Grimm, Nick Boddington, Creighton Fraker, Aaron Marcellus, and Jen Hirsh. They sound really well together, the judges are pumped and at the end of the performance the group gets a standing ovation from all 3 Judges.
Who's Staying? =All of 'Em
Who's Going Home?=None of 'Em
Group 3:
They call themselves "6, 7, 9". We are reminded that this group had parent drama, with the parents getting involved in the rehearsing. The group features Kyle Crews, Brielle Von Hugel, Joshua Ledet and Shannon Magrane.They all are pretty solid. Brielle was in a group with Pia Toscano last year, so she is a little cocky about her experience.But she sounds pretty good. Who's Staying? Brielle, Joshua, Shannon and Amber. We didn't get to see Amber sing so I'm sure she was great.
Who's Going Home? = Kyle. Sucks being the only gone. I remember he had some potential, but guess it didn't work out for him this time around.
Group 4:
A girl named Jacquie Cera, that was in this group with so called "Patient Zero" aka the girl who lives in a tent, Amy Brumfield, passed out on her way to the stage. She wants to sing, and I give her credit for that. This group also features Dustin Cundiff, who forgets the words, the aforementioned Amy, who forgets the words, Mathenee Treco, who oversings, and the aforementioned Jacquie. Very weak group performance. Who's Staying? Mathenee.
Who's Going? Dustin, Amy and Jacquie. Back to the tent does go Amy.
Montage Interlude: The Words Are Gone
We get a nice montage of people forgetting their lyrics, making up lyrics, or giving up completely. Good times!
Group 5:
"Those Girls and That Guy". This group featured Alisha Bernhardt who scared people away from being in a group with her because she's a police officer, and Christian Lopez who got violently sick. Samantha Novaceck, and two other unidentified girls are also in the group. Rough group outing there. Given that Alisha's almost other group members in Group 4 also went home at least she'll be comforted with that fact.Who's Going? = All of 'Em
Passing Out Interlude:
It's been about 15 minutes, so that means we get to see yet another girl passed out. What are these people drinking or eating? Imani Handy is practicing with her group and ends up passing out. But the paramedics reassure Imani's mother telling her "she just passed out". Nice of them to make her feel better.
Group 6:
Ariel Sprague, sounds great, Eben Franckewitz, sounds incredibly pitchy, Gabi Carrubba, sounds alright, David Leathers Jr and Jeremy Rosado both sound the best out of this group.Who's Staying? = All of 'Em
Who's Going? =None of 'Em. Kinda disagree about Eben, didn't like it at all.
Group 7:
Despite several attempts to rejoin her group the aforementioned Imani Hardy continues to fall down and stumble around. She has a lot of guts, but it's scary. They call themselves "Area 451". Bryce Garcia, forgot his words right away, Johnny Keyser, continues to be very strong, Kristi Krause, is screechy, and Imani powered through. Unfortunately though, she ends up passing out mid song. Very scary stuff. Johnny actually try to continue singing while Imani hits the floor. Odd. She ends up okay and is able to take a seat to listen to the results.
Who's Staying? = Johnny
Who's Going? = Bryce, Kristi and Imani. Despite her promising that she'll take better care of herself.
Group 8:
This group calls themselves MIT or "Most International Team". They have had their up and downs. Mostly between Richie"The Cowboy" Law and Heejun Han. After doing an awkward confessional as a group, Richie decides to stay back in the confessional room to smack talk his other members. Despite the drama Heejun and fellow group member Phillip Phillips sound decent. Richie and other group member Jairon Jackson do not. Richie couldn't back up his cockiness with his voice and performing skills.Who's Staying? = All of 'Em
Who's Going? = None of 'Em. The judges give all 4 a reprieve based on their past performances not this one.
Other Notable Day 1 Performers Staying?=Erika Van Pelt, Hallie Day and Elise Testone
Other Notable Day 1 Performers Going Home?=Reis Kloeckener, Symone Black, and WT Thompson, who gave up his job despite having a pregnant wife. Bad call man, bad call.
Group Round is Over!
Final Hollywood Solo Performances
Day 2:
This round contains the contestants just singing on their own, they get to sing with the band, or they get to play an instrument. The results of the performance will occur at the end, no immediate results. I'm gonna go minimal on commentary, given the amount of recap of Day 1. Enjoy!*Joshua Ledet-Solid vocals, a little pitch problems here and there, but very solid.
*Colton Dixon-Hate his hairdo, but enjoy his voice.
*Phillip Phillips-His name is still fun to me. He's more comfortable with his guitar, voice is a little lacking.
*Jen Hirsh- A little sleepy at the beginning but she hits the higher notes incredibly fiercely. Really really well done. "BINGO", as Steven said
*Creighton Fraker- He did his thing. His tone is different and I guess it could get grating at points, but it's interesting.
Messing Up & Drama Interlude:
We see random people forget the words and then we see Reed Grimm. He was going to sing acapella, but found out late that he has to sing with the band. With only 30 mins to prepare he has to rework his whole performance. He has a tough time focusing and calls his mom for support.*Shannon Magrane- I hated parts of this performance, then really enjoyed parts of it, such an odd thing. I don't even know what to think.
*Reed Grimm-Decides to play the drums after all of his earlier turmoil. It's an interesting choice. "Another Casey", that's what Randy said. I don't find Reed as endearing as Casey Abrams was last season. He's alright, solid voice, but a little too quirky at times.
*Skylar Laine- After going to the hospital due to exhaustion, dehydration and American Idol-ation she actually sounds pretty damn well on the stage. She's fun, and her voice is pretty pure.
*Rachelle Lamb-Completely lost the words and tried to restart. Her second try went better cause she remembered the words, but her voice was not so good.
*Adam Brock-Very Danny Gokey like. From his voice, to his glasses. Solid performance.
Results
4 Room Split. They split the remaining 98 contestants into 4 rooms, the judges will come in to tell us which rooms move forward and which ones go home.Room 1 Notable Contestants:
*Creighton Fraker, Erika Van Pelt, Jen Hirsch, Hallie Day, Adam Brock, Johnny Keyser, Aaron Marcellus, David Leathers Jr, Colton Dixon, Jermaine Jones, Lauren Grey, Joshua Ledet.
Staying or Going Home? Staying. This was a no doubter room.
Room 2 Notable Contestants:
*Phil Phillips, Eben Franckewitz, Skylar Laine, Shannon Magraine, Reed Grimm, Jessica Phillips
Room 3 Notable Contestants
*Rachelle Lamb, Brittany Kerr, Jennifer Malsch, Jerod Gibson, Sara Phillips, Madison Shandley.
Staying or Going Home? Going Home. Not a surprise, not a lot of notable, featured contestants.
Room 4 Notable Contestants
*Stephanie Renee, Baylie Brown, Britnee Kellogg, Angie Zeiterman, Richie Law, Heejun Han.
Staying or Going Home? Staying. A couple notable standouts, but a few clunkers, Richie Law really?
Final Thoughts:
*Long episode, a lot of singing, but waaaaay too much drama. I get that 3 people passed out or went to the hospital but to focus soooo much time on it was just repetitive and overly dramatic.*A lot of eliminations tonight, more than I thought, only a few surprising eliminations. I was disappointed we didn't hear a few significant voices like Jessica Phillips, Lauren Grey and Baylie Brown, but knowing they made it to the next round is positive. Hopefully we'll be hearing from them tomorrow.
Well if you thought tonight was crazy come back tomorrow. The contestants are going to Las Vegas. It looks like more passing out, more drama and more eliminations. Please check out Idol Be The Judge right after the episode. Until then, See Ya!
I agree that there was too much time spent on people passing out. Also, too much time spent on Reed's 30 minute drill. It's really odd to me that they keep focusing on the same people and there's a large group of unknowns that don't even get mentioned. Even when the rooms were told if they are staying or going, the recap reminded us again who was in that room that was notable. I'm glad they spent a good amount of time, though, on the competition and singing this episode. Las Vegas looks to be interesting.
ReplyDelete