American Idol- Top 11

Once again, I will watch a recording of Sunday night's episode and live-blog as I go. I hope it does not take 3 hours to cover a 2 hour show.

This is the first episode this season airing live "coast to coast" and voting begins right off the bat, which is a pretty lousy way of doing things. It makes the actual performances tonight less relevant and also harms those with a more western fanbase, because I do not think very many people are watching live in the Pacific Time Zone.

I have confirmed that Bobby Bones has departed the show. The mentor tonight is Gaby Barrett, who has found success as a country artist despite finishing third place on American Idol four years ago. Are Caleb and Maddie still together? I am pretty sure that Gabby and Cade are still together and had a baby not long ago. Think about it though, the third place finisher from four years ago is trying to help guide this group to victory. That would be somewhat like third place 2020 Presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen of the Libertarian Party being the voice of authority for the next Presidential election. However, it is hard to imagine how worse of a President Jorgensen could have been compared to Donald Trump and Joe Biden both.

I am somewhat relieved to know that this will not be a country music themed night but what sounds like a pretty broad category. First up is one of the wildcard selections, and it is probably not good for them to have to lead off the night.

1. Jay- " Just The Way You Are"

Politically, Jay is perhaps in an interesting position. He is one of the few African-Americans singers remaining and may be finding it hard to win the votes of traditional black Idol voters, who like their white counterparts, may be disproportionately older, southern, and Christian. While nothing has been said "formally", it also appears very possible that Jay may be the only gay male singer left this season. Might he take some steps to appeal to that demographic group? (My apologies if I am wrong.)

Anyway, this was an interesting song choice. Jay sounded pretty good on the chorus but on the verses, he sang it exactly like Bruno Mars does and it did not have the same impact as the original. So, overall, this may have been less effective for Jay vocally than the riskier selections he did last week.

 

Right away. Lionel Richie makes a joke about Jay being in his closet (meaning the jacket presumably.)

 

2. HunterGirl- "Baby Girl"

If Jay was raiding Lionel's closet, I think Hunter might have gotten into one from the late Jani Lane and took his white leather fringed jacket from Warrant's 1989 "Heaven" video. (Someone should really do that song on Idol one day.)

 

I do not know this Sugarland song but the message was kind of touching, It is about a struggling singer asking her parents to send money and then after she becomes rich and famous, she is the one sending them money. I do not think HunterGirl's vocals were quite on par with last week, but it was still pretty decent and she is likely to get some points for dedicating this to her parents, who were in the audience.

Also noteworthy is that Pittsburgh native Gabby Barrett's southern twang is stronger than ever. Since Idol talks all the time about Gabby, I can envision they would like to get a female country winner at the end of this season.

3. Christian Guardino- "Take Me To Church"

After singing atheist anthem, "Imagine" last week, Christian sings "Take Me To Church", which I am pretty sure was not designed as a gospel song.

Whenever listening to Christian, I feel like he is doing a high-wire act. There is a very thin line between his soaring vocals sounding exemplary and overdoing the attempt and sounding somewhat unpleasant to the ear. In this performance, there were moments of both, but all things considered, the passion he puts into the performance leaves a positive impact.

 

4. Dan Marshall- "She's Got It All"

 

Last Monday, I was surprised to have liked what he did with the Lionel Richie song. When he sings actual country music though, I am not as impressed.

 

Dan sounded very competent on this Kenny Chesney song (which of course I have never heard before), but it just seems like there is really nothing to distinguish him from hundreds of guy country singers who may have sung this song this weekend in the bars of Nashville and beyond.

5. Leah Marlene- "Happy Together"

Leah tells Gabby that she is torn between the polar opposite song choices of "Mad World" and "Happy Together" We can tell by her colorful ensemble and eye shadow on the live show that she picked The Turtles over Tears for Fears but maybe there should have been a third option.

It just felt and sounded like a disjointed attempt to be somewhat avant garde on a campy song from the '60s. She was just too loud.

In regards to "Mad World" though, which if done on the big Idol stage would probably yield the wrath of the Adam Lambert Extremists, I remember they had some kid do the song on his piano during his audition and I thought he had a lot of potential. Then, they never showed him performing during Hollywood Week.

6. Fritz Hager- "Let It Go"

Fortunately for Friz. this was not the theme from "Frozen" but a mellow, fairly boring James Bay song. 

As I have said on here over the past few weeks, Fritz's style is not really what I gravitate towards but I thought he gave an impressive performance tonight. He seems to have gained confidence and this was the right kind of song for his voice and the artist he wants to be.

7. Tristen Gressett- "Whataya Want From Me"

I have been comparing Tristen to Adam Lambert from the beginning. This week, he went all in. This has to be the first ever Adam Lambert original to be done on Idol. This could be very high risk/high reward with whatever remnant of his fanbase still watches Idol (I remember so many pledged to never watch again after his season.)

This is probably the only Lambert song I find decent and I was entertained by what Tristen did with it. He works hard on stage for sure. Also, he seems to realize he does not have the vocal range of Adam and did not sing the chorus in as high of a key. That was the right move as it could have gotten way too screamy. Still, Tristen hit some impressive notes.

8. Lady K- "I Believe"

Singing Fantasia's 2003 Coronation song has gotten to be fairly cliche on Idol at this point. Many have attempted it and it does not usually work out the way they hoped. I think the only eventual winner to sing it was Just Sam, who did it via Zoom, and to the best of my knowledge is the only Idol winner to have yet to perform before a live audience since winning.

All things considered, Lady K sounded very good on this song. She has the vocal chops to pull it off and was properly restrained. Nothing will ever compare I suppose to how people reacted to the first time Fantasia sang it (or the next night when she won the show), but Lady K probably delivered one of the best cover versions. I wonder how Katyrah Love felt watching it from home.

 

The last two performances back to back was a pretty good showing for the State of Alabama. 

Next up, Allegra takes on billie eylish. Give me strength.

9. Allegra Miles- "ocean eyes"

I do not recall seeing a lot of pianos recently on the big Idol stage, but Allegra started off playing one. She has a nice voice but just not one of the best voices of the season. Those who have always liked her vibe will enjoy what she did.

All in all, it was probably a bit better than I expected from her. I think though that a lot of the youngish votes she needs are going strictly to Fritz. 

Going barefoot on the Idol stage should be an automatic elimination. I have felt that for many years. (The Paul Kim Rule) How does Dr. Fauci allow this in 2022? On the other hand (or foot), Allegra did just pick up all the votes from Foot Fetishists.

10. Ava Maybee- "Sign Of The Times"

This is at least the third Harry Styles cover on Idol this month. Is he really that big of a star?

This may not be my favorite Maybee performance this season but I still continue to be impressed by her voice. She has a raspy tone that is unlike anybody else who has been on AI in a long time. Young viewers probably like many things about her and I feel like if she picked the right kind of song (say Cher or Heart), that older viewers would be very into it as well.

11. Mike Parker- "Hurricane"

Of course, this was a country song and not The Scorpions. I thought Mike started off sounding kind of tentative and once again having a hard time being heard properly over the band. As it went on, he eased into it more and sounded better. Something seems to be missing though. It is hard to pinpoint.

12. Emyrson Flora- "drivers license"

There was an Ava girl last year who sang this and did a good job but was voted out not long after. I have mixed feelings about this performance. I thought it started off very subpar and Emyrson sounded exactly like Allegra. A couple of times Emyrson looked to the side which at the time felt like maybe something was wrong or she knew she messed up.  She did manage to hit some nice big notes towards the end.

What it boils down to I think is that 16 year Emyrson is very talented and she probably should not have felt the need to "sing something young" even though she is old enough to have a license as opposed to (was it Ava August?) last season. Emyrson's voice is more like Ava (Maybee) than Allegra's and she should lean into that. Of course, this means they are all somewhat in the same lane and that is going to lead to at least one of them being voted out very soon.

13. Noah Thompson- "Stand By Me"

Now, I really wonder how much of this is scripted. They showed Noah preparing to do some newish country song and Gabby Barrett was not feeling it and told him to try to find something else as Noah looked on scared and confused over what to do.

Then, he busts out a twangy version of the Ben E. King classic. Very interesting. Was this song choice the plan all along or did Idol producers deliberately steer him in a different direction and pick this for him?  I have said on here that I find him a bit underwhelming when he sings country but like how he sounds when he does his version of non-country songs. Once again, I thought he gave a very solid performance. Apparently, he is aware that people like me think this. It might also be smart strategically because two other male country singers (and three overall) had already performed. This makes it easier to tap into the non country fan voter pool.

14. Nicolina- "Hallelujah"

 

For the second time out of the last three Sunday nights, Nicolina was chosen to close out the show, so we know that the Idol producers were expecting us to love this.

 

I feel like we heard this particular song done on singing competition shows too many times already a decade ago, but perhaps it has been a while since someone last did it and I cannot remember many females voices attempting it. 

It was very emotional as Nicolina dedicated it to her Nona and seemed on the verge of tear throughout. I think perhaps that was for dramatic effect though because she was in complete control of her voice. She is such a pro and the choices she makes vocally are, as the saying goes, out of a "masterclass."

Rankings:

14. Leah Marlene

13. Dan Marshall

12. Mike Parker

11.  Emyrson Flora

10.  Jay

  9.  Allegra Miles

  8.  Fritz Hager

  7.  Christian Guardino

  6.  HunterGirl

  5.  Noah Thompson

  4.  Tristen Gressett

  3.  Ava Maybee

  2.  Lady K

  1.  Nicolina

Who should be eliminated: Leah Marlene, Dan Marshall, Mike Parker

Now, as I think about predictions, I cannot help but feel that these results will be less important to the world than Macron's victory over LePen, but regardless, this could go a few different ways.

I think Jay, despite being a platinum ticket winner is out of luck for going first tonight and being a bit less than stellar. We know he was in the Bottom Ten last week.

With a split country vote, I think that either Dan or Mike are out (although I would have them both out.) Based on what happened last week, that would be bad news for Mike getting the (country) boot.

Then, the final person to be eliminated will either be Leah (which it should be based on this week). Allegra, or Emyrson.

Allegra did not have enough votes last week and I have not predicted that she would last long, but I almost have a feeling that Emyrson will be the one to get the (indy) boot.

Who I predict will be eliminated: Mike Parker, Emyrson Flora, Jay

 

Who was eliminated: Dan Marshall, Allegra Miles. Ava Maybee

 

I am surprised and somewhat bewildered and more than a bit disappointed. I went 0 for 3 in the predictions, but so what..

Dan deserved to go this week and was on the wrong side of the country split vote. Emyrson did manage to beat out Allegra, which I would have been ok with in previous weeks, but felt somewhat differently this week.

Ava is gone already? Just like last year's Ava from Southern California. The curse of the name Ava or the curse of being from the West Coast during these "live" votes.  So much for fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers organizing an effort on her behalf.

 

I really think Ava Maybee has one of the best voices of the season and deserved a lot more time. On the other hand, I would have also been disappointed if Tristen was voted out this early. 

Hopefully, Ava can go places in the music industry. I think she has the talent to do so. She might have come across a little too "weird" for some in the Heartland (and lost out to Leah for those who like that in a contestant.) Maybe (no pun intended), some voters viewed her as being the wealthy daughter of a famous musician who really did not need this show.

My hunch is that under the old system, if voting was open past 6:50 pm in California, she would still be around.