American Idol Top 24- Part 2
Monday night brought another group of 12 pre-recorded singers to the Disney resort in Oahu. As for me, I will be watching a recording tonight of the episode, pausing to offer commentary before I hear what the judges had to say. The judges on a whole are a lot nicer than they were in the Simon Cowell era. There is virtually no chance that Luke, Lionel, or Katy will ever say that they flat out disliked a performance. I will do so however is the circumstance calls for it.
1. Cadence Baker- "Something's Got A Hold On Me"
During the audition rounds, Cadence was presented as a potential contender to win it all. We learned that her grandfather had written some big country hit in the '90s and her father and usual guitar player got his fair share of screen time as well, which he seemed to enjoy. At this point though, Cadence is largely on her own and the judges and mentor Bebe Rexha advise her to not appear so nervous.
This is a very old Etta James song, although people may be more familiar with the "I gotta good feeling" line that was sampled in some song (and commercials) a few years back. Cadence started off with more of a Katharine McPhee vibe to her performance, but proved that she is indeed adept in adding soulfulness to her voice. It seemed like she may have overshot a few notes but I have a feeling that she made a strong impression.
2. Sir Blayke- "Breakeven"
The one Chicagoan in the competition may be as much of an underdog as the Bulls are in the upcoming NBA playoffs, but at least they got there, right? I think a lot of viewers up to this point and continuing through this performance may not get "Sir Blayke" but I have to say that I really like his voice.
The song he did tonight seems like it has various different components that would make it hard to sing and that it would normally be covered by an R&B singer, but for most of it, I thought he sounded really strong. The beginning part was excellent, and then went a tad bit off the rails in the chorus, although Blayke eventually steered the ship back and showed off a lot of impressive vocal tricks.
3. Allegra Miles- "Adore You"
When I think of "Allegra", I am typically reminded of an over the counter allergy medication that I sometimes take, or that it was the name of the daughter of Johnny and Ginny Sack on "The Sopranos."
While Allegra thankfully did not make me drowsy, I was not crazy about this performance. For one thing, the song is sort of boring, and she sang it, in a very affected manner, especially at the beginning. It was almost like she was trying to project her voice through gritted teeth. I am sure that Allegra has talent, but the competition may just be too tough for her.
My next observation is that Bebe Rexha gives completely insincere hugs. I wonder if anybody else picks up on that.
4. Kenedi Anderson- "Human"
The weird spelling of her first name aside, I cannot help but notice she has the name of two 1980 Presidential candidates. Is there a singer named Reagan Carter somewhere out there?
Last week, I read a report that she had dropped out of the show sometime after Hawai'i, so it would be interesting to see what would be presented tonight. After all, she was the much hyped winner of one of the three "platinum tickets."
Vocally, Kenedi sounded really good on this Christina Perry song. One could easily see her going quite far in this competition, but as soon as it was finished, it cut to Seacrest at a fake radio studio saying she had dropped out of the competition for "personal reasons." We would not hear what the judges thought of what I believe was the best vocal thus far tonight. Why did she really quit? I hope all is well. We never did find out what happened to the overrated Wyatt Pike last season and the 2005 quitting of the much balleyhooed Mario Vazquez remains shrouded in mystery and rumor.
I will stand by to hear if only one person out of the 12 tonight is being cut. How else are they going to get to 20? Please tell me they are not going to bring Arthur Gunn back again.
5. Lady K- "Before He Cheats"
I suppose using the name Lady K is better than "Lady Q" , who is probably some Congressional candidate out there this year. Is she the first contestant to take the stage wearing mouse ears or have others been doing it the past two nights as well?
We start off with Ms. K undecided between "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood and "Collared Greens and Corn Bread" by Carrie's immediate Idol predecessor Fantasia. Lady K should have mashed up the songs and made it about how he needs to think before he cheats on his diet...
In all seriousness, I do not think she should have picked either song. I was incredibly impressed by what had been shown of her in the earlier rounds. She is a much better R&B belter than what sounded like a "just for fun" country karaoke girls night out sort of thing. This performance was just missing the necessary vocal punch she could have shown off on something else. I think it was a major missed opportunity.
6. Ava Maybee- "Tell Me Something Good"
Ava's real last name is Smith and it has be noted that she is the daughter of Chad Smith, the longtime drummer of Red Hot Chili Peppers. While other Idol contestants in the past have been the offspring of musicians or former athletes or (at that time) mostly unknown politicians, Ava is actually the daughter of someone in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame who is very much still active in the music scene. If the fanbase of the RHCP care enough to vote for Ava, that is a huge advantage for her.
She has been interesting thus far this season. Both her singing and speaking voice sound like someone much older than 21 and she comes across like someone completely comfortable with already being famous. I was not too enthusiastic when I heard of her song choice. This was another '70s throwback after all and it seems like all sorts of female singers in Idol history have been eliminated after singing Chaka Khan. However, Ava's take on it really impressed me. She has an extremely effective gritty voice and her bluesy rock rendition made it seem not as much like a cover song. I will look forward to seeing what else she can do this season.
7. Noah Thompson- "Blue Side Of The Mountain"
The internet has all sorts of conflicting information about Noah's age, but according to the official Idol website, he is still just 19. I believe he was the first one to be shown auditioning this season and they have repeatedly pointed out that he is a blue collar worker with an infant son who sings country.
This performance was definitely country. He surprised a lot of people in Hollywood when he took on "Stay" by Rihanna and showed an impressive amount of versatility, but in Hawai'i, he definitely stuck to his roots, which is probably wise as far as getting votes are concerned. I do not know the song and find these country tunes a bit on the boring side, but Noah was definitely credible.
8. Leah Marlene- "Call Me"
Leah hails from Normal, Illinois, the home of the ISU Redbirds, but has been promoted as anything but "normal." Her father is also a rock musician, as a member of some Canadian hair metal band I have not heard of. Leading up to this performance, the judges have praised her for her guitar skills but have told her to put the vocals more prominently in front of it.
This was a weird one for me. I was not enthusiastic about the song choice, although I knew she would do a totally different arrangement on it. The first verse sounded extremely good, then she went into the chorus and I sort of grimaced from what she was doing. Then the remainder was a bit of a roller coaster. All things considered, she started off reasonably high on my rankings and then plummeted. What will the voters think? Is she too quirky for her own good? Singers like her have definitely amassed a fan base before however.
In giving her commentary, Katy Perry eerily forecasts the Oscar Moment of the Millennium when she says "you can't just slap someone across the face and run."
9. Cameron Whitcomb- "Bad Moon On The Rise"
Years ago, there was a big website in Idolland called "Vote For the Worst." Cameron could single handily convince them to start up again.
Either this uber-Canadian sounding backflipper is one crazy SOB or this was some interesting strategy. We have seen this in past on the Idol stage, where contestants decide to just go crazy and put on a bit of an act rather than focus on singing well. Cameron took it to a new level though here. One has to wonder if the people who have done that want to be eliminated from the show or are trying to win votes in an unorthodox way. I really do not know. He is apparently in a showmance with Ava Maybee, who needless to say was much better vocally. Maybe (no pun intended), he is helping to try to clear a path for her?
Cameron has been shown doing backflips from the start of his Idol journey and acting pretty manic, but now he has incorporated some sort of jig that he does right after the backflip. Also, he sounded horrible on this song, which I think was probably intentional. For all his goofiness, he has sung better before. Perhaps, if he thought he was giving it his best vocal effort, he should look for the misheard "bathroom on the right" from his song choice and take an Adderall.
If only Normund Gentle could do a backflip...
10. Christian Guardino- "Leave The Door Open"
From his first audition, Christian has reminded me of the Italian-American version of Elliot Yamin. If you passed either on the street, it would have been hard to guess that they were talented soul singers. Elliot had diabetes and hearing loss. Christian has some sort of visual limitation.
This was another interesting one for me. Earlier in the audition rounds, Christian was so easy to root for based on his voice and his underdog appeal, but this song choice, which I do not know, may have been a bit of a risk as opposed to doing something that the voters might be more familiar with.
Parts of this performance were very strong and he hit a very impressive high note at the end, but it did go off the rails at one point where either nerves or being overly excited in front of a live audience got to Christian and I detected some pitch issues. He has to get points for a high degree of difficulty though.
11. Katyrah Love- "Blame It On The Boogie"
I thought they would save her for last tonight, but instead Idol is going to pimp Fritz, as if a white guy with a guitar ever needs that to happen.
We had known that Katyrah had a private sector job for a non-profit in her hometown of Baltimore helping the disadvantaged so much respect to her for that. Tonight, we learn that she grew up in a religious house without secular music. Her parents were shown in the audience though tonight and they seemed to be ok with everything Katyrah was doing on stage.
It seems like she may have been a bit under the radar, but she has continued to impress throughout. On ballads, she has very much sounded like Whitney Houston. Tonight, she sang a disco song and gave off major Fantasia vibes as well. I do not know if this was the perfect song for her, but there is no doubt that her voice is one of the best of the season and that she is a natural entertainer.
12. Fritz Hager- "Waves"
Last but not least was Fritz. I thought that I recall that he first said during his audition that Phillip Phillips was his singing role model but he has been going even further out in the Indie Folk lane. For some reason, the Idol judges love this stuff to pieces.
I do not know this song and I thought I would dislike the performance more than I wound up doing so. In fact, I was pretty impressed for the first half of it, but then as Fritz and his face got more manic, I sort of lost interest was ready for it to be over. I am sure he will be around for a long time though.
Rankings:
12. Cameron Whitcomb
posted by Corey @ Tuesday, April 12, 2022
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