American Idol- Top 20

 A three-hour taped episode aired tonight. I have not seen any spoilers. This is going to take a while to watch and even longer to live-blog the performances, so I better get started, and keep the comments fairly limited. There will be another two hour episode tomorrow. I guess I will try to do the same thing.

This is the 20th season of Idol and they seem to have a point in making tonight about the Top 20. My understanding is that those who have gone through will perform on the show tonight and America will vote and the Top 10 out of those 20 will advance. The judges will then pick an additional four singers to make a Top 14.

Here are my rankings from last week for both groups:

 

12. Danielle Finn

11. Elli Rowe

 

10. Dan Marshall

9.   Jay

8.  Huntergirl

7.  Tristen Gressett  

6.   Mike Parker

5.   Emyrson Flora

4.   Sage

3.   Jacob Moran

2.   Scarlet

1.   Nicolina*(looks like she also is only going by a single name)

 

I predicted Danielle and Elli would be eliminated.

 

 

12. Cameron Whitcomb

11. Allegra Miles

10. Leah Marlene

 9. Lady K

 8. Fritz Hager

 7. Christian Guardino

 6. Noah Thompson

 5. Cadence Baker

 4. Sir Blayke

 3. Kenedi Anderson (she already quit)

 2. Katyrah Love

 1. Ava Maybee

 

I predict Allegra is the one who will be eliminated

1. Emyrson Flora-"Tell Me You Love Me"

The youngest singer in the competition was the first to take the big stage first utilized in 2002, by Ryan Starr, well before Emyrson was born. There are no more audience "pods" and seemingly no masks. It looks like a full house complete with "mosh pit."

I guess Emyrson sounded decent enough on this Demi Lovato song I had never heard before. My hunch is that she is likely to be in the middle of the pack though after a long evening.

2. Mike Parker- "Chasing After You"

Mike has definitely been one of the most self-assured contestants this season. With that in mind, I was a little surprised to detect a bit of a vocal flub right towards the beginning of his performance, where perhaps he messed up a word or forgot a lyric. Once again, I do not know this son.

He seemed to recover decently enough, but something seemed just a bit off between him and the band in regards to timing and it was as if he was maybe not singing loudly enough over the band.

3. Tristen Gressett- "Sacrifice"

I am pretty sure he was wearing a girl's blouse tonight for this performance as well as eye-shadow. He will definitely be a polarizing contestant, but I find him entertaining and pretty talented.

While Adam Lambert, a former Idol luminary, has moved on to take over the Freddy Mercury role as the singer of Queen, Tristen seemed to be doing an Adam Lambert tribute of his own on this performance. This is another song I have never heard before and I think the song was actually pretty bad, but Tristen made with out of it what he wanted to.

4. Sage- "Rhiannon"

Last week, she sang Jolene, and this week Sage sang "Rhiannon" as Scarlet, Nicolina, Huntergirl and uh.. Jay, continue to await their fates.

The first verse, which she sang with minimal accompaniment was really strong and it seemed like she was on her way to having a moment. Then, when the band kicked in, she got a little pitchy I thought. Towards the end, Sage gave the song more of a rock growl than it normally has. All in all, it was pretty good, but with some vocal hiccups.

5. Jay- "You Know I'm No Good"

For some reason, the introductory package focuses on him training as if he is about to step in the ring with Adonis Creed. Instead, he sang an Amy Winehouse song, which clearly would have confused a lot of people who were trying to determine what kind of artist he was.

Parts of it felt a bit on the weird side, but I think he did the best job so far of hitting all the notes. Then, towards the end, he went into a crazy high note that will have a lot of people impressed. Clearly, this was a far more ambitious attempt than last week's Jackson 5 jam, so kudos to him for that.

6. Nicolina- "Edge Of Seventeen"

I think maybe she lost some weight since the Hawai'i episode was taped. She gives off some serious Ann Wilson vibes though and it is only a matter of time before she sings something by Heart.

On the first verse, there was a word or two where either her voices sounded a bit hoarse or it was intentionally delivered that away. Afterwards, it was once again a pretty powerful display for Nicolina. Like last year's Grace Kinstler, she almost makes it look easy.

This song references "the right-winged dove" which some may take as homage to Tucker Carlson or other pro-Russia apologists on the right.

7. Jacob Moran- "Don't You Worry Bout A Thing"

It is quite ambitious to take on Stevie Wonder but Jacob has the sort of unique voice to be able to pull it out. It may not have been the most enthralling performance ever, but his voice sounded really in its comfort zone. At the end, he also hit a really big high note in sort of a male diva show-down with Jay.

 

All things considered, Group 1 is bringing it.

8. HunterGirl- "Heartbreak Down"

She sang an original song and the graphics showed her name spelled as I have above, so I will have to move forward. I suppose it is a bit of an improvement.

Idol highlighted HG's work with veterans and her pride in being from a military family before she sang. That is likely to get her a lot of votes. I found it a bit odd that she smiled through an entire song called "Heartbreak Down" but I guess it was an anthem of empowerment. I was a bit skeptical of it at first, but she kind of won me over by her voice and the message by the end.

9. Elli Rowe- "Somewhere Only We Know"

Finally, I got one wrong. I had Elli ranked 11th from this group last week and predicted she would be eliminated. Now, I think Scarlet, who easily deserves to go through, might perhaps be concerned that not enough people liked her personality to vote for her.

Anyways, I think this was a better vocal for Elli than last week. I believe the only other person to sing this song during Idol competition was Blake Lewis .The first verse was really good for Elli. Then, as has happened with a few others, the band kicked in and she got a little thrown off timing wise and volume wise.

 

Time for the final Group A cut

Who should have been eliminated: Danielle Finn & Elli Rowe

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Danielle Finn & Elli Rowe

Who was eliminated: Danielle Finn & Scarlet

 

For starters, I feel badly for Danielle. While based on pure vocals, I did not think she was quite up to par with the others last Sunday, I hope she has a bright future. Sadly, this Passover (through pre-taped) evening would not spare Danielle, but I am very glad she and her family are so devoted to their Jewish faith. I also read that her grandfather, who was she during her audition piece just passed away, so let us wish her family the best during this period of mourning.

Now, Scarlet was really robbed. I had her ranked second, and thought she was very much a potential contemporary pop star but perhaps she was just too blunt to win over enough voters. A lot of African-American voters in particular may still hold her behavior against her young partner during the Hollywood duets round against her. This Scarlet is gone like the Idol wind and she might or might not give a damn.

10. Dan Marshall- "Friends In Low Places"

Luckily for him, he survived despite the show's attempt to bus him to the cougars with all the focus on his young girlfriend last Sunday. 

His video showed him reenacting putting on his Virginia Tech Hokies uniform (with his real last name Griffith) which was frankly pretty hokey. I really have always disliked this Garth Brooks song. On the first verse, Dan sounded credible enough, but then on the chorus it felt a bit too amateurish and karaoke like. It is not that he sounded horrible, it just was pretty cheesy. Dan even giggled a bit at one point.

I never "got" Alejandro during his 2019 Idol run to second place and this Scarypoolparty song and performance is horrible. It is Easter Sunday andl he is trying to conjure up Beelzebub or something.

11. Ava Maybee- "Anyone"

In the introductory piece, she talks about her mother and the influence she has had on her life. Of course, Ava's father is far more famous in the music world, and tonight, he was sitting right next to Ava's mother in the audience. (From from what I understand, her parents only had a brief relationship.)

Many will make note of Ava's wardrobe tonight. (It reminded me of a Seinfeld episode) but vocally she once again really impressed me. Her voice does not sound like anyone else this season and despite it's uniqueness, I think she is able to control it very well. She continues to sound as if she is already someone who has had a record deal for a few years.

12. Allegra Miles- "Free Fallin"

I had her ranked 11th from Monday but figured she would lose out on energy points to Cameron's backflips. Instead, she made it through and I now think she might be around for at least a couple more weeks.

There was an Allegra commercial earlier on this episode that I had fast-forwarded through. Tonight, we learn that Ms. Miles has OCD and presumably not allergies. Her parents named her after the wrong drug.

I believe this Tom Petty song has never been done on Idol before. I did not like how she started. Once again, she has some enunciation issues. Unlike many other contestants though tonight, I thought she got better when she went into the chorus. Note for note, others may be better, but there was something ethereal about this performance that I think will win her some fans.

The judges liked it a lot  more than I did.

13. Noah Thompson- "Falling"

We go from "Free Fallin" to "Falling." After going pure country last week, Noah once again pulls out a surprise song choice and does Harry Styles. I was not too impressed with the two male country singers so far tonight (though I thought Chayce Beckham sounded good on his alumni return) so this was another bold move by Noah.

I am impressed by the way he made the song sound country, but not too country. It will have appeal to a wider section of Idol voters. He may not have the best voice in the competition, but there is no doubt that he knows what works for him and I think he is playing the Idol game very smartly.

14. Leah Marlene- "Heal"

I expected her to go through tonight, but I definitely did not expect this kind of performance. There was no quirk whatsoever and no guitar as she sang what sounded like a worship ballad.

This was an incredibly strong vocal. I did not know she had that kind of range or would be that vulnerable as a singer. Katy Perry was shown during the performance looking fairly shocked as well, and I expect to find that she really liked it, but oddly enough she had her hands over her ears, which might defeat the purpose of enjoying the performance.

This was quite a statement by Leah tonight and a whole lot of people will be looking at her in a new light. Will her previous fanbase of alt-folkie types and lesbians like this as much though?

15. Christian Guardino- "Imagine"

First off, I have to note the irony of someone named Christian singing this atheist anthem on a show airing literally on Easter/Passover/Ramadan. I think he avoided the "no religion too" line though. He should have gone the full David Archuleta and left out "Imagine there's no heaven."

Nonetheless, this was an impressive vocal and Katy Perry was a complete emotional wreck. Christian continues to be relatively earnest in his demeanor while showing off his range. I think he sometimes gets a bit too ambitious on some notes though. So many well received ballads tonight.

The judges and Christian all literally think this was a great religious song. Somewhere, Yoko Ono is screaming.. more than usual. 

 

16. Fritz Hager- "when the party's over"

Seacrest uses the occasion of Philip Phillips' performance to segue to his superfan Fritz making it into the Top 20. 

Fritz sang billie eylish or however her name is supposed to appear in print. What Fritz does, he does well for the people that like that sort of thing. I just am not one of them. I cannot get into billie eylish at all and I am probably going to feel the same way about Fritz and his huge sweaters on these boring songs. It has to be said though he hit some decent high notes. He is going to be around a while.

17. Katyrah Love- "Dream"

Tonight, almost everyone has been doing ballads. Off the top of my head, I think Tristen is the only one to have done something fast. Katryah at least did a midtempo song. I do not know it, but once again, she sounded really good and she worked the stage eerily similar to how Fantasia used to.

I think a couple of the low notes were maybe just slightly off on this vocal but the high notes were on point. It is almost as if these kids are trying to outdo each other.

18. Cameron Whitcomb- "Changes"

I was expecting him to go through, this does mean that a more talented singer will be left behind. I can only hope that Cadence and Sir Blayke make it through based on last week. I think Lady K is really good but misfired in Hawai'i and I thought she could be in trouble if Allegra survived.

So, we have a Black Sabbath song, but a ballad by them. Lo and behold, Cameron took this seriously and used a mic stand and everything (at least at the beginning) and sounded a whole lot better than last week. He has an interesting, if not somewhat limited voice. Of course, there were some gyrations in the second half and it ended as expected with a backflip. Could Ozzy Osbourne have done a backflip ever?

19. Cadence Baker- "Train Wreck"

This had to be another worship ballad. The title of the song sounds pretty ominous for a singing competition. Of course, this was far from a train wreck. Cadence has a great voice and put a lot of passion into this performance. Maybe a little bit too much though. I have to compare it to another song I heard for the first time ever tonight by Leah, and Leah was a bit more restrained and controlled vocally. 

 

I wonder if these contestants picked all these ballads tonight with the understanding that the show would air on Easter Sunday and a lot of families gathered would be watching together. Of course, Danielle did not get to make her vocal spiel to anyone having a third night Seder.

My guess is that whomever gets the final spot among Sir vs. Lady is being chosen to go last for a reason. I cannot help but feel sorry for Emyrson and others who sang so long ago on the episode and may already be completely forgotten.

Who should have been eliminated: Cameron Whitcomb

Who I predicted would be eliminated: Allegra Miles

Who was eliminated: Sir Blayke

Blayke deserved to make it through based on last week where I had him ranked 4th. Ironically enough, both he and Lady K had a backstory about being homeless at one point. I think Blayke had the same sort of issue as Scarlet in not connecting on a personal level with viewers.

20. Lady K- "Love On The Brain"

They have her quite a makeover, although it appears that one of her false eyelashes may have been trying to make an escape.

 

This was a much better performance than the Carrie Underwood attempt from Hawai'i. She sounded very controlled and soulful. This was a strong night for Idol from top to bottom. A couple questions though.  Can these kids do as good of a job on fast tempo songs? Can Canadians vote?

Rankings from worst to best along with a prediction of whether or not they get voted into America (and Canada's?) Top 10"

20. Dan Marshall

19. Mike Parker

18. Allegra Miles

17. Fritz Hager (will make Top 10)

16. Cameron Whitcomb

15. Emyrson Flora

14. Sage

13. Tristen Gressett (will make Top 10)

12. Elli Rowe

11. Cadence Baker

 

10. Christian Guardino (will make Top 10)

 9. Noah Thompson (will make Top 10)

 8. HunterGirl (will make Top 10)

 7. Jay (will make Top 10)

 6. Jacob Moran

 5. Nicolina (will make Top 10)

 4. Katyrah Love

 3. Lady K (will make Top 10)

 2. Leah Marlene (will make Top 10)

 1. Ava Maybee (will make Top 10)

 

 

I will rank the ten that do not advance after their next performance and hopefully, the judges will pick the right ones.