American Idol: Top 26- Part 1

Here we are at the beginning of the voting portion of the 21st season of American Idol. This is my astonishing 16th season blogging the competition. I watched every season before that as well of course. Both they and I took 2017 off. 

Since the beginning, the television networks have switched from FOX to ABC and there have been a lot of format changes as well. I definitely miss the concept and format from the early seasons on Fox, but it is still a nice diversion to watch this show and offer some rankings and predictions.

As I often do, I will watch a DVR recording of tonight's show and pause immediately after the performances to offer some brief thoughts before the "judges" weigh in. I have not seen any spoilers, although it is clear that the episodes this week were filmed a while ago at Disney's Hawai'i resort, which Idol has once again returned to. Thirteen singers will perform tonight and thirteen will be lucky enough to go tomorrow although the show will be up against "The Voice" on NBC. That is a franchise definitely in need of a year or at least half a year away. I will have to see if Seacrest gives a definitive answer as to how many of the 26 will take part in the singing for votes next week so I can make predictions.

1. Elise Kristine- "Holding Out For A Hero"

"Where have all the good men gone?" is the question to start off this 1980's Bonnie Tyler oldie. It definitely reminds me of how I am holding out for a decent Presidential candidate of either gender for 2024. Right now, the closest I can find is Asa Hutchinson and he may have a good of a chance of winning the GOP nomination as Elise has of taking the Idol crown.

I do not think this song works well as a cover. Fantasia did it during her season and was criticized for it. I thought Elise started off very off-key and I thought it would be a train wreck. As she got into it, she hit some impressive notes, but it all felt a bit too musical theater.

2. Oliver Steele- "Better Together"

This Jack Johnson type music is not really what I am into, but Oliver seems pumped to have Alan Stone as the mentor for this round. I do not know much about Stone either, other than he seems to pop up once a year on ABC's version of Idol.

Oliver sang it well. I do not think he has the greatest voice in the competition but he seems to know his niche. It also occurred to me that he resembles a younger, but less tattooed version of my former barber, who sadly lost his life several years ago in an accident.

3. Matt Wilson- "Speechless"

It has been a rough year for Buffalo and it would be nice to see them win something. I do not think Matt is related to the late Bills owner Ralph Wilson however.

He seems like a very likable guy and his entire angle seems to be that he is happily married. It even looks like Idol filmed some sort of vignette where he and his wife re-enacted their wedding. Is this considered a country song? If so, I do not know if that is the genre that would be best for Matt. Parts of it were pretty good when he was able to infuse some soul into the chorus of the ballad but his phrasing was not great on a couple of the verses.

4. Kaeyra- "Don't Let Go (Love)"

North suburban Chicago native Kaeyra (one name only) goes next and if nothing else, she can count on the support of the sizable Polish-American community in this area. I just did some brief research and apparently her real name is Caroline Baran and she was briefly on "America's Got Talent", a show my parents enjoy but I have no interest in watching.

This was really good, as Kaeyra did some '90's En Vogue R&B. She looks like a pop star, works the stage like one (without playing an instrument for this round) and sounded really good. I hope she is around for a while, but it is occurring to me that conventionally attractive female singers have had some problems with the Idol voting demographic, especially in recent years.

5. PJAE- "Golden"

I listened closely and they are definitely using the male pronouns for PJae, in spite of his fashion choices. Still, it is only a matter of time before there is a non-binary (or transgender) Idol contestant who gets to this point. There have of course been a couple of drag queens. Apparently, I will have to remember to type his name in all-caps as if this were a Donald Trump Truth Social post.

PJae will be a polarizing contestant. I think he has a very good voice and seems influenced vocally in a lot of ways by past Idol runner-up Adam Lambert. I do not think he will win over all the Glamberts who might still be watching however. He did some impressive things on this Jill Scott song, but it was the first time I ever heard it, and I sort of hate this song.

6. Zachariah Smith- "Lucille"

According to Wikipedia, the town of Amory, Mississippi has an ominous sounding 6, 666 residents. Somehow though, two of them are on American Idol's Top 26 this season. Even more so, it is the hometown of victorious 2016 contestant Trent Harmon, also known as the Idol winner whose name I am most likely to not remember.

I think the other Amory singer who will go tomorrow night will have a better chance of bringing another title back than Zachariah does. I have found him weird since his audition and am a bit skeptical that he has made it this far. To be sure, he is a talented showman and seems to really enjoy entertaining. I cannot remotely see how he would fit in today's music world however. He is as cheesy as whatever he might put on top of the burgers he used to flip. 

Taking on a Little Richard song from the 1950's I suppose is a bold move. I have a feeling my parents might enjoy it (I know they were out watching their friend, an Elvis impersonator, perform this evening while Idol aired "live."), and Zachariah better hope that this song dedicated to his Mamaw of the same name will get a lot of senior citizens to figure out a way to vote for him. Yes, he can scream and bust out some dance moves but the vocals were manic by the end. There is a place for him to be making money on a stage doing things like this, but I did not really dig this in an American Idol context. He is this year's version of the Canadian dude who kept doing backflips last year.

7. Mariah Faith- "You Should Probably Leave"

It is quite clear that Idol Powers That Be are trying to lay the seeds with voters that she might be a worthy winner. They probably believe they can make money off of her as a rare female winner and one who does country if she can go all the way.

Vocally, this was pretty good and Mariah definitely seemed comfortable on stage. I do not know this Chris Stapleton song but she sang it in a very blues-country sort of way. It was very solid though not exactly exciting.

8. Emma Busse- "Lay Me Down"

Vocally,  this was probably the best of the night so far, even though I think there was a but of a bum note in the middle of the song. I had considered Emma to be an underdog in this since I am pretty sure she is from Canada and has gotten a lot of comments from the judges about how she is too rooted in her musical theater history.

Clearly though, she can sing ballads very well. If she advances to the next rounds after this, hopefully she can also show some vocal versatility.

9. Warren Peay- "Set Fire To The Rain"

Warren Peay, not to be confused with War and Peace, should basically just change his stage name to Warren P.

Throughout the auditions, I had been very impressed with him. He seems like a genuine guy and a very much relevant as being whatever kind of country artist the similarly beaded Chris Stapleton is. This was a bold song choice but I think it might have been a mistake to take on this particular Adele number. While Warren clearly has a great voice, he sounded and seemed awkward on this particular song, as if he were not really comfortable with it. These kids really only have once chance to impress America at this stage in the competition. It also was probably not to his favor that Idol tried to gin up a mini-controversy with Allan Stone telling him to doff his hat and put it over his heart at one and then heave it into the audience. Clearly, Warren was not really into the idea of giving up his lucky hat and decided to put it back on his head. Maybe the shtick would have worked with a pair of Mickey Mouse ears.

10. Nailyah Serenity- "Lovin' You"

I feel like this would have been a great time for Frank Costanza to yell "Serenity Now!" in introducing the next contestant.

This was an unusual song choice as it is a very well-known song done by the late Minnie Riperton dedicated to her then infant daughter, future SNL performer and Kamala Harris impersonator Maya Rudolph. 

The whole building was whether Nailyah could "nail" the infamous whistle note. I guess she sort of did, at least once. Some people may be extremely impressed by that, other viewers may just not care all that much. She must have realized that the song really does not work as a live audience crowd-pleaser as is, because after hitting the first whistle note, she started a more uptempo arrangement and that felt a bit disjointed. All things considered though, it could have gone much worse. Doing a whistle note is probably not something she can rely on doing each week if she sticks around the competition.

11. Haven Madison- "The Middle"

Having recently turned 17, Haven is I am pretty sure the youngest performer tonight. She is perhaps best remembered this far this season for performing an emotional original song on piano during Hollywood Week. Her father is also the lead singer of a Christian Rock band, so there might be a lot of built in votes for her this season.

I give Haven plaudits for trying something a bit different and trying to come across as young, complete with some dancing around. Vocally though, I think she went sharp for much of the performance. I do not claim to be some sort of musical expert however. The judges will say they loved it, as they love everyone of course.

 She did get some mild criticism after all.

12. Lucy Love- "What's Love Got To Do With It"

My goodness. I was expecting so much more from this. After all, her last name is in the song.

Lucy is the first of the last two contestants of the evening, both of whom have received a whole lot of attention during the audition process. We all know that she is trying to provide for her babies and I admire that very much. She has shown that she has a lot of talent, although I have thought that compared to the unfortunate typecasting of Idol (and other shows) having the "Black Diva", she has not been quite as up to par vocally.

If she had done this song well, it could have been a moment. Instead, she made the unfortunate decision to wear the exact same outfit that Tina Turner wore in the 1984 video. At times, she was deliberately attempting to sound exactly like Tina and not doing a very good job of it. When Lil Rounds did this exact song years ago, she only attempted to move around the stage like Tina, and people did not like that performance either.

Lucy also moved around stage a lot but it came across more like a hard rock singer. Her voice was just not in good display here. She is better than this particular performance, which felt like one of those old syndicated shows where a contestant would dress up like their musical hero and try to sing their songs as them.

 13. Iam Tongi- "Don't Let Go"

These days, social media is the big thing in determining cultural success and Idol loves the fact that Iam's auditions have gone as viral as they have. It also helps that he has a spectacular voice and a sad backstory of having recently lost his father. Let us be honest though, that they are pushing him because of the uniqueness of someone looking like him sounding as good as he does.

I sort of hate to say this or think it but Iam is only 18 and I cannot help to be concerned about his long-term health considering his size. He has such a special voice and deserves to have a great and lengthy career that I hope that somehow he might be able to have the opportunity to get whatever medical intervention he may need now or in the near future.

Iam had a bit of a home island advantage, going back to Hawai'i, which we had learned during his audition his family had to leave for Washington state, due to the high cost of living. I noticed that during the announcement of the semi-finalists going to Hawai'i last week, they inserted a recorded version of him singing "Over The Rainbow", as if he was singing it live to his fellow contestants. 

There is no doubt that he is a great singer and would be going far regardless of where he grew up. I do not know this song (a different one than the En Vogue one of the same title done earlier) but Iam sounded great and made it seem effortless vocally. In that regard, he probably did not have the greatest degree of difficulty, but is probably the only one to not miss a note this evening.

Rankings (from worst to best): 

13. Lucy Love

12. Zachariah Smith

11. Elise Kristine

10. Haven Madison

9.  Warren Peay

8.  Matt Wilson

7.  Oliver Steele

6.  PJAE

5.  Nailyah Serenity

4.  Mariah Faith

3.  Kaeyra

2.  Emma Busse

1.  Iam Tongi

We are told that three of these contestants will be eliminated for next week. My bottom three are clear. If I had to predict, I would say that Elise will get the boot almost for sure and Zachariah probably. The third spot is a bit harder to guess. Lucy may survive based on her previous airtime and backstory. I think everyone else is legitimately at some risk except for Mariah and Iam. I think it will either be Warren, Matt, or Oliver. My final guess is Matt because all they talked about is how he is married.

Another 13 perform tomorrow. I probably will not be able to watch the show until late, so most likely, I will hold off until Tuesday on posting a based on memory recap.