American Idol- Top 14

I watched the two hour recording of American Idol's first Live broadcast of the season late Monday night. Now, it is about 48 hours later and I will proceed to offer some observations. Since it is two days, instead of merely one, many of these thoughts may seem even more disjointed.

 

First of all, with the implosion of the planned Sunday night "The Bachelorette" season, why does ABC just not kick things old school and make Idol a two night event, with a Results Show? Does that cost more money than just airing re-runs of some other dumb show?

 

Anyways, the evening did start off with all 20 of the kids on the Hollywood studio stage for the first time, but soon enough, six of them would be cut and would not get a chance to sing again on national television. To start off the blog, let us begin by looking back at my rankings and predictions from the previous two episodes.

Group 1-

 

10. Makiyah- predicted to be eliminated

 9. Jake Thistle- predicted to be eliminated

 8. Kutter Bradley

 

 7. Daniel Stallworth

 6. Genevieve Hayward- predicted to be eliminated

 5. Jesse Finding

 4. Brooks

 3. Hannah Harper

 2. Kyndal

 1. Braden Rumfelt

 

Who was eliminated: Makiyah, Kutter Bradley, Genevieve Hayward

 

So, in this group we see that America actually got it right in two out of three, and I correctly predicted two of the three. The convergence was on Makiyah. Jake had more fans than perhaps I expected and not enough country folks for Kutter, who might have lost support after a strong night by Braden.

Group 2-

 

10. Ruby Rae- predicted to be eliminated

 9. Lucas Leon 

 8. Philmon Lee- predicted to be eliminated

 

 7. Rae- predicted to be eliminated

 6. Madison Moon

 5.  Abayomi

 4.  Julian Kalel

 3.  Chris Tungseth

 2.  Jordan McCullough

 1.  Keyla Richardson

 

Who was eliminated: Ruby Rae, Madison Moon, Abayomi

 

A bit more surprises here. Philmon survived but Madison did not, which did not incredibly surprise me. Abyaomi leaving feels like a bigger surprise. I think the African-American vote must have swung heavily towards Keyla and Jordan, leaving Abayomi in a bad place. Finally, I find it hard to understand who is super motivated to vote for Rae. Could it be Kristi Noem's husband out of envy? I did not think female Idol voters, of any age, would really vibe with her.

 
Rae survived but the similarly named Ruby Rae did not, although it is hard to say she was really on the same level at this point in her career as many of the others. Two heavily tattooed "rock chick" singers were both cut, even though I would have liked to have heard a little bit more from them. Also, two single name African-American female singers met the same fate. 

 

So, the Top 14 was now set, and it is a pretty talented group, even putting aside the mix of it being 10 white kids and four racial minorities. Usually, that does not quite happen that way. However, the biggest issue seems to be that the Finalists at this point are composed of 10 guys and just four girls. Idol sort of messed up there if they were issued in a more balanced casting. While the math might, I repeat might, mean that the next few eliminated contestants are males, I think this is clearly a sign that Idol is going to have a guy win this season. 

 

Moving on to the Monday performances, it was the second annual "Songs of Faith" evening. Last year, it aired on Easter Sunday. This year it aired as Holy Week was just getting underway. Passover is now in progress for those (like myself) of the Jewish faith, but most Idol watchers and of course most Americans are Christian. Over the past couple of seasons, Idol has pivoted hard in trying to appeal to a Christian, and especially Protestant base. While religious contestants, often from the South, and of all races, have always been part of Idol since the beginning, the show is focusing far more on Gospel and Worship songs being presented in the competition. Monday night saw a lot of those songs, but also a few "songs of faith" that were notably not religious in nature. There was also one, that has been done on the show many times before, that is most certainly an anti-religion song. More about all of this as we continue.

 

1. Keyla Richardson- "Jireh"

 

After "bringing down the house" in Hawai'i in the final spot the week before, Keyla, with a very sophisticated looking make-over and outfit, would be the first to sing for America. I do not know this song of course and am not sure if would be considered Gospel or Worship or if it might possibly even be categorized as both.

 

I remember Keyla singing it really well though. She brought the emotion, but perhaps the impact might have been a bit more muted after what we saw her do in her previous performance. This time, her young son was there again. He definitely knows every word to every song his mother sings and is quite ready to sing along on camera.

 

Also a note here that of the mere four ladies still left in the competition, all are at least 24 years old. Two of them, including Keyla are 29. Three of them are either parents and/or married. There is nothing resembling a teenage girl left in Season 24, although Brooks maybe sounds a bit like one.

 

2.  Jesse Findling- "Bless The Broken Road"

 

While nothing has of course been stated on the air, I am pretty sure that Jesse is Jewish. (Bit of a tongue twister there.) That makes things even more interesting on an evening that was very Christian themed. Like all the other contestants, he was out there pretending to sing back up as Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan sang a song called "Jesus Is Love."

 

On the more religiously inclusive Rascal Flatts cover, Jesse was good, in his less experienced Josh Groban sort of way. The backup singers maybe overwhelmed the sound of his voice in a couple of places. All things considered, it was probably the right kind of song for Jesse, but he really does not come across as a country artist to begin with and is clearly an underdog in this competition.

 

3. Lucas Leon- "Gratitude"

 

This is either a country song or a Christian Contemporary song, In either case, I did not know it. Once again, Lucas played guitar. He is good at what he does, I thought it was a stronger vocal than what was shown in Hawai'i, but he just seems somewhat lackluster in terms of showing off his voice, which on shortened Idol seasons like this, might be more necessary.

After he was done, Seacrest mentioned he had just missed his Prom, and put a crown on his head. There was no mention of the previous weekend's "No Kings" protests.

 

4. Daniel Stallworth- "Brighter Days"

 

This was definitely a Gospel sounding song. It seemed very much in Daniel's lane and I was impressed with his vocals. I really cannot remember how the song goes though.

 

Daniel is talented and seems like a good guy, but he does not have much of a personality in the show banter. One other male contestant is far more bland in that regard though.

 

5. Philmon Lee- "Simple Man"

To start with, I was a bit surprised that Philmon made it this far. While he was decent in Hawai'i, I also had him ranked eighth out of 10.  This Lynyrd Skynyrd song has previously been done a ton on Idol and other singing competitions and I am not exactly sure how it fits the theme or why Philmon chose to not try to appeal to the religious folks out there.

 

It may have been very smart though, because he did a really excellent job on this song. While longtime Idol watchers have heard "Simple Man" at least a few times before, Philmon sang the southern rock ballad flawlessly in my view. While it is not the kind of song that will have anybody proverbially "jumping up and down", I hope he won some new fans on Monday night.

 

6. Rae- "Up To The Mountain"

 

This is another song that has been done a few times on Idol in usually very emotional performances. As mentioned I was surprised that Rae, who clearly has a very good voice, got the votes to make it here.

 

This was quite a different vibe than her choreography heavy previous performance. Rae definitely sang the heck out of this ballad. She even pulled out some Mariah Carey like runs. Like Philmon, Rae exceeded my expectations.

 

7. Jake Thistle- "Have A Little Faith In Me"

 

I keep wanting to like Jake's performances, but they are falling short for me. This time, he played the piano and I do not think the song really worked all that well for him.I lost a little more faith in his chances of winning Idol, but I guess he has fans. Jake just seems more like he is gigging at a club than wowing people with his interpretations of a song in a way that makes people think he could be a future star.

 

In the auditions, he sounded like Bryan Adams and Seacrest told him on Monday he looks like Tom Cruise.I do not know if the religiously oriented would be big on a Scientologist Idol. 

 

8. Braden Rumfelt- "Hard Fought Hallelujah"

To be clear, I am no fashion maven, but I cannot ignore commenting on the outfit that they gave Braden to wear or that he agreed to wear. Why was a young dude dressed up like a lesbian? It was like some sort of pantsuit deal that I could almost imagine Hillary Clinton wearing. Jesse also had some very weird baggy slacks on during his performance. Is that the new thing?

Last round, Braden was perhaps the biggest positive surprise of the competition. This week, while you can definitely appreciate his voice in parts, I did not like the performance nearly as much. I think he might actually see himself as a worship type singer who loves songs like this, but I do not think it showed off his talent nearly as much as a totally different kind of song might. He also seems to still be battling nerves a bit.

 

9. Julian Kalel- "Fix You"

 

The night continued to take some interesting turns. Last week, I determined that Julian Kalel  might be the overall frontrunner to win the whole thing, but this week, he sort of faded into the crowd a bit.

 

 For one thing, I have never liked this Coldplay song. Perhaps he should get some points for not singing something religious, but that was an odd choice. It seems like he is all in on the "mental health" message and some folks may find this choice of a song to be a bit sacrilegious even. Vocally, I thought most of it was a bit boring and somewhat amateurish, although he had some nice moments at the end.Also, while throughout Idol history, kids often show up at the Finals with more professional makeup and looking all glammed up. Somehow, Julian, who I have no doubt has legions of female fans, looked a bit "rougher." I do not think the stubble is a wise choice for the stage at this point in his life, but what do I know?

 

10. Kyndal- "Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus"

 

Last week, I was quite impressed by Kyndal's quirky take on an emotional song I did not know. This week, I have to say, I really did not like her performance. She has a very distinct and nice voice but it did not work for me on this on. It sounded somewhat frantic and screamy to me. Clearly though, Kyndal, who has talked about having misspent part of her youth, is very much into her faith these days.

 

I have to at least examine the aspect of me perhaps just not being into Christian worship music. After all, I am Jewish, but am trying very hard to judge everything on the merits and needless to say, I have always had respect for Christians. These are polarized times though. For years, i was very actively politically aligned with Evangelicals. In the Trump era, the hypocrisy of those folks in their devotion to someone as thoroughly un-Christian as Donald Trump is hard for me to shake, but that should not affect how I would judge Kyndal on a singing show.

What I will hold against her is that she showed up on stage (once again) without shoes on. I have held that against Idol contestants for years and cannot help but deduct at least one point. I call it the Paul Kim Rule. 

 

11. Jordan McCullough- "I Can Only Imagine"

 

For a couple contestants now, I have stated that I just do not feel they are at their best doing Worship song. For Jordan, I will say the opposite. This is his sort of thing and he sang it really well.

 

As is the case with many of these songs I heard for the first time, I do not remember the melody of the tune or anything like that, but I definitely remember being very impressed with Jordan, who is a worship leader in his job, for the second time in a row. 

 

12. Brooks- "Imagine"

 

We go now to another song with "Imagine" in the title, but this one far more well known. I also know that my mother is likely to rank Brooks last on her list for as long as he is in the competition. I will say that Brooks, who in the audition "get to know you" pieces, seems like a very solid guy, is just boring as heck on stage. He does not really even try to pretend to have any interest in kibitzing with Seacrest or mugging for the camera.

 

Let me next stay that I appreciate Brooks tone and the way he sings. He has talent, even if I personally find it a bit boring. This particular performance was pleasant to the ears but not earth shattering. That is sort of the overall musical vibe to this John Lennon song though. I did not even initially get all the praise that the enormously talented David Archuleta got what he first sang it. (All these years later, I think Archuleta might be the most radically changed Idol finalist in terms of image, but I wish him the best.)

 

Now, about this song.. I wrote a lot about this back when Blake Lewis did on the "Idol Gives Back" night when a lot of the other kids were leaning into religion. This song is an ode to atheism (which is why Archie omitted a certain verse.) Maybe some people find that inspiring and in some ways Brooks looks like he might lean left (although I thought I also spotted him putting up praise hands on the couches while others sang) but a lot of Christians who were watching might have been outright offended by the song and the message and perhaps that can have an impact on his short term or long term success on the show. Also, Brooks' pants were way too big, unless he is trying to recreate Kriss Kross.

 

13. Hannah Harper- "At The Cross (Love Ran Red)"

This was the second week in a row, Hannah sang a song about the death of Christ.  At least she is consistent, and to my ears, it sounded more in her wheelhouse than what Kyndal did, but at this stage, they as part of the small amount of females left, are in direct competition.

 

Hannah has a very nice voice, and sang this well. I think this is the kind of music she could find success doing when Idol is over, which means that about 95 percent of American music fans will never hear from her again.

 

14. Chris Tungseth- "By Your Grace"

 

Last week, I liked how Chris sounded on "Apologize" and wanted to hear more from him. It is not too late to say though that I am sorry I did not like this nearly as much. It is not that he sounded bad, I just remember it being boring in a guy with a beard singing 70s soft rock sort of way.

This was not a soft rock song though but what definitely sounded like yet another worship song. With the song choice and his post song interview on stage, Chris definitely leaned heavily into his Christian identity.

We had been told throughout the night that "America was voting in real time" and that two would get get to get to the Top 12. The time for this announcement was running out though because we had to see for the second year in a row, Carrie Underwood go all out vocally to school everyone on the same religious song. This year, she was joined with three finalists from last season who probably have some free time these days.

 

 

Rankings:

 

14. Kyndal

13. Jake Thistle

 

12. Julian Kalel

11. Chris Tungseth

10. Brooks

 9. Lucas Leon

 8. Jesse Findling

 7. Braden Rumfelt

 6. Hannah Harper

 5. Daniel Stallworth

 4. Rae

 3. Keyla Richardson

 2. Jordan McCullough

 1. Philmon Lee

 

Perhaps, Philmon won the night for me by singing the one song out of 14 that I knew and at least somewhat liked.

 

Who was I predicting would be eliminated? Jesus would be safe but not Jake and Jesse.

I guess we will find out next week. I might not watch until next Tuesday night though because I will probably be checking out the NCAA Championship game while flipping over a bit to "The Voice" also.

We do not know yet because things got weird at this point in the broadcast. Nobody was eliminated. Not out of the goodness of Idol's heart, as they have done before, but because Seacrest said they had to "make sure the votes were accurate" or something along those lines that did not have much specificity.

I have always said that I think the live voting coast to coast during the show is a horrible idea (even more so on a Monday night) because of the disparity of time zones, etc, so on the surface, this might be a good idea, but I do not think they even said they were extending the voting time. It just all brought up a lot of questions.

For one thing, did Idol know (or even anticipate) that two females were about to be voted off leaving a 10-2 split gender split and are panicked to try to stop that somehow? I am predicting two white dudes, who are either not Christian or chose not to be vocal about it this week, to be cut, but I would also not be shocked if at least one female got the boot.

What are they trying to say though about the vote and needing to assure everything is accurate and thus delaying the acceptance of the results? It sounds exactly like what Trump is going to claim right after the midterms.