Last night’s episode of American Idol had the Top 20 performing before a live audience for one last chance to make it to the top 14. What a GREAT GREAT show and there were only a couple of performances that were sub-par. Lionel, Katy and Luke picked a GOOD group of performers for us to pick from this year.
Let’s talk about my picks to win first. First out of the gate was my favorite female, Madison VanDenberg, singing an uptempo song to get the show started. And while I think she got tired walking around the large stage, I think she had great energy for most of the song and her performance was good overall. Not her best, and I hope she somewhat ignores the advice to become a Kelly Clarkson clone because that may come back to bite her if she becomes “boring” by doing the same thing every week. She’s still my number one female pick of the season.
As for my favorite male, my main man Alejandro Aranda killed it, singing a Post Malone song that was simply outstanding. Y’all, he is just fantastic.
I can’t say enough about him. He is just wonderful. He is mesmerizing when he performs and other than his last solo in Hollywood (which I felt was a miss) he consistently picks great songs.
And in one paragraph let me just say that many of the other contestants were fantastic as well and are people I’m actively rooting for to make the Top 14. Walker Burroughs – I loved his first opening bars of the Bee Gees song and if you consider his vocals alone, he’s almost definitely making the Top 14. But to WIN he’ll need to work on his image a bit. Speaking of image, Laine Hardy has found his niche – a Johnny Cash crooner-rocker – and while I think it will serve him well, it is kind of coming off as gimmicky considering we all know the country boy prefers t-shirts, well-worn jeans and baseball caps. But he’ll still make Top 14 – I don’t see the judges not allowing him to go forward considering he’s a previous contestant. Ashley Hess, the piano player, was great last night and I really appreciated her vocals and toned-down performance. She won’t win, but I feel like she’ll be the Lauren Daigle/Haley Reinhart breakout of the season. Uche is just WOW – so much energy on stage and he reminds me of Mick Jagger the way he struts and prowls around the stage. Do I want him to win? No. Will he still be successful? Oh YES he will – and deservedly so. He’ll definitely make Top 14 and he is a master showman, for sure. But I would be VERY surprised if he won. Shawn Robinson was good, but not great. To be honest – he was a bit boring last night. I agree with Katy that he needs to use more of his vocal range to keep it interesting. But I do hope he makes the Top 14 because once he finds himself he’ll be a breakout, for sure.
Folks I’m not actively rooting for but did well last night include Wade Cota – I’m still not convinced that he should be in the Top 20, much less the Top 14. I tend to think the judges put him through based on his story and his SOUND, as opposed to his true singing ability. But he was fine last night. Raghu was fine last night, but bordered on boring during her up-tempo song, which was her problem last season as well. Jeremiah Harmon sounded good as well, but what will he do when he has to sing a faster song? At some point he’ll have to do that – and I don’t think his voice will stand up to that test. Laci Kaye Booth (is that a country name or WHAT?) – she was GREAT last night. I’m not generally a fan of hers, but her Cheap Trick cover was simply outstanding.
Now let’s get to my thoughts on Ryan Hammond. Because I have some. Last week he effectively RUINED “A Song For You” by Donnie Hathaway. It was simply awful and based on that performance alone I thought he should go home. Here it is – judge for yourself:
You see, I have a very special love for that song because many years ago on American Idol season 8, a young man named Ricky Braddy sang the same song on the live shows and it was PITCH. PERFECT. It was so good I STILL listen to his cover on occasion – it’s THAT GOOD.
I had been rooting for Ricky Braddy the whole way – even though the show never featured him AT ALL. By the time the live shows started, nobody knew who he was – similar to me having NO IDEA who Raquel Trinidad is this season. The show HARDLY showed her and all of a sudden she’s in the Top 20? Really? She will suffer the Ricky Braddy Effect very quickly and there’s no way she’ll make the Top 14. The judges know better than to put someone through who NO ONE KNOWS and will get booted the minute viewers can vote.
But Ryan Hammond? He ruined “A Song For You” last week and then last night was awful singing a Lauren Daigle song that was NOT in his range at all. Man, I hope he does not make Top 14. I would not be able to handle hearing him every week.
So really, other than Ryan Hammond, I am content with almost all of the rest making it into the Top 14. Obviously my top two are Madison and Alejandro, followed by Uche, Shawn and Ashley.
What about you?
