You know how you can pretty much always tell if an auditioning singer is going to suck just by looking at them?
Well, last night’s “American Idol” auditions in Kansas City (hey, isn’t that where David Cook is from? I’m not sure after last night) made that almost a lot more difficult by making the controversial decision to showcase more successful auditions than bad ones. The result was one of the more interesting and satisfying audition episodes in the show’s run. Isn’t it wonderful that it only took the show eight years to figure this out?
Don’t get me wrong. The show far from abandoned the train-wrecky appeal of bad auditions (I’m looking at you, tragically-attired opera guy). On top of that, I could easily make the case that the judges were a bit TOO generous in who they allowed to advance to the Hollywood round last night (I’m looking at you, Chris Tucker-soundalike Dennis Brigham, who actually resorted to semi-begging the judges and did, in fact, as Simon said, “dupe” the judges into letting him through.)
I just admire the decision by the producers to focus the bulk of their behind-the-scenes video packages on contestants who were actually worthy, and relegate the awful singers to shorter segments or even montages.
Let’s get the poopy stuff out of the way, shall we? Besides opera guy Brian Hettler, only a few other bad singers stood out. I’m not even sure Andrew Lang counts, since the thing that made him stand out where his two cheerleader/fans/stalkers. Of course, the worst had to be Michael Nicewonder (sounds like a Care Bear), who “treated” the judges to original songs he’d written for his mother and grandmother. The problem was that both gloomy songs sounded exactly the same. The bigger problem was that they both sounded like love songs. Double ick.
The rest was a collection of strong-to-more than adequate singers, including two who I could easily envision in the top 12.
I mentioned a few paragraphs back that the judges could be accused of being overly generous last night. However, for the most part, I give them a pass especially when vocal ability is evident. I like to think that if a person can flat-out sing, they can more easily be coached to learn restrain or change other aspects of their performance.
That’s why I was totally ok with the judges allowing former YouTube sensation Von Smith to advance to the Hollywood Round, despite the fact that his audition was MILES over-the-top and that he pretty much beat every note in “Over the Rainbow” to death with a brick. Although, the kid has apparently never met a song he couldn’t over sing, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he can learn some restraint in Hollywood Week. Similarly, it was obvious that Asa Barnes could sing, but his “The Way You Make Me Feel” felt rushed and a little too high. I think he can do better with a different song and some coaching because, as I told my girlfriend Erica, he has genuine star power. (Erica then went on to get me to confess that “genuine star power” meant that I thought he was good looking — she’s like “The Closer”.) So far, though, his adorable daughter is more popular.
Then there were the singers who skated by more on pure cunning than singing talent. I’m thinking marginally-good India Morrison is some sort of mini-genius for realizing that if she auditioned with her less-talented singer Asia that she would look better by comparison. Similarly, there’s no way a guy who seems as smart as Anoop Desai honestly thought it was a good idea to audition in too-short khaki shorts and flip flops. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be shocked if the geek-tastic package was designed to make the judges seem that much more impressed by his solid singing voice. Also, do we really think Ashley Anderson would’ve gotten on TV last night (or advanced to Hollywood) if she hadn’t decided to sing the Simon Cowell co-written “Footprints (not Footsteps) in the Sand”?
Is there any way Michael Castro makes it to the second round if he’s not related to third-runner up (not “fourth runner-up,” Ryan — he came in fourth) Jason Castro? You can say he’s got a stronger voice than Jason (and I just did), and I DEFINITELY like his laid back, confident moxie (as opposed to Jason’s laid-back cluelessness), but he just wasn’t THAT good. And where does he get off calling someone else’s hair “girly”? Rufio called — he wants his hairstyle back.
I was also kinda meh on welder Matt Breitzke. Sure, his version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” was impressive, and his story about giving up music to raise a family was relatable, but I just don’t see him making it very far in this competition and I just don’t think he’s that different from a thousand other guys who’ve done the bar thing. I was considerably more impressed with Jessica Furney, who lives with her 93-year-old grandmother and delivered a solid version of “Cry Baby.” Mostly though, I just liked her, but I fear she’ll get lost in the shuffle at Hollywood Week. Hopefully her non-teenybopper voice will make her stand out more than the likes of Casey Carlson, who is very pretty, but delivered a pretty forgettable version of “A Thousand Miles.”
My two favorites of the evening, and the two I could see in the top 12, were Danny Gokey (pictured, right) and Lil Rounds (pictured, left). Even if we hadn’t gotten Danny’s heartbreaking back story about his young wife dying, his audition would’ve put him among the best male singers we’ve seen so far this year. The fact that he absolutely seems sincere in wanting to honor his wife with his singing (as opposed to wanting to score screen time) makes him that much more appealing. I was genuinely invested in Danny being good after the back story and after his friend Jamar Rogers made it though (he turned out to be better than Jamar).
Finally, there was the memorably-named Lil Rounds, who didn’t have any deaths in her back story, but still dealt with plenty of tragedy after a tornado destroyed the house where she lives with her husband and three kids. I thought she was certainly the best singer of the night, but I also felt like the judges were in a bit of a hurry to over praise her. A combination of Fantasia and Mary J. Blige? Really, Randy? Are you guys TRYING to start a backlash for this girl before she even gets to Hollywood Week. She’s VERY good, but let’s take a deep breath.
So what’d you think of this episode? Wasn’t Kara mostly a non-factor in her second outing as a judge (let’s hope saying a singer has “chops” doesn’t become her thing)? Will Von Smith ever sing a song by a male artist? Did you see anyone with top 12 potential? Finally, what was more awkward? David Cook’s stepdad and mom oddly crossing the street and “accidentally” running into a Seacrest interview or Seacrest pretending to make conversation with contestants’ families right before they come out of the room after their auditions? (Do we think that stuff is written for Ryan or he just improvises it?
Well, last night’s “American Idol” auditions in Kansas City (hey, isn’t that where David Cook is from? I’m not sure after last night) made that almost a lot more difficult by making the controversial decision to showcase more successful auditions than bad ones. The result was one of the more interesting and satisfying audition episodes in the show’s run. Isn’t it wonderful that it only took the show eight years to figure this out?
Don’t get me wrong. The show far from abandoned the train-wrecky appeal of bad auditions (I’m looking at you, tragically-attired opera guy). On top of that, I could easily make the case that the judges were a bit TOO generous in who they allowed to advance to the Hollywood round last night (I’m looking at you, Chris Tucker-soundalike Dennis Brigham, who actually resorted to semi-begging the judges and did, in fact, as Simon said, “dupe” the judges into letting him through.)
I just admire the decision by the producers to focus the bulk of their behind-the-scenes video packages on contestants who were actually worthy, and relegate the awful singers to shorter segments or even montages.
Let’s get the poopy stuff out of the way, shall we? Besides opera guy Brian Hettler, only a few other bad singers stood out. I’m not even sure Andrew Lang counts, since the thing that made him stand out where his two cheerleader/fans/stalkers. Of course, the worst had to be Michael Nicewonder (sounds like a Care Bear), who “treated” the judges to original songs he’d written for his mother and grandmother. The problem was that both gloomy songs sounded exactly the same. The bigger problem was that they both sounded like love songs. Double ick.
The rest was a collection of strong-to-more than adequate singers, including two who I could easily envision in the top 12.
I mentioned a few paragraphs back that the judges could be accused of being overly generous last night. However, for the most part, I give them a pass especially when vocal ability is evident. I like to think that if a person can flat-out sing, they can more easily be coached to learn restrain or change other aspects of their performance.
That’s why I was totally ok with the judges allowing former YouTube sensation Von Smith to advance to the Hollywood Round, despite the fact that his audition was MILES over-the-top and that he pretty much beat every note in “Over the Rainbow” to death with a brick. Although, the kid has apparently never met a song he couldn’t over sing, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he can learn some restraint in Hollywood Week. Similarly, it was obvious that Asa Barnes could sing, but his “The Way You Make Me Feel” felt rushed and a little too high. I think he can do better with a different song and some coaching because, as I told my girlfriend Erica, he has genuine star power. (Erica then went on to get me to confess that “genuine star power” meant that I thought he was good looking — she’s like “The Closer”.) So far, though, his adorable daughter is more popular.
Then there were the singers who skated by more on pure cunning than singing talent. I’m thinking marginally-good India Morrison is some sort of mini-genius for realizing that if she auditioned with her less-talented singer Asia that she would look better by comparison. Similarly, there’s no way a guy who seems as smart as Anoop Desai honestly thought it was a good idea to audition in too-short khaki shorts and flip flops. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be shocked if the geek-tastic package was designed to make the judges seem that much more impressed by his solid singing voice. Also, do we really think Ashley Anderson would’ve gotten on TV last night (or advanced to Hollywood) if she hadn’t decided to sing the Simon Cowell co-written “Footprints (not Footsteps) in the Sand”?
Is there any way Michael Castro makes it to the second round if he’s not related to third-runner up (not “fourth runner-up,” Ryan — he came in fourth) Jason Castro? You can say he’s got a stronger voice than Jason (and I just did), and I DEFINITELY like his laid back, confident moxie (as opposed to Jason’s laid-back cluelessness), but he just wasn’t THAT good. And where does he get off calling someone else’s hair “girly”? Rufio called — he wants his hairstyle back.
I was also kinda meh on welder Matt Breitzke. Sure, his version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” was impressive, and his story about giving up music to raise a family was relatable, but I just don’t see him making it very far in this competition and I just don’t think he’s that different from a thousand other guys who’ve done the bar thing. I was considerably more impressed with Jessica Furney, who lives with her 93-year-old grandmother and delivered a solid version of “Cry Baby.” Mostly though, I just liked her, but I fear she’ll get lost in the shuffle at Hollywood Week. Hopefully her non-teenybopper voice will make her stand out more than the likes of Casey Carlson, who is very pretty, but delivered a pretty forgettable version of “A Thousand Miles.”
My two favorites of the evening, and the two I could see in the top 12, were Danny Gokey (pictured, right) and Lil Rounds (pictured, left). Even if we hadn’t gotten Danny’s heartbreaking back story about his young wife dying, his audition would’ve put him among the best male singers we’ve seen so far this year. The fact that he absolutely seems sincere in wanting to honor his wife with his singing (as opposed to wanting to score screen time) makes him that much more appealing. I was genuinely invested in Danny being good after the back story and after his friend Jamar Rogers made it though (he turned out to be better than Jamar).
Finally, there was the memorably-named Lil Rounds, who didn’t have any deaths in her back story, but still dealt with plenty of tragedy after a tornado destroyed the house where she lives with her husband and three kids. I thought she was certainly the best singer of the night, but I also felt like the judges were in a bit of a hurry to over praise her. A combination of Fantasia and Mary J. Blige? Really, Randy? Are you guys TRYING to start a backlash for this girl before she even gets to Hollywood Week. She’s VERY good, but let’s take a deep breath.
So what’d you think of this episode? Wasn’t Kara mostly a non-factor in her second outing as a judge (let’s hope saying a singer has “chops” doesn’t become her thing)? Will Von Smith ever sing a song by a male artist? Did you see anyone with top 12 potential? Finally, what was more awkward? David Cook’s stepdad and mom oddly crossing the street and “accidentally” running into a Seacrest interview or Seacrest pretending to make conversation with contestants’ families right before they come out of the room after their auditions? (Do we think that stuff is written for Ryan or he just improvises it?
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