Wednesday, February 17, 2016

American Idol: Season 15 - Top 24 The Other 12

Hello American Idol fandom!  We continue this final season with another round of pre-recorded Top 24 performances.  Just like last week, I'll give my brief thoughts on these 12 and a best guess at who will go home Thursday after the duets.  Not sure if I mentioned it last week, but I actually really enjoyed seeing all the Idol alums come back for duet night.  Most of them, excluding maybe Scotty, really showed their growth over the years.  It's a nice touch to see many of the alums returning week to week.  Looking forward to next week when Kelly arrives as a guest judge and performer!!

With that said, let's dive in! 
  1. Shelbie Z - "Work Hard, Play Harder" by Gretchen Wilson - Winona reborn.  She's not too bad, but she's a lot to take personality-wise.  Might be forgotten after 11 more performances. 
  2. Manny Torres - "Adventure of a Lifetime" by Coldplay - What on earth is that shirt he's wearing?  Not one of Coldplay's best tunes and there's not much he can do with the song to showcase his vocal chops.  But, they've been featuring him since the last audition episode.  He's most likely going to be going through. 
  3. Kory Wheeler - "Let It Go" by James Bay - Good song, decent performance.  Always have a soft spot for the piano folk!  Judge reaction was mixed.  We'll see. 
  4. Amelia Eisenhower - "Wake Me Up" by Avicii - Hitting all the notes, but she was a little nasally with the performance.  She changed up the tune a little bit which was interesting.  I was less enthused than the judges.  But they're picking this round. 
  5. Jenn Blosil - "Sorry" by Justin Bieber - Love her voice.  Really quirky girl, but it works to her advantage.  And if she can make a Bieber song more listenable, then she has a gift.  I have a pretty good ear for hearing if things are in tune and it sounded fine to me, Harry! 
  6. CJ Johnson - "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain - Why do people still sing this song EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.?  Don't get me wrong, I love the song but it is way over its Idol limit.  I never have been impressed by this guy.  All clips they showed from Hollywood week were just of him screaming.  And this performance WAS out of tune, HARRY!  I just assumed this would be one of the guys going home before the show even started.
  7. Lee Jean - "Runaway" by Ed Sheehan - He's been a fave of the judges and American Idol producers from the beginning.  He sounded pretty good.  Song choice, I agree, might not have been the best.  The funny thing is I actually have heard that song a lot since the entire Ed Sheeran collection was on my daughter's bedtime playlist for awhile!  Whatever gets them to sleep!   He'll make it to next week. 
  8. Trent Harmon - "What Are You Listening To" by Chris Stapleton - This guy is really good.  Might have had a little unfair advantage in group rounds due to the mono, but they couldn't lose him in the competition.  Love Stapleton too so he's got good taste!   
  9. Tristan McIntosh - "Good Girl" by Carrie Underwood - Idol producers LOVE this girl.  And why wouldn't they?  She's got a good look, good voice and a mom in the military that she loves to talk about all the time and make the world cry along with her!   As for the performance tonight?  It was aight.  
  10. Adam Lasher - "Black and Gold" by Sam Sparro - I have no memory of this guy from earlier rounds.  Never heard this song before either.  He was okay I guess.  But not enough to make him stand out after not even remembering him.  Judges didn't seem too excited either.  I will agree that this night is not as good as last week's crop.  But, I don't think I'm agreeing with the judges on who was good or bad.  
  11. Dalton Rapattoni - "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol - I will say that this guy does like to take risks with his performances.  He definitely has the look of someone who will be in our top 10.  He also has the look of someone from a Final Fantasy game.  It was good and definitely will stand out more than most tonight. 
  12. Olivia Rox - "Confident" by Demi Lovato - As tradition foretells, the final performance will stand out more often than not.  I will say that Olivia most certainly did Rox.  
Well, it was a mixed bag of a night.  Here's my best guess at the eliminations! 

Elimination Picks: Adam Lasher, CJ Johnson, Manny Torres, Amelia Eisenhower, Tristan Macintosh

I'm not as confident in these picks as I was last week.  There are some early faves in there that just really didn't deliver tonight.  But, since they called out Shelbie Z as one of the ones that did well, I had to pick someone over her.  And I'm biased to a few other people that the judges weren't too thrilled about.  I can't imagine a Top 10 without Jenn Blosil and Harry said she was out of tune the whole performance.   Oh well, we'll see what happens tomorrow night! 

Looking forward to seeing Daughtry, Cook, Pickler and Sparks!  Could live without Reinhart but I know she has her Idol fanbase that absolutely loves her.  I forget the 6th one that is joining us but I'll remember soon enough.  

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

5 comments:

Mike V. said...

So 3 out of 5 ain't bad, right? (7 out of 10) I really didn't think Manny and Tristan would be eliminated but their performances were deserving of elimination!

That said, I'm loving these duets nights. It's nice to see the old faces return and drop some knowledge on the young up and comers. We'll be finally live next week and with guest judge Kelly Clarkson!

Anonymous said...

So I think the judges are being incredibly "nice" to the contestants this season, aside from around 5 of the top 14 the talent isn't what it used to be, the kid who is the daughter of Jenifer's friend is only there because Jen probably feels obligated to keep her, that girl laporsha, while she can sing is clearly a raving bitch and definitely racist (and I'm a brother) it was a couple weeks ago when they were picking I think the 24?? Anyway there was on,y a few girls left and when they picked the white girl standing in front of her she looked like she was going to reach over and slap the shit out of the girl, just keep watching her face closely when people are saying things to her and you'll see it too. And that Thomas strange fellow....if I have to hear that guy sing once more and end every single word with that little squeak I swear I'll cut my wrist!! Lee is awesome, the white kid with glasses and dark hair is really good, the Indian girl is awesome too...I think they missed the boat on a lot of good people who should be on this years show..

Happy voting!

Derrick

Mike V. said...

Hi Derrick, I don't know I think the judges haven't been THAT nice especially last week. I thought some contestants were doing just fine but Harry was looking for perfection.

I do get that vibe from the Gianna situation (I refer to her as the pop star's daughter). She certainly seems to have an "in" for the show, but she also has a good set of pipes too.

La'Porsha...she certainly can sing and seemed destined for the Top 10. I don't know necessarily if she'll win or if she's my favorite or anything. I don't see the issues you're seeing on her personal issues. She seems pretty down to earth to me actually.

As for girls..i have a feeling there will be more girls in the top 10 than boys...and I really hope a girl does win the final season. LOL on Thomas...yeah I don't think he's gonna make the cut unless there are some obsessive teenage fans that vote him in. I think we'll get our guitar/songwriter fix with MacKenzie..and he's actually really good. (as you said too). Sonika is very good too.

They always have to cut good people depending what the show is looking for in a particular year. We always have to remember this is a TV show and they're looking for a combination that will make for good TV...not just a superstar! (though that is the goal they should be striving for and struck gold in season 1)

Thanks for your comments! Hope to hear more from you!

Anonymous said...

So I guess we both proved to be correct! Yeah as far as laporsha goes there's just something that runs me the wrong way about her, maybe it's her bad attitude but either way I don't normally wish bad luck to someone so I guess I hope she does ok it's just the way she reacts to things that I really can't talk, I'm pretty sure I'm a little older than you and have been able to hone my skill in reading people after all these years, how about that Kelly!!! Amazing huh! That was incredible and so moving! Well it won't be long now till we start seeing the "real" players in this game..good to hear your comments..so who do you want to win anyway?

D

Mike V. said...

Hi D! I have a new post up if you want to continue commenting there, but here is fine too. I really don't see the bad attitude with LaPorsha. She seemed genuinely touched at everyone's reaction the other night. I'm not sure how old you think I am, but I'm no spring chicken anymore! Maybe I was when the show started, but that was 15 years ago! lol

Kelly will always be my favorite and she killed it Thursday night and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room or in anyone's homes.

Not really sure who I want to win. I liked Jenn. I think the strongest so far are the final 4 from Thursday night's show. (Trent, LaPorsha, Sonika and McKenzie) Not sure any of them are really my favorite though. Someone will have to win me over! :)