The Top 13 Perform - American Idol 2012

Welcome back to another round of American Idol.  This week, the female contestants sang Whitney Houston songs and the males sang Stevie Wonder songs.  They were mentored by Jimmy Iovine and Mary J. Blige. 

The bottom male and the bottom female contestant, according to America's votes, were revealed, and then the judges made the final decision on who was to go home.  But we'll get to that in a few minutes.

First up was Joshua Ledet, who sang I Wish.  He dropped the gospel-ish tone for this song, which was refreshing.  He did a really great job and set the bar high for the other contestants.

Elise Testone was going to sing Greatest Love of All, but Mary J. and Jimmy nixed that and told her to sing I'm Your Baby Tonight, instead.  When she started out, she did NOT have her usual spunk and confidence. It was kind of like someone had made her eat raw liver right before she stepped onstage.  She really picked it up and started performing about halfway through the song, but the judges were not impressed.  I personally thought the judges were a little harsh; at least she stayed in tune.

Next was Knocks Me Off of My Feet, by 6'8" contestant Jermaine Jones.  He really loosened up this week and started performing like a pro.  He put a nice groove to the music, and really got his big sexy on with this song.  He totally made me smile!

Erika Van Pelt was worrying me a little, because Whitney songs do not really seem to suit her voice.  But I guess she proved me wrong, because she was actually superb singing I Believe in You and Me.  There was a great buildup to the chorus, and then she pulled it back at the end for a little touch of softness.  The ending was a nice changeup from her usual power vocals.

Next up was Colton Dixon, who the judges insist on calling "a rocker."  Seriously?  AC/DC is rock. This dude is way too soft to be a real rocker.  He sang Lately, and the last note was really beautiful.  Other than that, I was pretty bored with Colton.

My girl, Shannon Magrane, looked awesome in a short black jacket and sparkly black fitted pants while singing I Have Nothing.  However, she missed one of her biggest notes, which I haven't heard her do before.  I guess it's pretty intimidating to sing Whitney Houston, and her nerves got the better of her.  The rest of the song was okay, but she just never seemed to relax.

Deandre, on the other hand, still looked like one half of Milli Vanilli (go look it up, youngsters!).  He sang Master Blaster with a reggae beat, and showed great timing and rhythm.  He is great onstage for his young age, and this rendition really allowed him to show off his swag.  And his hair.  His gorgeous, gorgeous hair...not that I'm jealous or anything.

Skylar Lane was next, and I'm generally not a huge fan of hers, but this girl brought it with Where Do Broken Hearts Go.  She made a Whitney song country, and it actually sounded like the song was written like that.  I still think the stylists need to get ahold of that tacky ass Loretta Lynn hairdo of hers, though. 

Heejun Han, the funny man of the Top 13, sang All in Love is Fair.  He started out kinda soft and smokey, and honestly, it was a little slow to develop for me.  But by the middle and the end, Heejun was bringing it on home! 

Hollie was next with All the Man That I Need, one of WH's signature blow-your-eyeballs-out classics.  Could cute little Hollie measure up?  *Standing ovation*  Really.  I'm standing here clapping for this chica....which is making it really hard to type.  Needless to say, she was fab!

I'm not really sure why Jeremy Rosado was dressed like Mr. Rogers on his way to the bowling alley.  I was really a bit confused, and slightly disturbed, by his attire.  He sang Ribbon in the Sky, and while it made me want to skip through a grassy meadow, it was not very exciting.  He should join a boy band as the not-so-sexy-but-lovable one in the group.

Jessica Sanchez took the biggest risk of the night by singing I Will Always Love You.  Holy Hell, that takes some guts!  This girl is the real deal, though.  She had the audience (and me) totally mesmerized from the very first note.  She took that song and kicked it right in the ass.  Randy deemed her "one of the best talents in the country," and I must agree, Dawg!

Phillip Phillips rounded out the night with the classic Stevie Wonder tune, Superstitious.  He did a kind of amped up rock verson of the song that really showed a lot of intensity.  He was my favorite male performance of the night.








Ok, they named the bottom 3 guys:  Joshua, Jeremy, and Jermaine.  I guess people don't like contestants with names that start with J.  Of these three guys, Jeremy Rosado was the lowest vote-getter.

The bottom 3 girls were Erika, Elise (something against E's?), and Shannon.  Elise Testone was at the bottom of the pile for the ladies.

When it came down to Elise vs. Jeremy, the judges chose to keep Elise and send Jeremy home.  I think this probably pissed JLo off because she seemed to have some kind of weird crush on Jeremy.  Oh well, she'll get over it by the next episode.

I'll see you fine folks back here then!

American Idol 2012 - Live Semifinalist Round - The Women Perform

The night was kicked off by Chelsea Sorrell, singing "Cowboy Casanova."  Here's today's tip to the contestants:  don't sing Carrie Underwood songs.  Please.  You will only make yourself sound stupid.  Chelsea is a beautiful girl, but she was flat for most of the song, and she wasn't breathing in the right places.

The second lady to sing was Erica Van Pelt.  Her rendition of "What About Love" was belted out with her signature power vocals.  And she sang ON KEY!  Also, I had mentioned during one of the audition posts that she needed a new hairdo, and apparently the show's stylists had their way with her, and she now looks FAB!  I love to be right!

Jen Hirsh went third and sang "One and Only".  There aren't many who do justice to Adele songs, but Jen pulled it off perfectly.  However, the song was very slow to develop and bored me slightly until near the end.  Not that it's a bad song....it just didn't butter my bread, so to speak.

Young Brielle Von Hugel sang an old song, "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay."  This girl thinks she's a lot better than she actually is.  Some of the song was pretty good, but some of it was truly BLECH!  For some reason, she reminds me of the annoying girl who always gets killed first in horror movies.

Hallie Day sang "Feeling Good."  Holy crap, she looked gorgeous!  She sang well with a good mix of spunky and sultry.  On a side note, does that song make anyone else want to do a strip tease?

Li'l country gal, Skylar Lane, was up next with "Stay with Me."  Something about this girl gets on my nerves.  It's not her voice, because she stayed in tune.  Maybe it's the trailer park hairdo.  She was a great performer, though.

Baylie Brown, also in the country genre, tried to sing "Amazed," but she was off key throughout the entire song.  She is a beautiful girl and looks great on camera.  I think she needs to get an agent and try to get into movies.

Hollie Cavanagh was next with "Reflection," and holy hell!  This tiny, unassuming-looking girl blew this song right out of the water.  Fabulous!

Haley Johnson sang "Sweet Dreams," with some kind of spacey-sounding background vocals that were very distracting.  At one point I actually went outside with a gun to shoot the panther attacking a family of kittens outside.  However, there was no panther and no kittens...it was just Haley's screeching.

Next was Shannon Magrane with "Go Light Your World."  I just love this 6-foot-tall beauty!  She was adorable in her little intro video, plus....the girl can SANG!  She's only 16, but she showed so much maturity onstage.

Jessica Sanchez was next, singing, "Love You, I Do."  She said that her voice has been sore and hoarse all week, but I think she's full o' poo, because she was near perfect!  She has wonderful projection and some big ole pipes.  What's up with these young chicks this week?  WOW!

Lastly, we saw Elise Testone with yet another Adele song.  Ok, people...there are other singers out there besides Adele, okay?  Let's move on and find something else to sing, PLEASE!  But I digress.  We were discussing Elise, who started out at the piano and then got up and started working the crowd.  She had a great bluesy feel and sang with a lot of passion.  Overall great job!



And on to the results.  The top 5 girls for this first week were:

For the Wild Card Round, three guys and three girls were asked to sing a song of their choice.  Then each judge got to choose one contestant to save.  The girls who were chosen to sing were Jen Hirsh (who was awesome), Brielle Von Hugel (who was pretty sloppy), and Erica Van Pelt (also awesome).  If you'll remember from the last post, Steven and Jennifer both chose a guy as their Wild Card.  Randy, however, chose Erica as his, unfortunately letting the wonderful Jen Hirsh go.

American Idol 2012 - Pittsburgh Auditions

This is the first year American Idol has ever been to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so let’s see what these folks can do!

DAY 1

First up was Heejun Han, age 22 from NY. He seemed very nervous and from the clips they were showing, it seemed like he was going to be a joke. However, he sang “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” by Michael Bolton, and this boy’s got SOUL…and the voice of an angel. He seemed surprised that they liked him. I love it when someone doesn’t know how awesome they are!

Prediction: Definitely Top 12 material, because he’s got a very distinctive tone, and he’s humble and sweet and goofy.


Reed Grimm, age 26 from WI surprised the judges by singing the theme song to Family Matters. He started out with some great scatting and went into a fun rendition of the song. He’s a great performer and the judges liked him a lot.  Prediction: I’m hoping he makes it to the Top 12. I would love to see him on the big stage. I think he will if he keeps his performance value and doesn’t get lost in the crowd.

Aaron Marcellus, age 27 from NJ was an excellent singer, and he seemed like a personable guy. Prediction: They just showed a very short clip, so not really enough to predict on, but he does have the voice to make it pretty far.

Next was Chase Likens, age 20 from WV. Chase sang country very well, and he was a nice-looking fellow with beautiful eyes. Very marketable.  Prediction: Again, this was a very short clip, but the judges liked him, so he may be the token male country singer this year.

Samantha Novacek, age 19 from PA came in with her sister. Were they doing a duet? Uhhhh, not exactly. Samantha was singing and her sister was “planking Samantha to Hollywood.” Sam got through, but her sister is going to have to plank her ass back home. 

Prediction: Good voice, but just not special enough without the planking gimmick.

Then we were introduced to self-proclaimed starving artist, Creighton Fraker, age 28 from NY. He couldn’t decide what to sing, so he just wrote a song on the 9-hour bus ride to Pitt. He won them over with his voice and a tiny bit of ego stroking because the song he wrote was about the 3 judges. Dude was very good, though I personally like men with deeper voices. And tell me he doesn’t look a bit like George Michaels!

Prediction: He will either make it very far, or he’ll get caught soliciting prostitutes in the men’s bathroom at Applebees.











Eben Franckewitz from OH is only 15 years old. He’s just super nice and his family is super supportive and coming to American Idol was just super awesome! Everything was just super groovy! Lordy mercy, I thought I was watching the Brady Bunch will all of that positivity and love floating around.  Prediction: Eben does have a great voice, but he’s going to get eaten alive in Hollywood.

Next was Travis Orlando, Age 17 from NY. Travis tried out last year too, and is hoping for better results this time. After last year, his mom left them for a boyfriend, they got evicted from their apartment and moved into a shelter, and now his dad‘s on dialysis. Then Travis dropped out of high school. He got through to Hollywood, but not one word about him dropping out of school. I definitely think they should have put him through, but with the stipulation that he use the tutors that Idol provides to finish his education.  Prediction: I’m thinking he will get to the very end in Hollywood, and then will probably make it through, because Idol loves the drama.

And that was just Day 1 of Pittsburgh. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a lot of stupidity and nonsense, but we’ve still got Day 2.  Come on!  Let’s bring out the crazy, Pitt!

DAY 2

First up on Day 2 was Erika Van Pelt, age 25 of RI. She is a mobile DJ and a wedding singer, and really sang her booty off! This girl can do absolutely amazing things with her voice!!!

Prediction: I would go so far as to describe Erika’s voice as incomparable. She will make the Top 12, and if she gets a makeover and scraps her unflattering hairdo, she will go far!

Next was 19-year-old coal miner Shane Bruce from WV. Good voice, but not much depth. He didn’t get through, but he’s got potential.  Prediction: He will come back next year and make it through to Hollywood, but not make the live show.

 

The final auditioner of Day 2 was Hallie Day, age 24 from MA. Hallie dropped out of high school at age 15 and moved to NY and joined a girl group. They didn’t become superstars, so she ended up coming back home, where she tried to commit suicide by taking pills.  Luckily, Hallie now has the support of a good husband, and he encourages her music. She sang “I Will Survive” with some moments of brilliance, but I hope she tones it down a smidge in the future, because it came out slightly screechy in parts to me. Of course they put her through. Prediction: She will survive all the way to the Top 12!

You ever notice how much reality shows love former addicts and high school dropouts? For instance, Chris Rene from the X Factor didn’t have half the talent of some of the contestants, and yet he made it to the Top 3. Do you think he would have made it that far if he hadn’t told his story of addiction and recovery? I know it gives hope to some people going through recovery, but I have to wonder if it also sends the message to kids that it's okay to make horrible decisions, because you can still be a STAR one day, when that rarely happens.  Rather, the outcome is much more often jail or death.  Something to think about…..