I’ve always wondered how these semifinal rounds work. We know that there are x number of groups, but are they all filmed on the same day in the interest of fairness, or do they truly do same day shooting to ensure that spoilers do not get out until the last minute? Until I hear otherwise, I have to believe it’s the latter, and that’s unfortunate for semifinal group 1. Even though they’ve undoubtedly seen the show, I can’t imagine that they’re prepared for the task at hand. Groups 2 and 3 will have time to adjust, and as we saw tonight, those that sung later were also able to adjust based on judges comments. There is a silver lining though – because we expect (or at least should expect) mediocrity in this flight of singers, simply being good can probably get you through.
Oh yeah, themes are back for the semifinal flights. Fortunately for the contestants, the theme is the Billboard Hot 100. Or maybe it’s unfortunate, since the singers have zero idea about how to choose a song that’s right for them.
Jackie Tohn had the unfortunate task of singing first, and also had the unfortunate song choice of “A Little Less Conversation” by Elvis Presley. You may remember this song from season 3 (oddly enough, the last time they used this voting format) when “Pen Guy” Jon Peter Lewis married the song with dance moves from “Thriller”. Or maybe you don’t. It’s probably better that you don’t. It’s energetic, and she had fun (as did Paula, but as we saw later on, it would take a special performance for Paula not to have fun), but the singing? Yeah, not so much. 5/10
Next is Ricky Braddy, who sang “A Song for You”, which apparently was covered by Elliot Yamin. And he’s kind of the opposite of Jackie – great singing, no connection at all with the audience. Ricky was not a featured performer during the auditions. You can see why here. 7/10 for the singing, 3/10 for charisma.
Alexis Grace is a little biddy pale thing singing Aretha. And she does a great job with it. I think that out of all of tonight’s early competitors, she actually “got” what was needed to advance in the competition – or at least make it to the Wild Card. 8.5/10
Brent Keith sang… you know, I don’t really care. This isn’t Top Country, don’t sing obscure country songs. And yes, I’m fully aware that Keith was on Nashville Star. And yes, I have been watching too much Top Chef. He did well enough that he should get a mulligan, but then he’s gonna need to impress the judges for the Wild Card. 6/10
I thought Stevie Wright might do well on this show. I forgot that Stevie is 16 and this reminded me why I don’t like to see kids this young compete on the show. If she competes 2 years from now I guarantee her performance (Taylor Swift?) is ten times better. But the moment seemed to eat her alive. Really unfortunate. I’d like to see the judges give her another chance, but I don’t know that her performance here warrants one. 5/10
Anoop Desai sings Monica… um, what? OK, well, he does a pretty good “Angel of Mine” (imagine Brian McKnight singing the song – I actually wrote that 30 seconds before Paula said it. Weird.), but regardless it’s not gonna get him through, because he’s Indian, and a visible ethnic minority has to be really special for people to vote for him/her. He should make it to the Wild Card round though. 7/10
Casey Carlson sings “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” by The Police. Trying to sing a Police song other than “Every Breath You Take” is asking for trouble. This was bad bad bad all around, and Casey seemed to try and compensate by acting all flirty and stuff. Let’s just say that it did not work. 3/10
A.J. Styles lookalike Michael Sarver sings “I Don’t Wanna Be” by Gavin DeGraw. He doesn’t kill the song like Bo Bice did, but he did not butcher the song, and at this point that’s all I’m hoping for. And he also shows some emotion. Between this performance and his featured performer status during the auditions, he should get through to the Top 12. 7.5/10
Next performer is Ann Marie Boskovich, singing “Natural Woman”. Kelly Clarkson sang this on Idol before, and thus if you sing it, you need to kill it. Ann Marie did not kill it. This was rather mangled, and I don’t see her getting another chance to sing. 5/10
Steven Fowler forgot the lyrics to last year’s songwriting contest song during Hollywood Week, so he decides to sing Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” because… people haven’t heard that Michael Jackson song very often? I dunno, strange choice. As the judges note, he sang the other song well despite forgetting the lyrics. This time, he remembered the lyrics, but didn’t sing well. 5/10
Tatiana Del Toro sings Whitney as America goes “uh-oh”. But she actually does a pretty good job with it. I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying stuff like this all the time though – singing Whitney will usually get you roasted by the judges. It’s a good enough job that I think that little Alexis will be bumped from the top girl spot and will be left to with a 25% shot at making the Top 12 in the Wild Card. 8/10
Pimp spot goes to Danny Gokey, who honestly? Doesn’t really need it since his back story would probably get him through even if he sang Vogon poetry. Still, he sings “Hero” by Mariah Carey (yes, Mariah Carey) and probably makes Idol history by being on the back end of back-to-back great renditions of Marwhitline songs. I noticed that Danny’s mic wasn’t picking up his voice very well, as clearly the judges could hear the singing well but it didn’t translate to the home viewer. This was probably most evident when Danny was hitting some power notes and it was evident he was killing it, but it sounded… normal. Weird. 7.5/10
Predictions
Advancing:
Danny Gokey
Tatiana Del Toro
Michael Sarver
Wild Card (assuming they take four from each flight)
Anoop Desai
Alexis Grace
Ricky Braddy
Brent Keith
Please Pack Your Mic and Go
Stevie Wright
Jackie Tohn
Steven Fowler
Ann Marie Boskovich
Casey Carlson
See you next week.
Kevin Wong writes for Reality Dish, Prime Time Pulse and Inside Fights. He’s glad we’re into the singing rounds.
