American Idol 2013 – Women Semi-Finalists Week 1 Review

Reviews, Shows

I haven’t blogged about American Idol yet this season, but I have been sporadically watching. I was turned off of the new judges panel early on, because it felt like the Mariah Carey/Nicki Minaj drama was manufactured. But throughout Hollywood week, I came to appreciate the new judges – particularly Nicki Minaj, who had several moments of refreshing honestly.

Now the finalists are in Vegas for a “sudden death” round, and on Wednesday evening the women performed. A lot of White Guys With Guitars have won lately, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up with talk of “The girls are so talented this year” because I’ve heard those words before.

I had a couple clear favorites from Wednesday night, all among the five who made it through to the next round. Adriana Latonio, the five-foot-nothin’ adorable Filipino gal who sang an Aretha Franklin song was great. Unfortunately, being great didn’t get Jessica Sanchez the win last season.  And Angela Miller, who wowed with an original song back in Hollywood week, was also worth noting. She tends to over-perform, but she was still easily in the top five for the night. My favorite of the night was Amber Holcomb, who blew the roof off the place with her soulful rendition of “My Funny Valentine”. Beautiful.

I liked Kree Harrison during Hollywood week, and I was glad she made it through. She rocked a country ballad, but it didn’t stand out for me. Tenna Torres also made it through, and while she wasn’t one of my favorites of the night I’ll be pleased to see her again.

What did you guys think? Did your favorites make it through?

You can follow Jill at her blog, couchtimewithjill.com, or on Twitter @jillemader Jill has been an avid fan of TV since the age of two, when she was so obsessed with Zoobilee Zoo that her mother lied and told her it had been canceled. Despite that setback, she grew up to be a television aficionado and pop culture addict.