Disclaimer: All these opinions are clearly subjective and I am in no way affiliated with American Idol or any other corporation.
OLIVIA ROX
"Unconditionally"
I didn't like Olivia at first. I thought she smiled way too much and that her voice wasn't really up to par with the note I believed the producers were trying to end Idol on. That literally all changed the moment she stepped onto the stage for the top twenty-four round. I had to check myself. Like, this girl is actually here to lay everything on the table, smack you in the face, tell you to be mad about it and just strut around. Her voice was actually killer and a force to be reckoned with. The one problem I've had with her so far is her lack of coordination on stage. She looks so awkward. First, she's smiling too much, then she's running around trying to get the crowd pumped while she looks like she's about to flop over in her heels, then she's smiling too much again. Thank the lord, my girl stood still for the first half of the song. She looked comfortable and sounded beautiful, her head voice was gorgeous. I was scared when she took the mic and stood away from the mic stand but she didn't look as awkward as she usually has. She really showed out tonight! The tone of her voice was butter to my ears, she hit all of her vocal cues perfectly. Her belting was great, her runs ran me out of the house (in the best way possible) and, you know what? Olivia rocks! (8/10) Girl, just loosen up and you're fine.
GIANNA ISABELLA
"Listen"
GIANNA. GIRL. LISTEN? I think it's so cute that you honestly thought you could handle one of the biggest movie songs in the past ten years. Girl, you don't have the power. Gianna has a just fine voice and the first half was just fine. She was on pitch and everything but her belts weren't on point because she just doesn't have that something special in her voice to turn it into a true moment. When you sing Listen by Beyonce, you need to have a moment. Not a moment of weakness. This is the same curious case of Shannon McGrane from season eleven. Perfectly fine voice but it's way too easy to pick out all of the flaws in her voice when week after week she chooses these big diva songs. Her sass was cute last night but here she looked like she was trying way to hard to show us she had an emotional connection to the song that the performance fell flat and looked amateur. The part where I knew this wasn't happening was during the bridge when she skipped out on the super high note, AND STILL FELL FLAT. Pitch, pitch, let's call a witch (4.5/10). I feel bad for critiquing so hard because she looks so sweet and happy and has potential...but, lol no. "Just grow," Kelly says. Yes, please grow, because when she learns to actually channel true emotions and her voice fully develops she could be great.
LEE JEAN
"Skinny Love"
I actually really like Lee. Aside from the fact that before tonight it seemed as if he had only been explosed to the Ed Sheeran songbook. Like, honestly, I'm sure he only sang this song because he saw Ed Sheeran performed it once. Hell, the first thing Kelly said was "Haven't I seen you perform a lot of Ed Sheeran?" No, girl, you've ONLY seen him perform Ed Sheeran songs. I think Harry pointed out something great: his performance technique. Just standing there playing the guitar. I think it's great, don't get me wrong, Kelly hit it on the nose when she told him that was his niche. But say him and Mackenzie (since that's who Harry drew the comparison to) make it to the top two. What sets them apart from each other (well, yeah, Mackenzie has the stronger voice)? I think once he figures that out, he will be golden because he has a lot of potential. This kid is really talented. His song choice was great, it fit his voice, I just don't think it really was able to do much for him. On a good day, I'm sure Lee could tear "Skinny Love" up, but something seemed off with his voice tonight. Maybe the key was too high, but something was up with the performance (6.5/10). WAIT, BUT BRO. Can we PLEASE discuss that moment when Lee and Ryan saw Chris in the audience and Chris was complimenting (I think) Lee, but he wasn't mic'd so he was basically miming his compliment and Ryan and Lee just stood there staring at him until Ryan was like "...great! You guys should hang after the show!" I personally lost it and couldn't stop laughing.
AVALON YOUNG
"Stiches"
Harry Connick Jr said something multiple times that struck me during the audition rounds. They were looking to "bookend" the show, basically, find someone as successful as Kelly Clarkson so they could end just as strong as the show started. Avalon? I think at this point, she's probably their best bet (and Dalton, but this isn't his review, okay) at finding a current artist who I could hear on the radio (whereas Dalton gives a late 80s, early 90s rock vibe). Every time she starts off a song and goes "how y'all doin'," you know you're in for a treat. She didn't do that tonight, I felt like her low-key groove-type vibe was lost at the beginning but once she hit the chorus I started to vibe with the song. I just didn't think it was the right fit for her. She up down and around into her higher register, then her really low register, so it was a mixed bag of a performance to me. She was pitchy in the first verse but when she hit the chorus, she immediately begun to shine and it was great to watch. Not her best, but still very good (7/10).
DALTON RAPATTONI
"Hey There, Delilah"
Dalton kind of looks like Aaron Paul during the first two seasons of Breaking Bad, no? I don't know why when he was singing that I just thought about that. Alright, on to his actual performance. The thing about Dalton is, every time he steps out you don't feel like you're watching Idol, you feel like you're at his concert. He has an immense amount of confidence. The way he pronounces his words is a little bit irritating for me, but I can get past it because he actually sing. Let me just say that whatever Dalton is going for, he's doing it perfectly. Clearly he's a rock type of artist, but there's something different about him. I don't know what it is, I can't quite spot it out. But whatever he is trying to go for when he goes out and performs, he nails it. Like Harry said, he is on 1000 right now. JLO was chill but the minute she called him cute I was like, boo, let's get to Kelly (much like what I'm sure we all said during season one). He's definitely one of my front runners (8.5/10). Um, girl, you put your eyeliner on before bed? Is that safe? What if you just wake up one morning and you're blind?
TRISTAN MCINTOSH
"Nothin' Like You"
Well, Tristan, you have great taste -- mentioning Jessica Sanchez. At least I can say one good think about you this week. That's all I can do for you. First off, I don't really know how she made it through last night. Well, kind of, her story with her mom. I agree with Jennifer that there is a lot of young "talent" in the top ten this year. I use talent in quotations because there is a lot of potential in the top ten, but these kids look so new at the whole industry that I'm focusing less on what their voice/stage presence could be and I'm looking at what it is now. And now, most of these kids just aren't there yet. Tristan is one of them. She's an alright singer, who looks like she's really overcompensating when she performs. Like, she's trying way, way too hard. There was a point near the end when she belted one note that just sounded so out of tune and throat-y (you shouldn't be singing from your voice, you should be singing from you diaphragm) that I was just lost in the whole performance. I feel like the judges really wanted to say "come back next year" to her, but since there's no next year they just let her go through. She's not awful. On the positive side, she has no where to go but up from here, but I won't miss her if she goes home (5/10). Watch the pitch, baby.
"I See Fire"
I feel like the moment Lee found out that Mackenzie was singing this song, he immediately just got extremely petty. Like "Ed Sheeran is my thing, you're just gonna take that?" Like can't you just imagine them at breakfast and Mackenzie grabs the last sausage link and Lee side eyes him and is like "So you're just going to take that away from me too?" Haha. Clearly this was the perfect song choice because Ed Sheeran is THE guy with the guitar in the music industry right now. It had the perfect amount of indie/pop crossover that Mackenzie has been doing so perfectly since he's come into this competition. The one concern I have with him is all of his performances beginning to wring together by the end because aside from that one note he attempted to hit at the end. But it doesn't matter in the end because he knows what kind of artist he wants to be and he does a fantastic job at doing what he does. But I'm just being knit picky. That's like Adele doing one of these singing shows and getting mad she only sings ballads. He's doing perfectly fine and he's one of the few who know themselves as an artist. To do that while you're still on Idol is impressive, to do this so early in the competition is fierce (7.5/10). Harry: "What does this song mean to you?" Mackenzie: "Um, it gets me fired up. Because I see fire." Good save, Mackenzie.
LA'PORSHA RENAE
"Diamonds"
Really, La'Porsha? We're just going to steal everybody's edges on the second live show? It's no secret I think she has the best voice in the competition so let's just get that out of the way. MY girl La'Porsha looked like a star tonight. It felt more like I was watching a performance on an awards show as opposed to American Idol. Her voice was in TOP FORM tonight. She didn't over sing, she gave just the perfect amount of runs, the perfect amount of sparkles (shine bright like a diamond, La'Porsha was SHINING BRIGHT IN THAT OUTFIT, YES MA'AM). She just jumped into the song, didn't she? Her lower register is like a gift from God, no? That growl? I thought that was as good as it was going to get but after she hit that chorus and got into that groove, and she stared the camera dead in the face, then started feeling herself, everything about this performance had excellent written all over it. I was Kelly the entire performance, dancing and praising the ground she walks on. They're constantly looking for new Idol moments and not only did she give one tonight, she's given one nearly every time she's stepped on the stage. Harry said it for us all, the reaction in the studio was her critique (9.5/10). DAMN, GIRL. REALLY? REALLY LA'PORSHA, THIS EARLY?
SONIKA VAID
"Bring Me to Life"
Sonika's voice is absolutely perfect. The minute she starts taking stage presence classes, she'll be a forced to be reckoned with. That being said, at least she was trying and it wasn't uncomfortable to watch. As soon as she pulled that mic out of the stand and strutted to the front of the stage, I knew she came to fight. The last few moments of that performance was absolute perfection. She channeled the drama of the song, the danger of the song and she never lost the pitch. And, girl, she brought all of the necessary attitude and sass that we've all been waiting for her. The last moments as she went up note by note was near perfection. I am so glad that she got to go after La'Porsha's superb performance because it really just fired Sonika up and give her the best performance she's had the whole competition (9/10).
TRENT HARMON
"Like I Can"
Trent's vocal phrasing is very unique, it sets him apart from everyone else in the competition. He's one of those rare guitar players who looks just as comfortable with out it with it. At first, I was confused as to why he was one of the three contestants that got the automatic pass into the top ten but after watching this, he absolutely sold me. His falsetto was absolutely wicked. There were points during the song where it got a little nasally and jarring, but who cares? Also, let's have a run battle! Between La'Porsha, Sonika, Trent and Olivia that could be the most entertaining part of the whole farewell season. Really solid stuff from Trent, though (8.5/10). "I sang it to the cows until they got tired of it." Me too, man. The one thing that pissed me off was how they kept mentioning La'Porsha. Like, clearly I'm not a judge, I'm a blogger just reviewing the show so it's not really that big of a deal that I do it but you could see on Trent's face that he was starting to get a little annoyed of the La'Porsha comparisons. It's fine to think La'Porsha is perfect but the judges should let the contestants have THEIR moment and not spend the whole time talking about someone else, no matter how much she killed it and rolled over it again with spike tires.
RANKINGS:
RANKINGS:
10. Gianna Isabella (4.5/10)
09. Tristan McIntosh (5/10)
08. Lee Jean (6.5/10)
07. Avalon Young (7/10)
06. Mackenzie Bourg (7.5/10)
05. Olivia Rox (8/10)
04. Dalton Rapattoni (8.5/10)
03. Trent Harmon (8.5/10)
02. Sonika Vaid (9/10)
01. La'Porsha Renae (9.5/10)
A "dramatic" double elimination next week, as put by Ryan Secreast. Good. Because there are some fantastic people in here and it's not really that excited when you have just meh people in the group with them. Everything below is just predictions.
09. Tristan McIntosh (5/10)
08. Lee Jean (6.5/10)
07. Avalon Young (7/10)
06. Mackenzie Bourg (7.5/10)
05. Olivia Rox (8/10)
04. Dalton Rapattoni (8.5/10)
03. Trent Harmon (8.5/10)
02. Sonika Vaid (9/10)
01. La'Porsha Renae (9.5/10)
A "dramatic" double elimination next week, as put by Ryan Secreast. Good. Because there are some fantastic people in here and it's not really that excited when you have just meh people in the group with them. Everything below is just predictions.
MY Bottom 2:
Gianna Isabella & Tristan McIntosh
AMERICA'S Bottom 2:
Gianna Isabella & Tristan McIntosh
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