Survivor: American Idol Edition (Top 10)

Welcome to the first installment of Survivor: American Idol edition! Just a quick disclaimer that everything down below are my personal opinions. I'm in no way affiliated with any corporation, especially Idol or Fox.

What is Survivor? Alright, so I do recaps of performances for various singing shows and I give my two cents but Survivor is where I put my ten cents in and try and give the contestants a bit of advice (even though they're clearly not reading this) about what they can do to stay in the competition. I did this with The Voice and X Factor but I'm trying out a new format so bare with me. 

Everything down below is not only referring to said contestant's previous performance, but their overall history in the competition. Pros and Cons are just what you'd think and the Verdict is basically what I think they can do to get through to the next round and whether or not I think they're safe or not. Onto Survivor!

AVALON YOUNG

Pros: Avalon is one of the performers who knows what direction she wants to go in with her artistry. She's very comfortable on stage and she fits the package that Idol's looking for this season - young, marketable, entertaining. Her voice is very, very smooth and she has a nice relaxed and confident, but not overindulging, presence on stage.

Cons: She didn't display many of her strengths this past week. Her vocals were a bit all over the place and she didn't seem as comfortable and confident on stage as we usually see her. I don't know if it was her nerves (probably not, because she killed her performance the night before) or the song choice but something didn't feel all the way right last week with her.

Verdict: I think she's safe for now. The performance wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. After she hit the chorus I think she loosened up a little bit and it got a little livelier and more entertaining to watch. I personally think if she goes back to her R&B/soulful comfort zone this week she'll be set.

DALTON RAPATTONI

Pros: Dalton knows what he's doing. It's as if he was tailored and mixed up in a lab for this show. Off the bat he gives you Colton Dixon, possibly Adam Lambert flashbacks. He's an amazing performer with a pretty good voice and you just feel like you're at his personal concert whenever its his turn to perform.

Cons: This might just be me but I think the way he arranges his songs, at least the ones he's done so far (especially this last performance of Hey There Delilah) doesn't really allow him to connect with the songs as much? And sometimes his voice just gets a little nasally for me. Clearly I'm stretching because he's a really solid performer.

Verdict: Dalton is most definitely safe. Everything I said above were just little technical things he can fix. I think he's going to be around for a long time, there's no question there are like thousands of little girls out there pulling their hair out watching him perform (Jennifer Lopez happens to be one of them) so this route he's going right now is absolutely perfect for him.

GIANNA ISABELLA

Pros: She has a pretty average voice and she's pretty. And that's all she wrote.

Cons: Look, I like Gianna. She has a nice personality and her voice is far from bad. Gianna's issue is that she picks songs that are much too strong for her so she falls flat (literally) almost every time she hits the stage and is swallowed up by the song. Listen by Beyonce? Really? She has a lot of potential, but we won't see it if she keeps trying to shoot for the stars when she doesn't have a gun.

Verdict: If she stays past the first five minutes (but, why would she?) then what would benefit her the most if she just picked simpler songs that allowed us to hear the quality of her voice as opposed to the high school talent show auditions we've been watching from her so far.

LA'PORSHA RENAE

Pros: Where do I start? First of all, her performance of "Diamonds" has over a million views (the only finals performance on Idol to do some since probably season 11), which is just a testament to her talent already. La'Porsha is very humble, but has every reason not to be because not only can she sing her ass off, but she performs her ass off. When she did Proud Mary, she was running up and down the stage dancing and this past week, despite just having a microphone and a spotlight, she told a story with her words, her eyes, and her body and it was just extraordinarily gorgeous to watch.

Cons: ...Um, excuse me? The queen gets a pass this week.

Verdict: La'Porsha is doing everything right so far. As long as she keeps showing versatility and marketability, she's absolutely set. I mean, bruh, the final American Idol title is La'Porsha's title to lose at this point.

LEE JEAN

Pros: Lee's got a great voice and an awesome style.

Cons: So far, he's only sounded good when he does Ed Sheeran. And only doing Ed Sheeran (despite me loving him) is a problem in itself. With "Skinny Love" last week, he was just pretty pitchy. On paper, it sounded like a pretty good song choice but I don't know if his ear piece was messing him up but it was just a little awkward.

Verdict: Lee has a problem. And it's MacKenzie Bourg. These two have their differences, but they have a very similar way in performing and a very similar style. The thing is, MacKenzie (ehhhh, sort of -- in terms of staying on pitch) has the better voice (and hella less dislikes on YouTube...) so why would the voter's want to keep two of them? He needs to do something to show a little versatility in order to show he's special and worth keeping around because right now if it's down to him and MacKenzie, Lee's probably the guitar player that's headed out the door. I don't want him to go this week, but I wouldn't shed a tear if he did (or be surprised).

MACKENZIE BOURG

Pros: Basically what Kelly said: to be on American Idol at such a young age and already know what direction you're taking your artistry is a feat that is hard to accomplish -- and MacKanzie has. And suuuuuuuch a beautiful, soft and understated voice.

Cons: He looks more like the dorky alter-ego to a super hero than an American Idol. Nah, I'm just playing. I've actually really liked him so far but I think he's a little over rated? I thought the song choice was good, but a little out of his range.

Verdict: People love him so I think he's a shoo in for next week. Personally, I want him to sing a song that is in a better range for his voice. Buuuuuut this isn't about me, this is about what will get him votes and people love him so if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's set.

OLIVIA ROX

Pros: Olivia's voice is wicked. I've never heard her go off pitch and she was Mariah'ing (in terms of runs and the range of her voice) all over the stage during "Unconditionally." I'll get to this later, but she has a way of starting off a performance that has me questioning if she can pull it off, but then at the end she completely destroys everything and none of us have eyebrows left because she blew them away.

Cons: I mean, she was a tad awkward on stage but it wasn't a big deal. She's just a little inconsistent in her performances, to me. Her voice starts out a little soft and wobbly and then she goes for these big crazy notes that leaves me wondering how I'm supposed to think. What I do know for sure is that I'd love for her to stop smiling. It's kind of distracting, and no matter what the message of the song is she just looks extremely happy (and a little fake, if I'm being honest - not that I'm saying she herself is fake).

Verdict: There's not much to suggest for her because she's found her little rocker niche and it suits her well, I think her making it through to the top eight is a no-brainer. All she needs is to loosen up and look a little more natural.

SONIKA VAID

Pros: Let's be honest, we all knew Sonika was going to come out of the gate fighting in the top ten. I think the biggest pro was that she went after La'Porsha, because that looks to have absolutely fired her engine off because this performance she gave was absolutely everything. Her voice was perfect, as always, but she gave us attitude, she gave us frustration, she gave us anger. It was absolutely perfect and what she needed. 

Cons: She's been a little robotic so far, and still is a little, but she loosened up and allowed herself to be more free. While she gave us some emotions during "Bring Me to Life", it seemed a bit on the over dramatic side (like the dramatic head turn at the end). I want her to come off more as if she's actually feeling what she's singing as opposing to acting like she's feeling what she's singing.

Verdict: She's definitely making it through. I just think, like Olivia, loosen up girl. Please. We are rooting for you. We are ALL rooting for you.

TRENT HARMON

Pros: Probably the most unique and weirdest voice in the competition. He wears his heart on his sleeve when he's singing and has no problem connecting with the material at hand. And the stomp thing he does with his legs are interesting.

Cons: His voice is his strong suit, and his weakness - at least when it comes to these two ears I have attached to my head. His voice is unique, yes, but his tone comes across as downright nasally and clashing. It was almost as if he went sharp without being actually sharp. It feels weird saying this because his voice is clearly so, so, so strong.

Verdict: I personally think he's sailing through to the top eight and his performance, vocal ability and uniqueness is enough to ride on for a while.

TRISTAN MCINTOSH

Pros: What? Okay, she's really pretty.

Cons: Tristan looks like a literal deer in headlights. She looks so confused, and like she's trying so hard to be everything and please everyone but also look comfortable and interesting that she comes across as stiff and uncomfortable. There was...like, no pitch. Her voice was so shaky there wasn't even a pitch to get off of. There's just...so much...and I don't want to be overly shady to her because she seems nice enough so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Verdict: I personally don't think she's going to make it to the top eight tonight, but we'll see. If she does, I need her to calm down, stop trying to be so fun because she just looks like a cat who's desperately trying to get a ball of yarn but her owner keeps fucking with her by pretending to throw it around everywhere. Pick a key, pick a pitch, and prove you can sing before you try and prove to us that you're this boss ass performer.

FINAL PREDICTIONS:

Bottom Two: Gianna & Tristan (or Lee, some mixture of the three).

ALSO, DEMI LOVATO IS PERFORMING STONE COLD TONIGHT AND DAMN ARE WE IN FOR A TREAT. HMMF.