American Idol, you tease.
You let us watch some of the remaining 43 male contestants sweat their solos, you let us see some of our favourites make the cut and then you tell us eight have to go next week. Sheesh.
Thursday’s episode was supposed to be about picking the 20 guys who would advance to the Las Vegas round of auditions, but the judges ended up with 28.
We’ll find out next Thursday which eight go home.
I’m hoping Charlie Askew, Nick Boddington, Cortez Shaw and Jimmy Smith make the cut, especially Charlie.
Unlike Nicki Minaj, I don’t want to eat him. I wouldn’t even say I’m obsessed with him. But he’s got style and audacity, and his solo was the one that stuck with me.
If he gets to the live rounds, let’s hope the Idol machine doesn’t beat the quirk out of him.
Things moved pretty briskly Thursday as we watched a small number of contestants sing, heard limited judges’ feedback, got a tiny taste of deliberations and then saw the yays or nays.
Producers were wise not to herd everybody into separate rooms this season to await their fates. Instead, they took the stage in groups of eight and were divided into two lines, with one line staying and one line going.
I won’t say it was painless, but it was pretty fast.
Here’s a look at some of the singers who made it through.
Paul Jolley, 22: You might remember Paul as the pleasant-voiced man who’d lost his grandfather not long before he auditioned in Baton Rouge. He was so nervous before his solo he told Ryan Seacrest he felt like everything was falling apart and he let those nerves show in front of the judges. “I want this so bad, I’ve worked so hard,” Paul said pleadingly. He needn’t have worried because his voice connected with Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away,” but Minaj gave him a lecture afterward. “You walked out so deflated and that really irritated me. It’s such a turn-off,” she said. “Just give us one minute of professionalism and focus so that you don’t break in the middle of your song.”
Lazaro Arbos, 21: We didn’t see a lot of Lazaro, but he sounded strong on Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.”
Curtis Finch Jr., 24: Curtis had the judges eating out of his hand with Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts”; me not so much. He has great technical ability, but some of what he did was show-offish and over-exaggerated: the whispered word in the beginning, the falsetto run, the “Hey” just before the chorus, most of the physical gestures, the almost crying face at the end. He’ll make top 20, but a little humility would be nice before then.
Devin Velez, 18: Devin wasn’t on my radar before Hollywood Week, but he has a lot of control for a young guy, demonstrated on a run-filled version of Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World.” “You were born to sing,” Keith Urban told him.
Gurpreet Singh Sarin, 22: I think we can move past fixating on Gurpreet’s turban. He had some game on “Georgia on My Mind,” particularly that ad lib at the end.
Cortez Shaw, 22: Cortez’s soulful tenor was in the pocket with “Sunny” and he sang it like he meant it, always a welcome touch.
Jimmy Smith, 25: I liked Jimmy’s voice a lot in Charlotte and I liked it just as much on this countrified version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” a nice combination of sweetness and strength.
Nick Boddington, 27: One word for Nick’s voice on the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals song “Stars”: beautiful.
Charlie Askew, 17: If I’m being objective, Charlie doesn’t have the best voice in the competition, but he put a lot of heart and personality into “Somebody That I Used to Know” and kept it interesting, even though we’ve all heard the song a gazillion times by now. “Today you became an artist in my eyes,” Minaj told him. “You have this quirky thing that is so odd that it’s right.” “I glorify weirdness,” responded Charlie. Minaj begged him not to change, referring to his oversized shiny taupe suit and blue sneakers.
Vincent Powell, Johnny Keyzer, JDA, Mathenee Treco, Marvin Calderon, David Leathers, Jr., Burnell Taylor and Adam Sanders also got yeses.
We also saw some noteworthy nos.
Matheas Fernandes didn’t make the cut. He was really out of his depth singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” with the Idol band. He said it was his first time singing with a live band and it showed. Minaj gave him advice to not make constant references to his shortness because “sometimes things can go from being inspiring to you wanting a pity party.” As a reader recently pointed out, this wasn’t Matheas’s first trip to the reality rodeo since he made the top 12 on Season 1 of The Glee Project.
Another no, not surprisingly, was Papa Peachez, who sang Lady Gaga’s “You and I” as if it was an F-you. Papa shrugged off the dismissal, saying, “I just don’t like singing other people’s songs.”
Much was made of the failure of Nicholas Mathis, who I didn’t recognize. He never connected on Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” staying just under the melody for the entire song. After a tearful exit, Nicholas said somewhat ungraciously that “I sing better than half the people in there.”
Micah Johnson’s leave-taking was classier. His version of “I Told You So” by Randy Travis was OK, but not special. Told of his fate, Micah said, “Of course I’m sad, but I’m still living, I’ve still got a job. There’s always next year.”
Others who got cut included Nate Tao, Gabe Brown and Sanni M’Mairura.
That’s it until next Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CTV when Hollywood Week starts for the girls.
And as an aside, I wrote at the top of the Feb. 7 recap that Lazaro Arbos was headed to Vegas, which is silly, since we won’t know that till next week. Let’s just say sometimes staying up late to write recaps makes you do goofy things.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainmen...n_idol_recap_judges_choose_a_male_top_28.html
You let us watch some of the remaining 43 male contestants sweat their solos, you let us see some of our favourites make the cut and then you tell us eight have to go next week. Sheesh.
Thursday’s episode was supposed to be about picking the 20 guys who would advance to the Las Vegas round of auditions, but the judges ended up with 28.
We’ll find out next Thursday which eight go home.
I’m hoping Charlie Askew, Nick Boddington, Cortez Shaw and Jimmy Smith make the cut, especially Charlie.
Unlike Nicki Minaj, I don’t want to eat him. I wouldn’t even say I’m obsessed with him. But he’s got style and audacity, and his solo was the one that stuck with me.
If he gets to the live rounds, let’s hope the Idol machine doesn’t beat the quirk out of him.
Things moved pretty briskly Thursday as we watched a small number of contestants sing, heard limited judges’ feedback, got a tiny taste of deliberations and then saw the yays or nays.
Producers were wise not to herd everybody into separate rooms this season to await their fates. Instead, they took the stage in groups of eight and were divided into two lines, with one line staying and one line going.
I won’t say it was painless, but it was pretty fast.
Here’s a look at some of the singers who made it through.
Paul Jolley, 22: You might remember Paul as the pleasant-voiced man who’d lost his grandfather not long before he auditioned in Baton Rouge. He was so nervous before his solo he told Ryan Seacrest he felt like everything was falling apart and he let those nerves show in front of the judges. “I want this so bad, I’ve worked so hard,” Paul said pleadingly. He needn’t have worried because his voice connected with Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away,” but Minaj gave him a lecture afterward. “You walked out so deflated and that really irritated me. It’s such a turn-off,” she said. “Just give us one minute of professionalism and focus so that you don’t break in the middle of your song.”
Lazaro Arbos, 21: We didn’t see a lot of Lazaro, but he sounded strong on Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.”
Curtis Finch Jr., 24: Curtis had the judges eating out of his hand with Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts”; me not so much. He has great technical ability, but some of what he did was show-offish and over-exaggerated: the whispered word in the beginning, the falsetto run, the “Hey” just before the chorus, most of the physical gestures, the almost crying face at the end. He’ll make top 20, but a little humility would be nice before then.
Devin Velez, 18: Devin wasn’t on my radar before Hollywood Week, but he has a lot of control for a young guy, demonstrated on a run-filled version of Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World.” “You were born to sing,” Keith Urban told him.
Gurpreet Singh Sarin, 22: I think we can move past fixating on Gurpreet’s turban. He had some game on “Georgia on My Mind,” particularly that ad lib at the end.
Cortez Shaw, 22: Cortez’s soulful tenor was in the pocket with “Sunny” and he sang it like he meant it, always a welcome touch.
Jimmy Smith, 25: I liked Jimmy’s voice a lot in Charlotte and I liked it just as much on this countrified version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” a nice combination of sweetness and strength.
Nick Boddington, 27: One word for Nick’s voice on the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals song “Stars”: beautiful.
Charlie Askew, 17: If I’m being objective, Charlie doesn’t have the best voice in the competition, but he put a lot of heart and personality into “Somebody That I Used to Know” and kept it interesting, even though we’ve all heard the song a gazillion times by now. “Today you became an artist in my eyes,” Minaj told him. “You have this quirky thing that is so odd that it’s right.” “I glorify weirdness,” responded Charlie. Minaj begged him not to change, referring to his oversized shiny taupe suit and blue sneakers.
Vincent Powell, Johnny Keyzer, JDA, Mathenee Treco, Marvin Calderon, David Leathers, Jr., Burnell Taylor and Adam Sanders also got yeses.
We also saw some noteworthy nos.
Matheas Fernandes didn’t make the cut. He was really out of his depth singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” with the Idol band. He said it was his first time singing with a live band and it showed. Minaj gave him advice to not make constant references to his shortness because “sometimes things can go from being inspiring to you wanting a pity party.” As a reader recently pointed out, this wasn’t Matheas’s first trip to the reality rodeo since he made the top 12 on Season 1 of The Glee Project.
Another no, not surprisingly, was Papa Peachez, who sang Lady Gaga’s “You and I” as if it was an F-you. Papa shrugged off the dismissal, saying, “I just don’t like singing other people’s songs.”
Much was made of the failure of Nicholas Mathis, who I didn’t recognize. He never connected on Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” staying just under the melody for the entire song. After a tearful exit, Nicholas said somewhat ungraciously that “I sing better than half the people in there.”
Micah Johnson’s leave-taking was classier. His version of “I Told You So” by Randy Travis was OK, but not special. Told of his fate, Micah said, “Of course I’m sad, but I’m still living, I’ve still got a job. There’s always next year.”
Others who got cut included Nate Tao, Gabe Brown and Sanni M’Mairura.
That’s it until next Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CTV when Hollywood Week starts for the girls.
And as an aside, I wrote at the top of the Feb. 7 recap that Lazaro Arbos was headed to Vegas, which is silly, since we won’t know that till next week. Let’s just say sometimes staying up late to write recaps makes you do goofy things.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainmen...n_idol_recap_judges_choose_a_male_top_28.html