Moments LIke This (These?)

American Idol 15 – Top 10

I’ve always been a huge fan of American Idol. Back in the first few seasons of the show I would blog about episodes and do a bit of a review of each performance. In “celebration” of Idol’s final season, I present a season 15, episode 16 review

Olivia – she has shown some flashes of potential. Sometimes I like the tone of her voice, but it has to be “on point” for her to sound good. If she’s just a little off pitch it doesn’t sound that good. This song she’s doing pretty well. Sometimes I think maybe the judges see something that doesn’t come through on TV. So I don’t know if she’s really as good as they think or if I just am not hearing everything. That was probably one of the best performances I’ve heard from her though.

Gianna – She can have a powerhouse voice. Sometimes it’s too much drama with her mom… Her song choice tonight is really good. Major pitch issues here and there. She stays on key a bit better when she can hide it in her vibrato. When she holds out a note sometimes it goes flat. JLo hits it right on. Kelly is really funny, BTW. Kelly definitely gave her the “She’s 15” treatment. I think she’s right too… I think the polish will come to Gianna with time.

Lee – Lee’s got a much more mature voice than his 15 years. He sounds quite a bit older. I like to see him playing the guitar. He was a little pitchy in that performance. Harry is about right. I think if he does perform a story song he will blow it away. Something slow and melodic. Cool that Chris Medina was there to see him sing.

Avalon – Has been very tomboy-ish and informal since she’s been on. But the past couple of performances she’s shown a little more femininity – without losing her street cred. She’s doing pretty well but the arrangement’s not the best. I could hear her on Sirius XM Hits 1 though. I like Keith’s thoughts on her staying loose. This song may have been a little less her style. Kelly says “Sorry I beat Justin!“ That’s the LOLs.

Dalton – should’ve been on the Disney Channel. He’s a performer. I like what he did with that song. Good energy. #electricbarnyard I totally agree with Harry. I think his is the performance of the night so far. I like how he referenced David Cook in his piece, doing what he does with arrangements.

Tristan – a little low-key to start. Needed to start higher, especially with no blockbuster key change late in the song. A little awkward, like she was rushed and unsure. I don’t know why she sang it so low… she did reasonably well with what she had to work with. I agree with JLo about feeling comfortable in her song choice. She did have to stumble through her words and it seemed like she had to “work.” So many singers make it seem effortless.

Overall, I think a lot of it may be nerves tonight. Maybe some people are over thinking or just concerned about wanting to do well… these are all good singers and we get so nit-picky, forgetting we’re dealing with 15-year-old kids in some cases. Someone’s going to just breakout and be amazing, I can just tell.

MacKenzie – probably my newest pick to win the whole thing*. His timing and harmony are terrific. Really nice tone and he draws you in to his performances. He’s always on pitch and always on beat. He is definitely one to watch. I could definitely hear him on Hits 1, right next to One Direction and Ed Sheeran.

*It is not always good to be selected as “the one I think is gonna win” because I often have the kiss of death. (My last pick to win it all was Emily Brooke… Yeah. But I still think she’s talented.)

La’Porsha – La’Porsha has always been a fan favorite. She’s got such a story… and such a voice. I don’t know how she does some that vocal gymnastics… I’m so glad she got this moment on stage because you never know how the voting will go.

I love when the show goes all off the rails like this… it’d be so fun to be a director right now trying to decide how to cast this to the audience.

RETWEET to show your excitement for @laporsharenae! #IdolTonight pic.twitter.com/fHmAl0yFv9

— American Idol (@AmericanIdol) February 25, 2016

Anyway, La’Porsha obviously tore it up, and it’s gonna be impossible to beat that ovation tonight. MacKenzie is my personal favorite but La’Porsha out sang him, no doubt.

Sonika – Poor Sonika. Having to follow La’Porsha like this. Just do it… She has a beautiful voice. Very Arianna Grande. What a song choice. Nice to see her bust out some serious personality in that performance. It’s almost like “Wait just a minute!” Didn’t think anyone could touch La’Porsha, but she excelled. Kelly is right I’ve never heard Sonika out of tune – ever. #dangerous

Trent – Trent reminds me of a guy I work with. Sounds just like him when he speaks. Makes goofy faces when he sings. (Trent, not Josh, the guy I work with. I’ve never actually seen him sing.) But he’s got such a strong voice. Nice falsetto. I’m glad Trent’s here. JLo is right. He’s not pitch perfect but he brings a performance. Kelly and Harry are cracking me up. #runbattle

I agree with Harry and Keith. I kinda wish La’Porsha had started the show… maybe it would’ve started off as strong as it finished. Lol.

It’s gonna be difficult to rank this week. Well, some of it will be easy to rank. The trick is to not solely evaluate based on “what I like” but to evaluate based on quality and potential future success.

La’Porsha

Sonika

MacKenzie

Dalton

Trent

Avalon

Olivia

Lee

Tristan

Gianna

Since it’s double elimination this week, the bottom two are in red.

By the way, an unbelievable performance by Kelly Clarkson this evening. That is what American Idol has been capable of over all these years and it was nice to be reminded of that tonight. There’s a blog post coming about my thoughts on American Idol, probably coming around the time of the finale in April. It will be missed precisely because of Moments Like This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuunqfdz388

Can we talk about that performance? Keith Urban is all of us watching #KellyOnIdol: https://t.co/tRDZFfABGC pic.twitter.com/CpWh7ruezy

— E! News (@enews) February 26, 2016