The “Hollywood Week” round is usually when I hear contestants for the first time, but this season I am happy that I watched the auditions. I felt a whole lot more informed, and knew what I was looking for as American Idol basically highlighted people who were originally shown during the audition episodes.
I have to say that this “sudden death” round as Ryan Seacrest referred to it this week was really underwhelming. I am feeling discouraged, because I didn’t feel like any of the contestants lived up to their initial audition.
Brett Loewenstern was fantastic during his audition, but for me there was something lacking in his performance of The Beatles' “Let It Be.” It was good, but when you know he could be better and have more confidence, it just becomes kind of a letdown.
I was extremely surprised to learn about the elimination of Sarah Sellers. She was my personal favorite from the auditions, and I can’t believe that she’s already gone from the competition. And I really can’t stand that Idol didn’t show her “Hollywood Week” audition. If you’re going to eliminate someone who did fantastically during her initial audition, I want to know what went wrong with her follow-up audition.
This happened last season with Luke James. He had this great initial audition, and then we never heard from him again on the show. Not cool.
Moving on to contestants that I can’t believe survived the cut, two would be Chris Medina and James Durbin.
Hey Idol judges, Chris Medina isn’t that good of a singer. You can only let him ride out his sob story wave for so long. Just sayin’.
In my opinion, he wasn’t good enough to make it through to the next round. His rendition of Jason Mraz’s “You and I Both” was just not anywhere near as good as the original, nor was he up to par with most of the singers they showed. I hope the judges see the error of their ways before “Hollywood Week” is over.
During James Durbin’s initial audition, I thought he was excellent, but his performance during the first round of “Hollywood Week” was cringe-worthy. He went to hit a note in his upper register and sounded like he was screaming. I cannot believe the judges put him through.
Article comments
1 - Butch
Frankly I think you're being way too hard on Chris Medina. I agree his audition was just okay, but I thought he sounded much better in Hollywood Week. It's almost like you have a personal problem with his specific backstory. Yes, Steven Tyler asked how his wife was doing (Which I thought was very cool of him) and they recapped the story. But he sang well, and I thought much better than Rob Bolin for instance.
Speaking of backstories, is it more acceptable that they keep bringing up his irrelevant former relationship with Chelsee Oaks? At least Chris Medina's story stands purely as a human interest story and has something genuinely inspirational about it. The fact that Bolin and Oaks used to date is one of the bigger non-stories they've ever featured.
2 - Kirsten Coachman
Butch:
I am not purposely being hard on Chris Medina because of his back story. He was so-so during his initial audition, and I don't think his follow-up audition was up to par with the other contestants shown.
I believe the judges put him through during this first round of HWeek because of his back story. And that's not okay.
With Chelsee Oaks and Rob Bolin, I think Idol keeps bringing up the fact that they dated is because teenage girls love drama. Idol is definitely embracing a younger demographic this year. I think when either Chelsee or Rob has a huge performance it will separate the two. That is my hope anyways. But, as long as they're both doing well in the competition, it's going to be brought up. But, I don't think it's their back story that got them through this round.
3 - Jon
I have to agree about Chris Medina, his Hollywood audition was no better than Victoria Huggins'. Overall I'm disappointed about this seasons first round in Hollywood because there was no new talent showcased we hadn't already seen. No memorable moments unlike last year (Andrew Garcia, Crystal Bowersox, Lilly Scott, Didi's version of Kara's song). With so many contestants this year, each performance had to be cut very short.
Not many people seemed to remember Scott Dangerfield from 3 weeks ago, he had in my opinion the best audition but was no where to be seen in Hollywood.
Probably the best audition Thursday was from Hollie Cavanagh, the most improved we've seen after the city auditions. At 16, she's this years Katie Stevens.
A lot of Adam Lambert comparisons are being made with James Durbin but he's more comparable with Siobahn Magnus. Both not quite as good as Lambert, but there's still a lot of time to change my mind.
Props to Victoria Huggins and Stormi for leaving the competition with class.
4 - Kirsten Coachman
Jon:
Scott Dangerfield is another one of my early favorites. I am hoping they show him at some point during the "Hollywood Week" rounds.
I had to go back and watch Hollie Cavanagh from this week, because I forgot she was shown. But, I definitely agree she was the most improved from her audition.
I would almost give the title of "the next Katie Stevens" to Lauren Alaina, because I think she's peaking too soon like Katie did last year.
I also agree with your comparison of James Durbin to Siobhan Magnus from last season. Siobhan was one of my faves, albeit had a lot of issues during her run on the show vocally. I think Durbin is going to have to show some more versatility with his voice like Siobhan and Adam did, and not consistently try to push the larger notes.
I am so happy both Victoria and Stormi are gone. And they did leave with class, and that speaks volumes of them.
5 - Butch
Okay we're all entitled to our opinions. I actually do think Chris Medina was easily good enough to make it through first week of Hollywood. Whereas I did not think Rob Bolin did.
I agree with both you and Jon re: Durbin and Soibhan. But Durbin also reminds me of Josiah Lemming from a couple seasons ago in that he seems emotionally unstable and very likely unable to compete in a high pressure situation. I hope we don't see Durbin past next week, because he needs to get his emotions under control.
If there's an obvious case of a backstory overshadowing questionable talent, it's James Durbin (in my opinion).