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TYRIQUE HYDE   Tyrique Hyde participated in Love Island 10. The Wiki tells me he was an OG islander as he entered the villa on Day 1. He also made it all the way to the finale, finishing in third place with Ella. I watched a clip on YouTube to get an idea of his time on the show. It was the Casa Amor recoupling, and Ella returned with a different guy. Tyrique chose to remain loyal, so he was hurt to see Ella with a different guy. He seemed adamant that he and Ella were done and he was ready to move on. Ella didn't want them to be done and  explained she wanted more time with this new guy, but Tyrique said the door was closed. Well, he and Ella somehow reconnected, so I guess he took back what he said. Anyway, I browsed some Reddit threads to get an idea on fans' opinions about Tyrique. There are a lot of people that call him toxic, and he and Ella were a dysfunctional relationship. There are other fans who thought he was entertaining TV though. There's a humorous post about how he's both a hero and a villain, and one of the comments on the post quotes the lyrics to that Meredith Brooks song, saying "He’s your hell he’s your dream. He’s nothing in between you know you wouldn’t want it any other way." Either way, he made an impression on the public enough to make it to the finale of the show, but his time is up in this rankdown.   Saving Leo.

Down Country     Eeeekkkkk!!! Scotty McCreery is here and is sounding SO good at the Aware2Accept concert. You don’t want to miss this.    

I flove Kayko and he's one of my favorite contestants of all time. He impressed me from day 1 with his original song in Hawaii, and "Over You" at the top 20 was even better. An original song, with a sick guitar solo and an arrangement that could be heard on pop radio? On MY American Idol?! Anyway, he's definitely not the best singer in the world, but he has artistry/stage presence in spades (very welcome in a season where most contestants had glue on their shoes) and most importantly, knew how to entertain. "Somebody That I Used to Know" is my favorite performance of the season and while I realize "Teenage Dirtbag" technically wasn't very good, I still enjoyed it because I always found the fun/energy Kayko brought to the stage to be infectious.   I also enjoyed Mia, she's my favorite of this season's country trio. She was whatever for me in Hawaii, but the excellent song choices she made in the ensuing weeks quickly won me over. "No One Needs to Know" was definitely a misstep, but I don't think she deserved to be eliminated for it. But this season was so strong, so what can you do?

I think you’re onto something  

KAYKO POSITIVE: Songwriter, interesting musical instincts   NEGATIVE: Not as vocally strong as some of the other contestants   (For the performances, I refrained from mentioning his originals because those are difficult to critique.)   LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: TEENAGE DIRTBAG Where do I begin? First, there was the last-minute song choice, meaning there’s a high chance he didn’t get to rehearse it as much as he wanted. In addition, the arrangement wasn’t the greatest, but I don’t doubt that also was because of the switch-up. Lastly, the singing was underwhelming. Overall, this was a chaotic performance but not in a good way, and this might have been better with him staying at the piano and singing the song straight.   FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW Unlike “Teenage Dirtbag”, this performance was positively anarchic. The original song is more somber; however, I always felt it could be arranged in a stronger and more tumultuous for a lack of a better term. His singing wasn’t perfect by any means, especially towards the end where his bouncing around impacted his breath control. However, he brought the intensity and the feeling the song in that style required. It was the most entertaining performance of the evening and one that grew on me upon rewatching it.   RANT: First off, let me say I adore Shania Twain. Although country isn’t my favorite genre, I have come to appreciate and enjoy it more over the years, and Shania is one of my favorite country artists. Nonetheless, the worst thing she did was tacitly talk some sense in Kayko to the point where he abandoned the idea of doing “Oops!...I Did It Again” Bohemian Rhapsody style. This deprived us of what could have been a historic Idol moment! It would’ve easily supplanted “Harleys in Hawaii” as the largest mess of the season and could have formed a Mount Rushmore of the biggest Idol trainwrecks alongside “Crocodile Rock”, Sanjaya, and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)”! Instead, we received a regular underwhelming performance of “Teenage Dirtbag” that was most likely forgotten seconds upon its conclusion. Now my mind can only conjure up a reality in which such a grandiose spectacle exists. Alas! How could you do such a thing, Shania?! How could you?!!!   OVERALL: Kayko was certainly a polarizing one. I’ll admit I was amused at the hatred and criticism towards him during the season. While he wasn’t the strongest nor most technically sound vocalist, he also wasn’t as bad as he was made out to be. He has a strong belief in his songwriting to go along with his arrangements and energetic stage presence. This may not have borne the ripest fruit, but it wasn’t from the lack of effort. He would’ve been a lot better off had they allowed him to do more of his originals a la Alejandro because his shortcomings were really exposed once the themes kicked in. Having said all of that, the one thing I won’t call him is boring. He was one of the more intriguing contestants and while I can’t say I agreed with everything he did, he made things interesting.   -----   MIA MATTHEWS There are two ways this can end: either I make her cry or the other way around...   POSITIVE: Authentic country sound   NEGATIVE: Not the most natural stage performer   LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW I’ll start off by saying it was nice to see her pick an upbeat song and move around on stage after standing in one spot during her previous performances. Unfortunately, that’s the most positive thing I can say about this performance. Despite that, the vocals weren’t that bad up until the point where she forgot the lyrics. However, I thought she had a great recovery to where the flub wouldn’t have been noticeable had the judges not pointed it out. Also, it appeared she was in her head while dancing, as if she was mentally telling herself what to do next. She was out of her comfort zone and gave it the old college try, but this was her weakest effort of the season.   FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: THOSE MEMORIES OF YOU While country has been heavily infused with pop leanings over the past few decades, it’s good to hear a traditional ditty now and then. Taking on a song by one legend is hard enough on its own. To pick one by three, however, can be a truly humbling experience. Since it’s here, suffice to say I thought Mia was up to the challenge. It was a performance that people can close their eyes on and let the voice and melodies amiably penetrate their conscience. Furthermore, she took Gene’s advice and emoted more by adding little inflections here and there. Finally, the arrangement was minimalistic and didn’t overpower her voice. “Those Memories Of You” may not be the most dynamic performance, but it didn’t need to be. It was a simply pleasant vocal, and that was more than enough.   OVERALL: Mia was a flagrantly repulsive eyesore who made me want to blind myself with ammonia and orally eject my intestines every time she appeared on my screen. Moreover, outside of the one performance listed (only because I had to pick one and decided to be nice about it and the least favorite one), her voice nearly caused my eardrums to draft litigations for the aural stress they endured whenever she breathed into the mic. Hopefully, this vile creature never offends any of my senses ever again. Good riddance!         OK, OK, here's the real conclusion. Put the torches away!   OVERALL: Mia was a nice singer with a pure dulcet country sound. One of the things she did well was knowing her voice and not biting off more than she could chew with her song choices. Further, outside of her final performance, she was one of the more consistently improving contestants who didn’t have too many bad moments. The one criticism I have is as mentioned earlier she wasn't the most natural performer. With that said, it’s not the end of the world that she isn’t. All in all, she was a positive presence in the season who appears will continue to improve on her craft. I want to say this write-up was a long time coming, so I hope it was worth the wait.