Oh wow!  I didn't know that Julia reads IDF!  Well, at least she has good taste.  🤭

That's sad but on the other hand, she might have enough support in the states that she does occupy in order to get into the finale at least.

The cowboy song for Will is lame, but maybe the audience will like it. The other song is more in his wheelhouse.    Triston isn’t going to be able to handle Life Is A Highway, I’m afraid. The other song doesn’t sound like something he’d ever sing, so I don’t know what to think about that one. 

bobbyhamrickmusic •     bobbyhamrickmusic Having a song travel from your guitar to your speakers might look like few inches but it’s a long journey of miracles that is never lost on me. I often think about moving to Nashville 20 years ago and living walking distance from where I still make music now… haven’t gone very far but wow does it feel like a long way. This song ‘hey rose’ was one of the first times I wrote on zoom in 2020 with @jeremybusseymusic and @brotherjbrunswick. I recorded a demo of it at my place that Frank Rogers shared with Scotty McReery. It didn’t make the record they were working on at the time and it sat for a while, but I always loved it. Fast forward a few years and they had a little extra time on a session for one more song. Frank Rogers, @d_e_r_e_k_w_e_l_l_s and @aaroneshuis produced a recording of this that I love and got to play acoustic guitar on, along with three other songs on this record: Lonely, And Counting, and Little More Gone, written in various combinations with Scotty, Frank, @brentandersonmusic, @jeremybusseymusic @dgfunkyfriar and Monty Criswell. I love writing songs but have often wondered what or who I’m writing them for … usually it’s just for me, but thankfully today it was for @scottymccreery. Thanks again.

Okay now that I listened to the songs that I didn't know, here are my final thoughts from best set to worst set IMO:   1. Abi: Part Of Your World is probably the most beloved Disney song ever. If she kills this, it will do wonders for her, she has the perfect voice for it and the fact ABC trusted her with it means they probably believe she can nail it since it's never been done on ABC Idol before. I really love The Chain for her because I think with 2 performances, the smartest strategy is to mix up tempos and unlike Fall Out Boy or Coldplay, minivan and the Idol demographic will have an easy time digesting and get into this. It also hasn't been overdone on Idol (I think Megan last season was the first one to sing it in 21 seasons? and it was on Hawaii where the production value and acoustics seriously affects the quality of the performances) and this is a tune that deserves to have its moment on every singing competiton so I hope Abi can deliver the quissential Idol version of the song.  2. Jack: I just listened to the Cars song and it's actually pretty soulful. He should do well with it, I think it will fit him like a glove. It has a bluesy/classic sound to it that he should be able to execute well. Space Oddity I don't know how to feel about. Obviously it goes without saying that it's a gorgeous song but covering David Bowie is such a hard task. It could go really well or really meh. If he nails, it will make him look really strong. My guess is that he will probably do an acoustic guitar version like Lucy Sugerman from The Voice Australia, which I find to be very pretty. Not a bad set at all.  3. Will: The Toy Story 4 song is very boring. It doesn't go anywhere melodically or vocally but it has a strong classic country feel to it that should do well with voters and allow him to have a solid performance. I find the melody of Born To Be Wild to be a a bit annoying but this is obviously a classic that everybody knows and it's a nice change of tempo for him. I think he should have an easy time with the song because although it isn't pure country, it's still has that wild west/southern feel to it that fits him very well. It should make for a cool performance.  4. Emmy: Carried Me With You is a cute and pretty song and it isn't super rangey so it's a good fit for her voice. It will be a standard performance for her. The Climb is a really weird choice tho. She doesn't have the range for it so I'm assuming she's doing a soft version of it and keeping it small, which could make it for a nice version of the song. I don't see none of those being moments for her tho. And unless her fan base is really big and she was a shoe-in for finale before this round, I don't think this will push her past forward the finish line.  5. Triston: If he makes finale with this set, he's probably winning because this is a really odd combination of songs. Life is a Highway is not that surprising. But the song is very cheesy and it's not the type of upbeat tune where he will be able to do his Elvis moves and distract everyone else from his vocal performance. it's a Rascal Flatts song so it still makes some sense for him, although I don't think it's the best pick for his voice at all because the key is quite high. Almost There has everything to be a trainwreck. It's a pure jazz song so he will either not do justice to it or try to countri-fy it like he did with "Easy On Me" which would be really bad. The song content is very heart-warming tho. It's all about coming from a tough background and having the will to not let that define you and keep you from following your dreams and I bet his pre performance package will be him with his mom talking about their hardships in life so that could be enough to make up for any flaws with his performances.   Overall, the songchoices for this theme are much better than the ones from last season.