ScarletDevilCCX

1 minute ago, *Wallace said:

I thought Jayna killed it on both of her performances and Roman killed it last night. Tonight was a bit of a misstep but he was still better than some. Bur yeah, no matter what they did they were going regardless.  

I'm not so sure. Jayna killed it tonight, but she was weak enough last week that I didn't vote for her. Roman, on the other hand, I thought it was a mistake that he survived last night and I was glad to see him gone tonight. I'm not even a gospel fan but him going away from the gospel has been a huge mistake. (He wasn't even bad tonight; he just wasn't good enough; tonight was so strong.)

2 minutes ago, kenboy1 said:

I can’t with Reddit…they worship Kayko who is so unspectacular and hate Emmy that actually has a captivating voice..

Oh? I'm on Reddit a lot but I haven't actually seen any of the subs that talk about Idol, surprisingly.

I hear that they're supposedly a largely young-skewing site, though, so them loving Kayko would make sense. Every time he takes the stage I'm like "I would've loved this as a teenager!"

1 minute ago, Carrie_On said:

Did they not do the Mandisa tribute?

I thought they said that was next week.

1. McKenna Faith Breinholt - "cardigan" (Taylor Swift)
2. Mia Matthews - "Over You" (Miranda Lambert)
3. Kaibrienne - "Wrecking Ball" (Miley Cyrus)
4. Jack Blocker - "Blinding Lights" (The Weeknd)
5. Julia Gagnon - "Something in the Orange" (Zach Bryan)
6. Emmy Russell - "Lose You to Love Me" (Selena Gomez)
7. Jayna Elise - "Diamonds" (Rihanna)
8. Will Moseley - "Starting Over" (Chris Stapleton)
9. Triston Harper - "Beautiful Crazy" (Luke Combs)
10. KAYKO - "Somebody That I Used to Know" (Gotye & Kimbra)
11. Roman Collins - "Roar" (Katy Perry)
12. Abi Carter - "All Too Well" (Taylor Swift)

Definitely very tight in the middle, and leaning upwards. Jack was about as close to Triston as he was to KB, and Triston was about as close to KB as he was to Kayko.

Tonight's mentor is Meghan Trainor. Abi leads off with a Taylor Swift song--didn't catch which one because the cat was pestering me for food but it wasn't one I was familiar with. It wasn't her best work, and even Luke agrees. 64. Also, I had to start this from my phone because my computer randomly decided to require a reboot. Katy picks me up; it's called "All Too Well". Ryan's in a Taylor Swift Eras Tour T-shirt. Will Moseley is up second, singing Chris Stapleton's "Starting Over", and I'm giving it an 84 but I can't say much more because I started zoning out after I'd decided I liked it.

Fire-Crotch again. Jayna was a Kidz Bop Kid! At the time that they covered "All About That Bass", no less. She's singing Rihanna's "Diamonds" (I've made it onto the computer now), and while I'm not a fan of her hairstyle, her singing was a solid 85. ...Oh. Last year in Hollywood, she met Kaya, the contestant who was best friends with Season 19's late runner-up Willie Spence. This was his signature song on Idol.

Mia's singing Miranda Lambert's "Over You". Meghan's been touring with Kelsea Ballerini and FaceTimes her to talk to Mia. ...Okay the top of her dress legitimately just looks like a bra. You cannot tell me that that isn't just a bra with a skirt attached to it. Snark about her wardrobe aside, that was magnificent. 97. How are these "two yeses one no" contestants running circles around the competition?

Next week, Shania Twain will be the mentor and both Just Sam and Scotty McCreery will be performing. Up next is Roman Collins and he's singing Katy Perry's "Roar". ...So you're saying you don't want to be in this competition any longer? ...Nope. It sounded bad in the mentor session, but his reimagining actually kind of worked on stage. Still not great, but 67 is okay. The judges loved it, and Katy asks to try out that version on her next tour (also, her religious parents are big Roman fans). Jack Blocker's up next and he's doing The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights". I'm impressed. He's reigned in the overemoting (still very expressive and always will be), and he recognized that he wouldn't be able to do a straight cover and instead adapted it to fit his style. Katy agrees, praising his brain, his strategy, and comparing him to Mumford and Sons. 88.

Emmy Russell is dipping out of her country wheelhouse, singing Selena Gomez's "Lose You To Love Me". 87 86, but again, only half paying attention because I realized that I still didn't have the numbers down for people I didn't vote for last night and Jayna's probably getting my vote tonight. Triston's singing Luke Combs's "Beautiful Crazy" and dedicating it to his girlfriend Paris; Meghan asks him to FaceTime her so she could meet her. Meghan says Triston is "50 years old in the best way". It's not his best performance, but that's because he's just that good. 82. Lionel says "Now we know you're actually human", seeing him blush when his girlfriend came on.

Julia's singing "Something In the Orange", no idea the artist. Loving tonight's wardrobe choice, and the song starts off slow but whoa does she have some power notes. 87 and the one-point adjustment to Emmy's score to give nobody the same score; man these scores are falling into a tight range tonight.

Before continuing the current contestants, we have "Hell Together" from Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta. He has some facial hair, but otherwise doesn't look that different than he did at 16. Oh, he came out as gay a couple years ago! And when he did, he stepped away from the church, and he thought he'd be estranged from his mother but shortly after, she stepped away too, and said that if he was going to hell, then they'd all go to hell together, and that inspired the song. Next, Kaibrienne is singing "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. From one Utahan to another. ...KB's back! ...Well, she needs to lean in to those big notes a bit more; she's holding back too much. Or is she just not strong enough? I am noting some of the same quibbles I had about her last night wait no here she goes. 93.

Meghan will be back in two weeks for the finale. McKenna was still recovering during the mentor session so they did their mentor session virtually. She's singing Taylor Swift's "Cardigan", another one I'm not familiar with. Have I lost touch? ...okay, yeah, it's obviously a more recent song because it's actually "cardigan". Can't believe Taylor's pandering to zoomers. Well, McKenna seems to have recovered; this is a 99. And now Ryan's in a cardigan. ...We're coming down to the final contestant of the night, and I've only not voted for two people.

Kayko is singing "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra. He wants to go rock on a pop night after intentionally avoiding rock on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night--zig when they zag. And again, he's everything that teenage me listened to. This is a much harder version of this song... Technically speaking, it's one of the weaker performances of the night. 70. But he's got my vote. Sorry, Abi, I've loved you up until now, but you had an off-night on one of the best nights ever.

Two people going home. First to be safe is Abi. Okay, fair. McKenna is also safe, as is Will. Kayko is fourth to be safe and fifth is Kaibrienne. Mia Matthews is sixth--that's all three of the true standouts. Jack Blocker is seventh, and eighth is Emmy. Ninth is Triston. And as the rest of IDF was predicting, Julia's the last one safe; Jayna and Roman go home. I'm a little disappointed that Jayna's going home, but it's a strong field, and it was definitely Roman's time to leave.

Technically speaking, that was one of the weakest performances of the night.

But I loved it. As someone who grew up on bands like Simple Plan, Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, and blink-182, Kayko rarely fails to invoke feelings of nostalgia in me.

McKenna's back! New best of the night.

Just now, Anythingcanhappen said:

Jack ain’t going anywhere lol. He’s the Phillip Phillips of the season

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed. Not the best pure vocalist but he knows how to choose songs that play to his strengths.

...Actually that's not entirely true; Phil was kind of hit-or-miss on song choice but he somehow made it work well enough to get the win and he's made a great winner singing songs that are perfectly suited to his voice.

My rankings right now:

1. Mia

2. Kaibrienne

3-8. yes

9. Roman

10. Abi

Katy just made a really good critique! Jack's not the best pure vocalist, but he's got the strategy to overcome it. Wouldn't be the first time a season with a repeated digit was won by such a contestant.

When I heard Roman's song choice, I thought "thank you for self-eliminating".

It still wasn't outstanding, but it vastly exceeded my expectations!

Guessed correctly! Can't be disappointed with this--McKenna was second-worst for me tonight but I'm giving her benefit of the doubt due to the sickness and while Kayko was the next worst, I like him too much when he's doing his own songs.

Angry Orchard Green Apple. We start off with Luke doing John Mellencamp's "Small Town", and Ryan shows a video of Luke falling on his ass at his recent Vancouver concert. Tonight's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night, with guest mentor Gene Simmons. We've still got the old numbers, which makes me sad because I erased my notes on them. Triston's up first doing "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley, and he's ditching the guitar and cowboy hat. It's a bit out of his lane, but still good; 83. Julia's up second, doing Whitney Houston's "Run To You" and dedicating it to her fiance. ...I wonder what happened to her; she's wearing a sleeveless dress and it looks like there's a weird indentation on her right shoulder. Some sort of scar? Well, she sounded beautiful. 94 and a recommendation to avoid sleeveless dresses in the future. Roman Collins and Kaibrienne will be up after the break, the former doing Marvin Gaye, but before the break, Ryan gives a tribute to Season 5 ninth-place finisher Mandisa, who recently passed away. I'm doing math on that birth year but I guess if her birthday's late in the calendar year, it checks out.

Roman's singing "You're All I Need to Get By", Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Strong in the verses, but he's not belty enough for the chorus. Somehow. Isn't he supposed to be a gospel singer? 72. Judges are impressed, though; standing ovation. Kaibrienne's doing a Joan Jett and the Blackhearts song, "I Hate Myself For Loving You". The fact that I don't have to wait for her to start singing to take note of her number is probably a good sign, but then again, a few episodes ago I did that with Kayko and it ended up being his worst performance. And this is...a kind of middling performance? Maybe? It took a while for them to actually put her number up there to confirm that, yes, I had it right. ...She sure looks like a star, but that's only a 63 for me. So I guess it's the same story as Kayko then--I can't in good conscience vote for her this week, but I hope she gets through anyway because she's still. Jayna Elise will be doing another Whitney song after the break but first Lionel and Ryan will be announcing this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. I don't even know who's nominated, but I know that we've reached the point where basically any nineties artist has been around long enough to be eligible. It makes me feel old. I also know that a lot of times, the same artist will get inducted multiple times, once as a solo artist and once as part of a group, and that sometimes the induction as a solo artist is likely largely motivated by their membership in that group. Don't know if they've ever counted an artist's band work towards their legacy as a solo artist when the band themselves aren't in,

A Tribe Called Quest, Cher, Foreigner, Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Mary J Blige, Peter Frampton, and Ozzy Osbourne. And special awards for Jimmy Buffett, among others. Jayna was between two songs, and we could've had "Best of You" by the Foo Fighters (a 2023 inductee IIRC) but instead it's the (baker's?) dozenth rendition of "I Have Nothing". Shame; Jayna was another one that I've loved but this is far from the best IHN we've heard on Idol. 58. ...I miscounted. I wasn't sure if it was the 12th or 13th, but it was actually the 14th. After the break, Mia Matthews does a song by Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt (both inductees), and then Kayko does a song by 2019 inductees Radiohead...wait, Radiohead's been in for that long already?

Mia's song is "Those Memories of You", Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris. Wow. 89. She's killing it up there. Kayko's singing "High and Dry", and he notes that it's his first time on Idol doing a cover. ...did he take stage presence "tips" from Jack? Even without the scrunching, though, this is not his best work. 43. The judges don't agree with me. After the break, Emmy Russell does a Bonnie Raitt song, and we get a third Whitney song, the former WNTS Idol Death Song, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", from...Jordan Anthony?

David Archuleta will be on tomorrow's show. Surprisingly, Emmy says she knows all of Gene's songs, saying her brother is a huge fan. Emmy's singing "I Can't Make You Love Me". ...Not bad, but not as good as Mia, her most direct competition. 78. Katy says "you're not competing against any of those people (motioning to the other contestants), you're competing against yourself, and tonight you won." A nice sentiment, but not true. Now for Jordan...what was this? He...definitely made it his own, I'll say that. 40 30 for forgettable. Katy calls it "the best performance you've given us". No. Jordan's sung this before in high school. McKenna Faith Breinholt will be up after the break, singing a Chicago song...hm, I seem to remember in a previous season's night with this theme, the folks at WNTS threw a ton of shade at the Hall for Chicago's absence. They'll be happy about this, I reckon.

McKenna's singing "Hard to Say I'm Sorry". She's getting the lighting department's help. ...I don't think she did well. There were a lot of things that sounded like outright mistakes. Well, they do say that she was under the weather this past week, to the point of not being able to make it to the mentoring session. Maybe give her the benefit of the doubt? Well, the ratings don't give any leeway (shout-outs to George Huff), so it'll be a 34 from me--and a big deduction to Jordan because he was still worse (I was initially going to put McKenna higher, ahead of Kayko as well, but I just couldn't do it.)

One month from now, at the finale, Jon Bon Jovi will be the mentor and the theme for one of the rounds. Jack Blocker is doing a Bob Dylan song...seems appropriate; Bob Dylan has often been criticized as not actually being the strongest vocalist but able to make up for it with his songwriting ability. "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" is the song choice, and...wait, was this the secret? 88! Mom says that Dylan made strange faces while singing, too...and is also emotional because she was never much of a Dylan fan but my late father was. Nya's doing an Aretha cover, and Will Moseley is bringing on the "Night Moves".

Nya's singing "I Say A Little Prayer". She has her moments, but it's a little bland at points. Though based on what I've already given out tonight...65. She beat out Kaibrienne. It was far from perfect, but it was passable. Which won't be enough to keep her in. Ryan calls Bob Seager "Class of 2024"...I thought the Class of 2024 were the ones introduced earlier in the show! Well, Will gets an 86 from me. Katy, of course, calls it the best performance she's heard from him. Abi will be closing out the night with an Elton John anthem. (Please not DLtSGDoM).

It's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"! One that hasn't been performed on Idol in 20 years, and the lone performance was an absolute bomb. ...Beautiful. 96. The best for last yet again. We haven't even gone to break yet and it's under 20 seconds...15...10...according to the app, the voting closed just as we went to break.

First to be safe in no particular order is Roman Collins. He was one of the ones thought to be in danger, so that's bad for everyone else. Second is Mia and third is Triston. Fourth is Julia, fifth Jack--after the first one, it's been four straight that I voted for. Jayna is sixth, McKenna seventh, Kaibrienne eighth--all good. Emmy was ninth, and Abi tenth, and Will eleventh--everyone I voted for made it, and the prediction's on track...and the prediction is good, it's Kayko last in!

Just now, CarmenSandiego said:

I think she’ll be safe.

Oh, me too. But seeing the time remaining count down before we'd even hit the break was scary.

Abi was beautiful. Hopefully she doesn't get screwed over by the pimp spot, because the voting closed before the commercial break started.

2 minutes ago, QueenKalie said:

I am guessing it's down to 2 of these 3. Jordan, Roman, and Nya. 

Sounds about right. I'll say Jordan for being the legitimate worst, and Nya for being a judges' save who was kind of mediocre.

Nya was passable, but not outstanding. Which given that she was a judges' save means she's probably gone.

Katy obviously has memory issues, because every performance she hears is the best performance that that contestant has ever given.

I've long said that there's a ceiling on how high I can rate a Jack Blocker performance because he's limited vocally, even though after some iffy Hollywood rounds he's been hitting that ceiling consistently.

He broke through that ceiling. That was great. I really didn't think he should've made the Top 24 but he's improving every week!

2 minutes ago, BlindMelon said:

Is KT drunk? LOL she heard something that no one else did...he was a lot better even last week.

Disagree, but only because last week was outright bad. Tonight's was utterly forgettable.

Well that's interesting. Wonder what she's singing.

A nice sentiment, Katy, but it's not true. Emmy is definitely competing with the other contestants. And her most direct opponent, Mia, beat her. (Emmy was still plenty good though).

2 minutes ago, Gustavo527 said:

Tired of this song but it was still a really good performance

We all are. WNTS finally updated with Seasons 19-21, and this is the 14th performance of I Have Nothing post-Hollywood Round--all solos. No other song has been done as a solo more than 8 times (I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing has 9 rated performances but one was a duet).

Ah, shit, I completely forgot that there was another show tonight! I was honestly considering going to sleep early, but then at about ten past I suddenly remembered that it wasn't just 9-11 where I had a show. Quintavious was up first and was not safe, and then McKenna Faith Breinholt was up second and was safe; I missed both performances. I'll go back and watch them at 11--though I threatened to go right back upstairs and watch the show from the start on DVR if my mother didn't shut up about the ex-president's trial. Like I understand, but it's not good for your blood pressure to pay too much attention to it.

Jordan Anthony is up third, and he's not safe. He sings "Attention" by Charlie Puth. 17. He really wasn't good. Jack Blocker is up fourth and he makes it through. He's singing Post Malone's "Feeling Whitney". There's a hard cap on how highly I can rate any of his performances because he's not nearly as vocally talented as most of the other contestants, but he once again hits pretty high on the range of possibilities, earning a 67. And a third person is called forward without a commercial break! Kennedy Reid. She's not safe. She sings "Somethin' Bad" by Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. I don't think this is in her wheelhouse. 46. We're not going great.

Dumbass Whiskey's cinnamon whiskey, "Fire-Crotch". Up sixth is Jennifer Jeffries. I think we're not voting tonight; they haven't been showing numbers. Another one who didn't make it. I haven't really had any qualms with any of these! Jack probably wouldn't have been my choice to be safe, but he was decent enough. Jennifer's singing Kodaline's "All I Want". Like Jack, I can't see myself ever giving Jennifer a 5-star rating. 68. Next is Ajii, and he's also not in the Top 14 yet. First one I think I disagree with, but I did vote for 12 contestants last night and I think he was one of the more borderline ones. He sings "Call Out My Name" by the Weeknd. Again, not as good as his performance in Hawaii. 69. We've got a lot of "just okay" right now. Oh, wait, I'm thinking he might've been one I didn't vote for! Yeah, double-checked. We're seven contestants in and only 2 have been safe, but 6 of the 8 that I didn't vote for are among these first seven.

Mia Matthews is up eighth, and she's so nervous that she tries to take the stage before learning if she's safe. She is. She sings "Burning House" by Cam. It's pretty good. I'll give it a 79. Kayko is up next, and apparently he made a post where he called Ryan "Dad". "Son, you're in the top 14". An original, of course, called "What If?" And I'm reminded why I loved him so much--because he can be for Gen Alpha and the tail end of Gen Z what Simple Plan and Linkin Park were for millenials like me. 90.

And already I've moved on to my soft drink, a lone can of Starry that's probably been sitting in the fridge for at least a month past when the penultimate can of the pack was taken. Nya was the last one on my voting list, so I'm not to disappointed by her failure to make it into the Top 14 without the judges' help. She sings "Water" by Tyla (who?), and once again, she's right in the "she deserves another week but I wouldn't be too disappointed if she left" zone at 75. Ryan says he played that song a few times on KIIS-FM, so that explains why I haven't heard of it--I haven't listened to the radio much at all since getting my new car on Labor Day 2022 (I was told it had in-built SiriusXM, but I got an error message trying to transfer it over and I'm famously bad at following up when things aren't easy) and even when I do, it's usually PopRocks and when a song I don't like comes up the first back-up is 90s on 9 and the second is Pop2K so a non-rock song, I wouldn't know it. Will Moseley is into the Top 14 and he performs his original "Gone for Good". 92? I think? I don't know; the whiskey's starting to hit me. Ryan shouts out a member of the crew named Shaka and brings him out on stage.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night next week, with special guest mentor Gene Simmons. Abi Carter is next to learn her fate, and of course, she's in the Top 14--I started writing that before Ryan even said it. She sings "My Mind" by Yebba (again, who?) 99. She's kind of reminding me of Idina Menzel up there. Another Platinum Ticket winner, Odell Bunton Jr., is the next to learn his fate, and he is not safe yet but he'll probably earn a wild card. He sings "Wait on You" by an absolute phone book's worth of artists. 97, Very impressive. He's got the gospel in him! Luke forgets what era we're in and expresses concern that the gospel singers are splitting votes.

Kaibrienne is up next and she's looking amazing. And she's safe. She sings "Zombie" by the Cranberries. Not an easy song. Katy's looking oddly serious. 100. She nailed it. Mackenzie Sol is up next and he's not safe; he sings "False Alarms" by Lawrence featuring Jon Bellion. ...I like it? I like it! 87. And we're going right into another result. Emmy Russell, representing the country aesthetic in ripped jeans and barefoot. She's into the Top 14 and singing her original "skinny", which she sang at her audition. Dang, I thought that downgrading Abi from 100 to 99 was going to come in handy when Kaibrienne came out and killed it on Zombie, but this puts that to shame. 105! ...My typing is barely holding on. It's already bad enough with my keyboard frequently dropping o's, but I'm definitely looped right now.

Julia is up next, and Ryan confirms what I thought that she was actually singing a coronation song last night, Fantasia's "I Believe". Tonight she sings "Need A Favor" by Jelly Roll. Um...74 I guess. I don't even know if she was safe. Jayna Elise isn't safe yet, and sings Paramore's "All I Wanted". ...Oops. Somehow Emmy wasn't the best either. 109. The last two will be Roman Collins and Triston Harper, and obviously it'll be Triston who'll be safe but we need another commercial break.

Yep, Triston is safe. No surprises there. He sings Cody Johnson's "'Til You Can't". 102. Yeah my curve's all freaked up. Roman's turn, singing for the judges' decision. James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World", and it's just kind of blah...no, it's not even that. 42. But apparently Katy's just had a wardrobe malfunction.

Time for the judges' picks. Jayna is the first to be named safe, which is good. Jordan is next, which is not. Nya is third, which is acceptable. And Roman is fourth, which is bad again.

Quintavious sang Mariah Carey's "Make It Happen", and I'm even more angry about Jordan and Roman making it through because Quintavious was good! 84. McKenna's turn, and she sang her birth parents' song, "Tumbleweed". ...74. It wasn't bad, but not special.

Amazing. Certainly not the contestant you'd expect to be the first to perform MCR on the show, but I already knew that song was actually really poignant and she did it justice.

Her voice was so beautiful that I voted for her in spite of giving her a low performance rating for all the pauses.