Crisis

JAYNA ELISE

POSITIVE:

Strong voice, great stage presence

NEGATIVE:

Struggled with song choices at the end

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: I HAVE NOTHING

I will start off by saying Jayna never gave a bad performance, IMO. Nonetheless, this ranks at the bottom not because of the hackneyed and overdone song choice, but because it was her least interesting albeit well done vocal. With that said, this may be unpopular, but I don’t think “Best Of You” was a great choice either. Songs like “Everlong”, “Learn To Fly”, or “The Pretender” would have been better choices if she wanted to sing something from the Foo Fighters. As for this one, there isn’t much to say.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: ALL I WANTED

This one was hard because I wrestled between two performances for this spot. They were “My All” and “All I Wanted”. While the former was the better performance, the latter was the stronger vocal. In this case, the vocal won out although I was tempted to cop out and declare a tie.  To be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan of this at first; however, it grew one me the more I rewatched it. The way her voice simmered before it boiled over and splashed all over the room was a sight to behold. She left nothing to chance and sang knowing her survival depended on it, and her effort was rewarded with a coveted WC spot.

OVERALL:

So, Jayna was someone who auditioned in the previous season but fell short of the voting rounds. Clearly, her luck was better this time around. Also, it was cute to learn she was a part of Kidz Bop.  She was a dynamic vocalist who had this incredible magnetism while on stage. The first thing that came to mind while watching “Confident” was she reminded me of a vocally stronger Katyrah Love. Also, an argument can be made for her being the most stylish contestant regarding looks and outfits. Unfortunately, she at times came across as an old school contestant, though not as much as others (including one who will come up soon). In addition, her song choices weren’t the most inspiring, especially after the WC round (though I loved the sentiment and reason behind “Diamonds”). Having said that, she was an interesting contestant who had her moments, and someone who I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of.

-----

ROMAN COLLINS

POSITIVE:

Strong voice, clear musical identity

NEGATIVE:

Overdid it on stage a lot

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: ROAR

It was between this and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” for my least favorite Roman performance. In the end, “Roar” won, or in this case, lost out. It didn’t start off too poorly; the parts when he was at the piano were nice. However, the performance nosedived once he left the piano. The runs and the improvising at the end didn’t work. In addition, the gospel-like arrangement did him no favors. It’s a shame because the performance had potential to be better than it was. With that said, one of the highlights was Quintavious bouncing up and down and cheering him (Roman) on from the audience.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: NEVER WOULD HAVE MADE IT

What is there to say other than this was Roman doing what he does best. It was a passionate rendition of a beloved gospel number. Seeing that it’s normal in gospel music to oversing and bounce around on stage for a lack of a better term, it wasn’t as bothersome as some of the other performances. Heck, it was one of his least chaotic performances in addition to being his best overall vocal. Lastly, him giving this performance after his pre-performance video of his father preaching about him overcoming a diabetic coma at three years old made a strong connection when it’s all said and done.

OVERALL:

Roman was my least favorite of the three gospel singers. He was Joshua Ledet 2.0 except not as strong vocally and even more dramatic on stage. There were numerous times where I rolled my eyes and wished he just sang a song straight. Having said that, he was unapologetic about who he was and heeded Jelly Roll’s advice of being himself, and that’s something I can respect. He also appeared to be supportive of his fellow contestants; one of my favorite moments was him vibing and singing along during Triston’s performance after the latter was voted into the Top 10. Lastly, his duet with CeCe Winans during the finale was one of my favorite performances that evening. Although I wasn’t all that high on him, he is immensely talented and has the potential to have a bright future.

14 hours ago, Hsamid said:

Ajii - one of my favourites in terms of tone and song selection. I really liked his soul/rock fusion vibe he had going on. Wish he made it further, if only to see what else he would have sang.

 

Jennifer - probably the most unique (and polarizing) tone of the season. J

Ithink I'm one of the few on here who really enjoyed it. But she was  one of the weaker vocalists on a technical level, so I wasn't too upset to see her leave.

 

Makenzie - if you're going to oversing, at the very least, execute it. My problem is it sounded like a mess most of the time. Unlike others you could argue as oversingers (quintavious, Roman) who at least executed on a technical level. Shame cause his tone is really nice.

 

Jordan - yeah I don't know. Honestly I think he was picking songs too big for him. It's unfortunate because those were songs he could probably sing when he was younger and his voice was more underdeveloped. (Based on his Voice performances)

 

 

Nya - I'm actually surprised she made it as far as she did. Her arrangements of some overdone songs were a bit hit and miss for me. But I appreciated that she at least made them interesting. I kinda lost interest in her for that reason though. She auditioned with a fairly modern rnb song and I thought that was the route she'd take. Oh well.

 

 

Odell - definitely should have advanced. Was one of the best singers in the competition, but we all know the best singers rarely make it far and that there's more to it than pure vocals. I will say, out of the 3 gospel singers he didn't really stand out as much as the comp progressed. Didn't have the stage presence and passion of Roman, nor the vocal range of Quintavious. That said, if it was up to me, all 3 would have made it further than they ended up going.

Pretty much echo the sentiments about Ajii.

Not much disagreement about Jennifer. Her tone grew on me some after not being much of a fan of it.

Can't say I disagree about Mackenzie.

I can see Jordan picking songs that were too big for him. He may have been better off with different songs.

Fair enough about Nya. She seems to be polarizing, though not as much as others (some who are coming up soon).

Fair enough about Odell. He had one of the best voices but maybe lacked other qualities. Still would've liked to see more from him.

3 hours ago, Elliott said:

There was also a fair amount of viewers that were adamantly anti-Crystal after the whole Top 20 performance episode switch. People felt the show was catering to her when they wouldn’t for other contestants. (Which we all know isn’t true since all of the contestants had to agree to it, and they did. ) That was the first season Idol started to use social media (albeit minuscule) and I was surprised by how anti-Crystal certain areas of the internet were.

While Crystal had her faults, this is one of the weakest reasons to dislike her. She was ill to the point of being hospitalized. What else were they supposed to do? Although if it were to happen in the ABC seasons, they probably would've had her perform from her room a la Fritz and Noah from their hotel rooms when they had COVID.

4 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

nya was the first cut from lives shows that i really felt sad about. i think she def deserved to go further than she did. georgia on my mind and say a little prayer were my favs from her. but her audition was prob her best songchoice all season (love me some willow smith)! 

 

jordan is a rare case of a voice maturing not turning out for the best. his tone back when he was an early teen on the voice aus was gorgeous but it lost all its clarity and resonance now that he went thru puberty. 

I wouldn't have minded if she went further, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. She gave some solid performances during her time on the show at least. I've read so much about her audition, so I watched it and now understand why it's highly regarded.

I watched Jordan's audition and a couple of performances from his time on TV Australia and came away with the same opinion. His voice definitely took a turn for the worst after hitting puberty. While he still has a nice voice, he sounded way better then than he does now.

4 hours ago, Weedy_Speedy said:

Jordan - I actually really liked his voice, and wish I liked his performances more than I did. Attention was his best in my opinion, but When the Party's Over was good too. I think he lost out mainly because this season was honestly stacked, and like you mentioned, he also dealt with confidence issues. Gene Simmons tried to help him with the latter, but there's only so much you can do with one celebrity mentor session. The Whitney song choice was such a bad idea that if I didn't know better, I'd think it was sabotage on the part of producers--but in that case, why wildcard him to begin with? So, I think it was Jordan's idea and it just didn't pan out.

 

Nya - Thank you! Literally the first word I thought of when I watched her was cabaret--and if that's not a slam these days, then it should be because it creates a disconnect with the audience. She also chose songs like she was competing on AI 20 years ago. Water was her best, and I guess she deserved to advance based on that, but she absolutely left at the correct time. Good broadway performer, not an American Idol.

One of the best moments was Gene Simmons telling him to leave and come back with more confidence after he walked into the mentoring session with his head down. It's not something that can improve overnight, so it wasn't going to get better for him on the show. If the Whitney song was his idea, it may have been benefited him if someone steered him away from the song and pick something else.

I enjoy some cabaret now and then, but yeah I can't argue with it not being fitting for this audience. Still, it was solid and enjoyable cabaret to say the least.

3 hours ago, CarmenSandiego said:

Jordan’s main problem was that he wasn’t good enough to get very far, and song selection undoubtedly played a role, especially on his final performance.

 

Sadly, I said earlier that Nya just wasn’t someone who could appeal to the white, conservative, middle aged women who were the show’s voting demographic.

Maybe, but there have been worse singers than Jordan who've made it further in the competition. He just happened to be in a season with a lot of talent and perhaps more interesting contestants.

Can't disagree with this. She went as far as she could go based on the reasoning.

3 hours ago, jarmon said:

Nya gave some stellar performances! “Wait a Minute”, “Georgia on My Mind”, “Water” and “I Say a Little Prayer” were all slays. She defs should’ve lasted a little longer based on talent alone!

Don't disagree, but it wasn't surprising she left when she did.

3 hours ago, nytsch said:

Jordan's WTPO was terrible and I didn't think Attention was much better, puzzling that he got the WC after that. I honestly liked his Whitney cover better than those 2 but I had no problem with him leaving by then.

 

Nya's Water may be one of those performances I just don't "get" - I actually liked The Best a lot along with Say a Little Prayer. Her tone was sometimes too much for me in the upper part but I would've liked to see her for a few more weeks at least.

Him getting a WC spot after "Attention" was rather interesting, although I admit I was amused at the reactions when it happened.  Speaking of which, Jayna and Nya were fine, but I would've picked Ajii and Odell over him and Roman. Fair enough about preferring the Whitney song over the other two.

Fair enough about "Water"; it's one of those performances that doesn't appeal to everyone. I can't agree with The Best, but Say A Little Prayer was an enjoyable performance. I alluded to her upper register when I mentioned she oversang at times; however, it wasn't as bad as some of the others, including one who will show up in the next set.

3 hours ago, QueenKalie said:

Nya's problem is that her target demographic was just too niche. It wasn't just minivan that didn't care for her a lot of people weren't feeling her so honestly she's lucky she made it as far as she did.

Not much disagreement here.

1 hour ago, miss denise said:

I don't have many thoughts on Jordan or Nya.  They both have good voices but didn't do much for me. It is interesting how many contestants placed on other competition shows prior to coming on Idol though... And wow, Nya's full name is so long.   

Fair enough about Jordan and Nya. Having this many contestants who appeared in other shows competing this season is rather interesting. In fact, there's at least one more who will be appearing soon.  Her name is certainly a mouthful.

Well, I think that's everyone.  This is the busiest this thread has been thus far.  We're getting to some of the more popular contestants, so who knows what will happen. Admittedly, there is one coming up that somewhat intimidates me, but I have to be me and go through with it.  

JORDAN ANTHONY

POSITIVE:

Solid tone, inspirational story

NEGATIVE:

Not the greatest when it comes to song or stylistic choices

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME)

There are some songs that can be drastically altered but can still work. This one, however, is not one of them. It is an upbeat and optimistic dance number that should stay that way. The more mellow and acoustic verse drained the song’s atmosphere and while it picked up when the chorus went up-tempo, the damage was already done. Slowing this song down didn’t work for MacKenzie Bourg in S15, and it’s the same case here.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: TITANIUM

This one landed here by default because to be honest, it was difficult for me to get into any of his performances, even upon rewatching them. It was easy to see how much this song meant to him because it was the one where he felt the most connected. Hence, while there were some issues such as not having enough power in the choruses, this was his best vocal of the season. He may have fared better if he gave more of these types of performances.

OVERALL:

Here is someone else who fared better on another singing show. In Jordan’s case, it’s TV AUS where he placed fourth. Jordan was someone who had some good vocal abilities and a pleasant enough tone. Also, kudos to him for working hard to shed all that weight. The main problem was outside of “Titanium”, he didn’t seem too confident in his own abilities. He held back a lot and never got comfortable enough to really let his voice loose. Another thing that hindered him was his song choices didn’t really do him any favors, for they handicapped him in some form or another. With that said, he is still young enough to grow in certain areas, so all is not lost for him.

----

NYA

POSITIVE:

Strong voice, confident on stage

NEGATIVE:

Oversang at times, style may not have fared well with main voting demographic

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: THE BEST

The main reason this performances lands here is due to the arrangement. It starts off too slow in the beginning and negatively impacted her vocal. I understand she tried to build the song up at a gradual pace, but the jump to the faster paced chorus was too big. As for the singing, the verses were fine, but the chorus sounded like she struggled to get through it. Hence, “The Best” is the one Nya performance I didn’t care for.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: GEORGIA ON MY MIND

“Georgia On My Mind” is a soul classic that has been performed plenty of times on Idol. Nya’s rendition is one of the better ones. It was the lone performance in which she mostly sang the song straight. Admittedly I preferred the first half to the second, but the latter wasn’t completely overdone, plus she ended it on a softer run. At the end of the day, she made her late father proud with this performance.

MOST UNDERRATED PERFORMANCE: WATER

Here we have the first underrated performance. This one was panned some although it mostly had to do with the song and not Nya’s abilities. While the song isn’t a great one to showcase any vocal prowess and although there were a few notes that got away from her towards the end, I thought she did a great job with it. She brought the right attitude and sensuality to it (it doesn’t hurt that she’s absolutely stunning). It may not have been the best song in that situation, but the performance was something that was better than given credit for.

OVERALL:

It appears her full name is Nyachomba Muchai-Kinya; now I see why she goes by just Nya.  Nya was a powerful singer who was assured and graceful on stage. She was the only contestant who was capable of bringing any sensuality on stage, which also may have been a strike (albeit a weak one, IMO) against her. The primary voters seem to prefer their female contestants to be more of a relatable girl-next-door type, and Nya didn’t fit that bill. In addition, she came across as theatrical and cabaret, which makes sense since she’s a Broadway performer. In the past, that was considered a slam, but now it’s more accepted seeing that plenty of Idol alums have done and made careers out of performing on Broadway and in other musical theater shows. I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of her in more ways than one, but I knew her time on the show would be somewhat short.

On 5/31/2024 at 6:28 AM, nytsch said:

I remember a lot of people thought Odell would get the PV and I think he had a shot if not for that song choice, it wasn’t known enough, he should’ve gone for an old R&B/soul song something like his audition. Or maybe they just gave him that song because Teddy was the mentor and someone had to promote his music lol

 

I liked Quintavious’ Make It Happen tbh but overall his style wasn’t really for me, he was good though.

Interesting theory about the song choice possibly costing him the PV.  He still sang it well enough for the PV regardless, but it wasn't meant to be.

Fair enough about Quintavious.

On 5/31/2024 at 9:21 PM, miss denise said:

I really liked Odell a lot and would have enjoyed seeing more of him.   His voice is so great, and that performance of "The Door" is outstanding.  I just rewatched as I read your thoughts and wow.  I didn't mind the "Uptown Funk" either, but yeah he was definitely way more in the zone with the other one.   I love the clips of Teddy Swims too. And lol I also noticed the Mackenzie moment.  

 

I agree with pretty much everything on this first Quintavious performance.  LOL at not even singing on the chorus. Poor Tori when he rejected her song choice after she asked him to.  At least he did it eventually and yeah, this was really good. I did like him and his voice as well. 

Agree about your thoughts on "The Door". Understandable about "Uptown Funk". That Mackenzie moment sure was something.

Pretty much echo your thoughts about Quintavious. Him rejecting her song had to be an ego crusher. At least he sang the song albeit not in her presence.

On 6/1/2024 at 7:46 AM, NGL2008 said:

I think the worst part is that it seems he heard Katy say "It's a man's world" and confused him for Roman.

 

Even with some iffy song choices, Odell's voice was far too versatile to get kicked out that early and he could've afforded to stick around with the other Platinum Queens.

If so, that makes the whole thing even more hilarious.  

Not much disagreement here.

20 hours ago, Weedy_Speedy said:

Ajii - I also really enjoyed him and wish he could've made it further. Similar to Kayko, his style of music was a breath of fresh air among this season's contestants. Definitely my favorite semifinalist.

 

Jennifer - No thanks, she was way out of her depth. Unique tone doesn't mean zilch if you lack charisma and stage presence.

 

Kennedy - Love Can Build a Bridge was really good, but the other two performances were pure country karaoke, as you said. I wasn't crying foul that she left when she did.

 

Mackenzie - I'm not mad about him tbh. He was cute and didn't overstay his welcome. As someone who watched X Factor UK, that video clip of him crashing his mother's audition will live in my brain rent free for the rest of my days. It's hysterical that they showed Sharon Osbourne but NOT Simon Cowell.

 

Odell - I echo your thoughts here, pretty much. "The Door" was great and he should've advanced based on that. I also agree that he was better than the other two male gospel singers (both of whom I thought were hopeless with song selection).

 

Quinatvious - He was decent. Not as good as Odell, but his voice didn't irritate me like Roman's. Thanks for the AGT tidbit, interesting trivia that I wasn't aware of.

Pretty much echo the thoughts about Ajii.

Not much disagreement about Jennifer. She wasn't ready for that kind of setting.

Not much to say except no arguments about Kennedy.

I forgot to mention the clip of Mackenzie crashing his mother's audition in the X Factor.  Him saying he was a good singer and pointing out how big he was when Sharon Osbourne told him he needed to be at least sixteen had me in stitches.  He showed his comedy gift from an early age.

Pretty much agree about Odell.

Not much disagreement about Quintavious.

Crystal is one of my favorite Idol contestants, so needless to say I wasn't pleased with Lee's win at the time. With that said, Lee has grown on me some over the years. Although he had his shortcomings (lack of stage presence, constant pitchiness), he also had a few performances I enjoyed (Treat Her Like A Lady, A Little Less Conversation, the Falling Slowly duet with Crystal). I think what helped propel Lee to the win was him being more relatable to the voters. He always looked nervous on result nights, and he was constantly referred to as a humble paint salesman. It also didn't hurt that Simon championed him throughout the season. In contrast, despite her quality of performances Crystal was seen as more aloof and difficult to embrace based on her body language and banter with the judges.

Lee isn't my favorite winner by any means and he's still in the lower half, but there are a few winners I would rank below him.

ODELL BUNTON JR

POSITIVE:

Powerful and soulful voice, interesting song choices

NEGATIVE:

Kind of awkward stage presence

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: UPTOWN FUNK

This has to do more with the song than Odell’s vocals. “Uptown Funk” is more of a performance song than a singing one, which is why it worked well for Qaasim Middleton in S14. However, there were still some faults with his singing. The chorus lacked the vibe and swagger it’s known for. Also, he seemed to be out of breath during the bridge, which probably had to do with his movement. Having said that, he sounded strong in some parts, plus he did a great job of entertaining the crowd. Nonetheless, this was my least favorite effort from him.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: THE DOOR

I may or may not do a list of my favorite S22 moments at the end. If I decide to do so, however, one of them was Teddy Swims vibing with the other hopefuls as Odell sang his song. This was a better choice than “Uptown Funk” because it allowed him to display the impressive soul in his voice. He did a great job of building up the song to where it ended on a very strong and gospel-like note. In addition, his stage presence was much better than the awkward movements during “Uptown Funk”. Not only was “The Door” my favorite performance of his, but it was also one of my favorite S22 performances in general.

OVERALL:

Odell was a very robust singer who didn’t just limit himself to the gospel box. In addition, he had my favorite voice of the three gospel singers this season. However, what may have hurt him was returning to his gospel roots for his Wild Card performance. On one hand, I understand why he did it because it’s natural to revert to the most comfortable position when survival is at stake. On the other hand, because although “Wait On You” is a gospel anthem, it may have not been the most fitting song choice for that situation. Regardless, he was someone who I wouldn’t have minded seeing more from. The last thing I’ll mention is one of the unintentionally funniest moments of the season was Mackenzie congratulating him thinking he would be the last Wild Card pick. I know Mackenzie was trying to show support, but man was that hilariously awkward.

-----

QUINTAVIOUS

POSITIVE:

Strong gospel voice

NEGATIVE:

Overdid it at times

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: MAKE IT HAPPEN

“Make It Happen” is one of my favorite Mariah Carey songs, so I watched to see how Quintavious handled the song. Sadly, he dropped the ball on multiple occasions. For starters, the beginning was too low; I barely heard him over the arrangement. Next, he didn’t even sing in any of the choruses although they are tricky with how fast and wordy they are. Lastly, his running around on stage was too much and detracted from his vocals. The bright spots were the bridge and the high note he hit at the end. I wanted to like this more than I did, but there were too many blights for that to happen.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: HOLLOW

First, I felt the disappointment emanating from Tori when Quintavious decided to sing “Something In The Water” in Hawaii over “Hollow” after practically begging him to sing her song. Although I think “Hollow” is the superior song and “Something In The Water” is not one of my favorite Carrie songs, I don’t blame him in a way for not singing the latter then because as I’ve said before, it’s difficult to sing someone’s song in their presence. As for the performance, this was a vocal tour de force for him. He started at the top and maintained his power to the end, which is not easy by any means. Could the performance have benefited from him gradually building it up in lieu of going full blast the whole time? Sure. However, this was still a performance I enjoyed from him.

OVERALL:

As with Hailey, it appears Quintavious was in another TV competition prior to Idol. In his case, it was America’s Got Talent, in which he placed fifth. As for his time on Idol, he was a vocal powerhouse who could hang with almost anyone in that department and as his little brother told him, “he sings good”. If I had something to critique about him, it was him having slightly weaker traits than the other two gospel singers. Moreover, his final performance didn’t do him any favors. That doesn’t mean he was a poor contestant, however. He was up against some stiff competition and may have fared better in another season.

On 5/28/2024 at 8:20 PM, CarmenSandiego said:

Loved your saying that if Mackenzie chose not to pursue music, he could always do comedy skits.

The few clips showed in his video packages were pretty funny. There are worse paths to choose from.

On 5/29/2024 at 3:44 PM, miss denise said:

 

Ah yeah, I guess I am the primary voter.   

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

I wasn't a fan of Kennedy, unfortunately.   However, I loved Mackenzie and he was one of my biggest favorites going into the live shows. I was so sad he didn't make it.  I loved his personality and voice a lot. And fun fact, his audition was actually the very first one shown of the season.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fair about Kennedy. Pretty cool that Mackenzie's audition was the first one shown. It's too bad he didn't do enough to advance.

Pretty much everything I wanted to say about Kris has been said already. He wasn't the strongest vocalist, but he knew his limitations and the best at emphasizing his strong points, which were creative arrangements and keeping his voice where his range sounded the best. My favorites from him were "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Heartless". He had the best underdog story as far as Idol winners (and contestants in general) are concerned. He was able to overcome two huge favorites in Danny and Adam to take the crown, although Danny killed his chances with "Scream On" plus faced serious backlash for advancing over Allison and Adam being extremely polarizing to put it mildly. While he's not my favorite winner nor my S8 favorite, I do like him and think he's a fantastic winner.

KENNEDY REID

POSITIVE:

Set identity, looked comfortable on stage

NEGATIVE:

Not as vocally strong as other contestants

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: SOMETHIN BAD

The main problem with this performance is the song itself. It’s something that’s more fit for a country karaoke bar than a singing competition. It doesn’t do anything to showcase someone’s vocal abilities. Kennedy’s showing was just that: something one can see in a country karaoke bar. The vocals weren’t up to par and while she looked like she had fun, the stage movement wasn’t the best. She may have gotten away with the poor song choice if it were a victory performance. However, it was especially ill-advised at that point although to be fair it is unknown if the contestants have just one song in that situation.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: FANCY

On the other hand, this was a great song choice for Kennedy. It allowed her to show off her vocal abilities and command the stage. She did a great job of progressing through the song without overdoing it. There were a few parts where it was hard to understand her, but other than that it still was a great vocal. If I had to pick my favorite part about the performance, however, it would be Lionel shockingly putting his hand on Jelly Roll’s shoulder at the “no, no, no, no, no” section. Fancy was a fun performance and the one I enjoyed the most from her.

OVERALL:

One thing Kennedy had going for her was she knew who she was an artist. She portrayed herself as a pop-country singer, make no mistake about it. She reminded me of a vocally stronger and more worldly Kellie Pickler. With that said, she wasn’t as vocally sound as most of the other contestants. Plus, while I don’t think she would’ve been a Wild Card pick regardless, her final song choice did her no favors. Nonetheless, she wasn’t a bad contestant and someone I enjoyed at times.

-----

MACKENZIE SOL

POSITIVE:

Nice tone, comfortable on stage

NEGATIVE:

Inconsistent, tried to do too much in his performances

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: I'LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN

Here is a prime example of Mackenzie doing too much. First, there was the classic start at the piano before standing up after about a third or halfway through the performance. Next, there was the all-over-the-place arrangement after the piano intro. Finally, the arrangement wasn’t the only sporadic thing. He tried to fit as many things in his voice as he could, and the result was an incohesive mess. This was a problem with “Jealous”; however, everything was exacerbated with this number.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: FALSE ALARMS

This was his best pure vocal. Other than the falsetto attempt towards the end, he minimized the bells and whistles that plagued him in his previous two performances. It appeared as if him not being voted into the Top 10 was the kick in the pants telling him he needed to take this opportunity more seriously. There weren’t too many bad notes, and it looked like he connected to the song well enough. Nevertheless, it was too little, too late for him, but at least he could hold his head up knowing he went out on his strongest performance.

OVERALL:

Mackenzie had a few things going for him. He had a pleasant enough tone when he didn’t push his voice too hard. In addition, his stage presence wasn’t a huge issue. Lastly, he wasn’t afraid to take chances with his arrangements and vocal styling. Unfortunately, the last point proved to be his downfall. There’s nothing wrong with taking a few liberties here and there; however, they need to have some semblance of structure or assurance they will go over well. It just wasn’t the case for him. Nonetheless, he had some things to work with should he continue to pursue music. If not, there’s always the comedy skits.

On 5/26/2024 at 4:32 PM, miss denise said:

 

Oh yay, I feel so victorious!  I hope you at least liked it better than the Hawaii performance and could see why he made it to that point.  And yes, I was very happy, of course.  Aww I think he could have had a chance with a different song.  And you should also watch this moment that was alluded to in his audition.  Her reaction.  

 

 

 

Oh nooo... but okay.   *watches* Oh, that was certainly something.  That high note in the middle! I am also done by that. And Katy's response at the end.   Wow, wow, wow.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

I really liked Ajii and would have enjoyed seeing more of him on the show. I liked his tone of voice a lot. Not really anything else to add, but I like your write-up.  

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of Jennifer.  Her voice and style weren't for me. Your Wade Cota comparison is interesting. But yeah, I agree she was certainly unique, and I actually thought she'd make it a bit further. 

 

OK, this clip of him singing in front of his Nana was cute. The "BLAAAKKEEE" and his little laughter at the end got a chuckle out of me.

Yes! Welcome to the dark side!

Pretty much agree about Ajii.

Understandable about Jennifer. It didn't seem like her style would be popular amongst the primary voting demographic.

On 5/26/2024 at 5:47 PM, nytsch said:

I liked Jennifer and Ajii although I acknowledge Jennifer had her share of technical problems, she also had a really cool unique tone.

I liked Ajii's Higher actually, it was nice to hear him do something different and I thought it was good. I can see why someone wouldn't be a fan though.

Pretty much in agreement with Jennifer regarding her technical problems and tone.

It's not so much me disliking Higher as it is preferring his other performances over it.

Katharine is my favorite Idol contestant and Elliott my favorite male, so needless to say I would've liked to have seen one of them walk away with the victory. However, it was inevitable Taylor would win, especially after Chris's elimination. To be honest, his win didn't bother me too much. Maybe it's because it was easy to see coming. He was the only contestant to never land in the bottom throughout the season, and he had one of the more rabid fanbases Idol has ever had. Also, I did enjoy a few of his performances. Having said that although "In The Ghetto" is considered to be his best performance, it has never been one of my favorites. I prefer "Levon", "Taking It To The Streets", and "Living For The City" over it.

If Melinda couldn't win S6, Jordin was the next best option. She showed a lot of potential; however, she really only fulfilled it with "I (Who Have Nothing)". The rest of her run was solid if not spectacular, outside of the hot mess that was "Livin' For A Prayer". I think what gave her the edge was her youth and said potential, whereas her main competitors LaKisha and Melinda (IMO) had something going against them. LaKisha faltered greatly after a strong start, and Melinda was considered to be too old-fashioned and a finished product. Nevertheless, Jordin is a solid winner all things considered.

David is my second favorite male contestant and second favorite winner overall after Kelly. He was the ideal combination of a strong vocalist and innovative artist. Although Blake Lewis started the ball rolling with the creative arrangements, David piggybacked off that and raised it to the next level. Outside of "Innocent" and "Hungry Like The Wolf", his run was remarkably consistent. Though "Billie Jean" and "Always Be My Baby" are his most celebrated performances, my personal favorite is "Music Of The Night" because it was his best pure vocal showing, IMO. It also drove the point home of him being more than just a creative arranger. To think he only attended the auditions to support his brother only to be convinced to audition himself. I know there are some Archie fans who wished he didn't audition.

Since we're now at contestants with more than one performance, I will mention my favorite and least favorite performances of theirs.

AJII

POSITIVE:

Powerful and unique tone to his voice, great song choices

NEGATIVE:

Didn’t have best enunciation, exaggerated facial expressions (though not as bad as Jack's)

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: HIGHER

This was certainly a song choice that made my eyebrows pop. It was sung well, and his voice sounded strong on it. One problem, if it can be called that, is that it felt stagnant at times. This was a case where his voice carried the song with its power as Jelly Roll mentioned in the mentoring section. Also, it’s hard to do this song justice in a limited capacity because it has a lot going on in it. Having said that, Ajii did a nice job with it, and it wasn’t a poor performance. However, I had to pick my least favorite performance, and this wasn’t as interesting as the other two.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: LIKE A STONE

First, it was really cool to hear an Audioslave song on Idol. Their work is underrated and doesn’t get enough credit, IMO. With that said, Chris Cornell had one of the strongest and most unique voices there has ever been, so taking on any of his vocals is a challenge that is difficult to come out on top of. However, Ajii did a very respectable job with the song. He provided enough power and although it sounded like he struggled in some parts, they weren’t enough to detract the performance. I also loved him stomping around on stage as it made the performance even more alive. I’ll concede his other performances were better from a technical standpoint, but this was the performance I liked the most.

OVERALL:

Ajii was someone with a very intriguing voice and an impressive taste in music. Because of this, however, it wasn’t a surprise he didn’t advance beyond the Wild Card round. He didn’t seem to be the type of contestant the majority of the voting audience would get behind. It is unfortunate there wasn’t more of him on the show because he seemed to be capable of bringing something distinctive from the others.

-----

JENNIFER JEFFRIES

POSITIVE:

Tone that didn’t sound like anyone, understood who she was as an artist

NEGATIVE:

Tone was also polarizing, appeared to lack confidence on stage

LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: GRAVE DIGGER

Here is a song and artist I didn’t know about, so I listened to the original after watching Jennifer’s rendition. Sadly, Jennifer didn’t do the song justice. The main thing that stood out was the lack of power in the choruses; her voice wasn’t up to the challenge of hitting those notes. In addition, her nerves were very visible; she was shaking tremendously. One positive thing I will say is that captured the attitude and vibe of the song nicely. It’s too bad the singing didn’t match it.

FAVORITE PERFORMANCE: ALL I WANT

This was her best vocal of the season. She rode the melody nicely and although the nerves were still present, they weren’t as bad (for a lack of a better term) as the previous performance. Another thing that helped her was the minimal acoustic guitar arrangement. Because of this, she didn’t have to push her voice towards her upper register, which is the weakest part of her range. It also helped that the song wasn’t too vocally demanding. All in all, this was a good performance for her to go out on.

OVERALL:

When I first heard Jennifer’s voice, the first thing that came to mind was that she was a female Wade Cota, who I was not a fan of. However, the more I listened to her, the more I appreciated her tone. She had two things going against her. The first was her aforementioned tone. It isn’t the most unconventional nor appealing to the main voting demographic, so she needed to have some strong performances to overcome that handicap. The other was her nerves getting the better of her. They played a big role as to why her performances were on the shaky side. One thing she has going for her was as Ryan said throughout the season, her voice is her own and can be picked out from a crowd. Maybe she can use this experience to grow more as an artist.

1 hour ago, miss denise said:

 

It was! He sang a Brett Young (who I love) song on piano and had a sweet moment with his grandma. I think you should watch.  Haha I sure did catch them!  

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

I don't really remember Elleigh Marie either, although I do remember that performance you linked and the boyfriend drama. I think she was fine but didn't make much impact on me. Your wink comment made me laugh a bit.  

 

"I will unashamedly admit it: I absolutely enjoyed this! Did she butcher the song? Without question. Was a single note in tune? No, not really."  You almost have me wanting to rewatch this! Not the Pacific Ocean comment. Yeah, she sure was an interesting one.  

 

OK, you pulled my arm, so I gave in and watched his audition.  I'm sure you were happy to see him sing a Brett Young song. It was a nice and tender moment with his grandmother standing with him. I don't think he would've advanced regardless, but he would've been better off singing similar to what he did in his audition instead of that Justin Bieber song.

As with Hailey, this comment and her lack of airtime emphasized why Elleigh didn't fare so well.

Since I watched Blake's audition, you have to rewatch KBlocks' disastrous masterpiece!  In all seriousness, glad to see my comments about her were amusing.

Catching up some in this thread.

I have "Superstar" after "A Whole New World", but I more or less agree with the rankings. As for his run in general, his voice started to deteriorate around the halfway point in the Finals which contributed to his performances declining. Clay would've been a great winner since he was more consistent, but I preferred Ruben overall and therefore was happy with his victory.

Fantasia's voice is definitely polarizing, but I am one who appreciates it. I say she was the best in terms of emotionally connecting to a song and leaving everything on stage. LaToya was my S3 favorite, but Fantasia was second, so I was happy to see her come out on top. As far as the rankings go, I have "Chain of Fools" behind "Summertime" and "I Believe"; however, they are solid overall.

I hope the die-hard Carrie fans don't pop in here and read your write-up.  Having said that, I agree with you about her. I like Carrie and saw her live at her residency a couple of years ago; however, her run wasn't the greatest amongst the winners. She had the tools but lacked in consistency and emotional connection. A nickname for her during the season was Farmbot because of the latter. I thought Bo was more consistent and would've made a good winner, but if not him Carrie was a great choice. Also, Nigel revealed that Carrie was the top vote getter every week by wide margins. As for her rankings, I'm happy to see "Love Is A Battlefield" on the higher end, as it's one of my biggest guilty pleasures.  I have "If You Don't Know Me By Now" at the bottom below "MacArthur Park"; everything else I agree with.

I'm intrigued to read about Taylor. He is certainly one of, if not the most unconventional, winners.

13 hours ago, Weedy_Speedy said:

Both of these girlypops were fodder, but I'll admit that I laughed my ass off @ "my sob story is that I got cheated on". In that respect, Elleigh was more entertaining to me than KBlocks.

That's one way to look at it.

12 hours ago, QueenKalie said:

Unfortunately for Elleigh she was likely doomed no matter what as she had by far the least airtime. She wasn't shown at all in Hollywood. I think she was the only top 24 contestant ignored in all the rounds. Rumors were going around that she ended up replacing some contestant that withdrew but not sure how accurate that actually was. I would have liked Elleigh to have lasted longer than she actually did because she was really fun. Her personality just stood out more than a lot of these other people's did. 

Yeah, that is unfortunate. Not having much airtime prior to the voting rounds can be a huge handicap. With that said, some contestants were able to overcome that disadvantage and make it pretty far in the competition. I can't say for sure if Elleigh could have done so with a different song or better performance of the one she picked, but it couldn't have hurt.

10 hours ago, CarmenSandiego said:

While I also like train wrecks, I like them less when we get to the Top 24 than at the beginning.

Yeah, trainwrecks are more fun in the beginning. However, a good one is still a good one regardless when it occurs.

4 hours ago, Hsamid said:

Nice writeups, very fair and I agree with everything so far.

 

Blake outstayed his welcome imo. Should have been home by showstoppers at least. But he has a pleasant tone when he's not going outside his comfort zone vocally.

 

That KBlocks performance was hilarious. But I remember she had a performance in an earlier round that had all the flavour of this one without the pitch issues, it was actually pretty good. Lucy love is a perfect  comparable.

 

And as for Hailey.. yeah, that performance (and tbh most of them on AI) are not the best representation of her abilities.

 

Which kinda puts into question her versatility. But she's excellent with the slow, emotional pop ballads within her range. Those were her best showings on The Voice.

Thank you for this.

I agree that his tone isn't too bad when he doesn't push too hard. It's too bad he did so in Hawaii.

Is there a link to this? I want to check it out for myself.

Too bad to see she didn't really showcase herself during her time on Idol. Maybe she was better off doing a slow, emotional pop ballad in Hawaii if that's where she truly shines.

I was thinking about creating a topic similar to this but never got around to it.

Pretty much agree with everything you said about Kelly and her performance rankings. One thing I will add is that Kelly didn't receive any airtime prior to the voting rounds during the season. Her audition was only shown during the American Idol rewind episodes. Hence, she was a dark horse going into the competition, and I think this made her win even more impressive.

I will be looking forward to the rest of your commentary about the winners.

6 minutes ago, QueenKalie said:

I thought he was a potential winner candidate after his audition. But he did go downhill in Hollywood and even more so in Hawaii. It was a sharp and quick downward slope for him.

That sounds unfortunate. Well, he wasn't the first to ride down this slope, and he most likely won't be the last.

ELLEIGH MARIE

POSITIVE: Nice low tone to her voice. Good stage presence.

NEGATIVE: Seemed to lack power, especially for the song she sang.

FORGET (AKA ****) YOU

Apparently, her now ex-boyfriend cheated on her, so she picked a song to bare her feelings about it. She couldn’t pick a more apt song for the occasion. For starters, she kept the original pronouns which is cool, although it insinuates the guy fooled around with another boy. In addition, she worked the stage and the crowd well. However, the downside was the vocal itself. It wasn’t terrible but for a song of this nature and the reason for her singing it, it lacked edge. More anger and bite, even some vocal imperfections could’ve enhanced this more. Really drive the point about not appreciating the infidelity home. The wink at the end was out of place; it would’ve been more fitting in a song about taking back her independence or emotionally moving on from a toxic relationship on her own terms.

OVERALL: Besides physically resembling a celebrity who I am currently having a difficult time thinking of (I want to say Melissa Joan Hart, but I think it's someone else), Elleigh had a good lower tone to her voice and appeared to be confident on stage. Unfortunately, her downfall was not so much the song choice as much as it was her not having enough attitude and conviction to sell the song the way it needed to be. While she wasn’t the weakest of her group, I knew she was one of the most vulnerable to elimination, which proved to be the case. Nonetheless, she has some tools to work with, so all is not lost for her.

-----

KBLOCKS

For some reason, I can't find a square picture of her. This will have to do.

POSITIVE: Fun personality, confident stage performance

NEGATIVE: Not the best tone, personality while fun can be polarizing

HARLEYS IN HAWAII

I will unashamedly admit it: I absolutely enjoyed this! Did she butcher the song? Without question. Was a single note in tune? No, not really. Was it fun to watch? You better believe it! If you’re going to be bad, at least be entertaining, and she brought the entertainment in spades. It started rough and only got worse as the performance progressed. The parts where I completely lost it were the “you and I” leading into the second chorus and the “hula, hula” section. I literally had tears on my face from laughing so hard from the latter. I enjoy a great vocal performance as much as the next person; however, I can also appreciate a good trainwreck. This performance completely skidded off the tracks and dove headfirst into the Pacific Ocean.

OVERALL: KBlocks was certainly an interesting contestant so to speak. She was an unconventional and unapologetic free spirit who did things her way. For her to sing a Katy Perry song in front of Katy and give that kind of performance speaks volumes about her confidence. A part of me wanted her to stick around for at least one more week to see what she would do, but I knew that wasn’t in the cards considering she gave technically the worst performance of both nights. In the end, she was a weaker, more unhinged Lucy Love, and I appreciate her for it.

23 hours ago, Weedy_Speedy said:

I thought Hailey did better than a certain other contestant who overstayed their welcome this season, but lol 4th place on The Voice? That's funny.

One thing I find interesting about both shows is how the contestants who competed in both shows tend to have opposite results.  For example, Sundance was bounced early on Idol but goes on to win a season of TV. Here you have Hailey who placed high on TV but was eliminated early in Idol.

21 hours ago, miss denise said:

Ooh I didn't realize things had begun since I wasn't quoted again.  I'm glad I checked! I'm intrigued by how you're doing things this time.  

 

Ahh I really loved his audition (which I know you haven't seen ) and he was on my radar from there. I was disappointed with his Hawaii performance.  It makes sense he seemed a bit inexperienced, if he hasn't been doing it long. lol I feel I am seeing a lot of football references in your commentary here.  

 

I don't remember Hailey all that much, but I think I liked her somewhat. I'm amazed she placed so high on The Voice, only to then go on Idol.  

 

Sorry, it must have slipped my mind.   Glad to see you're intrigued.

His audition must have been nice if he ended up on your radar. Sorry you were disappointed with his Hawaii performance. I'm glad someone caught those football references (what do you know, I just made another one ). It lets me know my efforts weren't in vain.

You not remembering Hailey all that much emphasizes my point in her writeup some. A lot of the voters must have felt the same way. It is interesting she appeared on Idol after her placement on TV.

17 hours ago, CarmenSandiego said:

I think that Blake was in his head more than Hailey — a lot more, in fact.  The judges criticized him for it, and that’s saying something.  Where Hailey went wrong was with song choice.

No disagreement here. I pretty much said so in my writeups.

8 hours ago, nytsch said:

 

Yeah I don’t really know why Tate McRae is a thing but I’m not gonna go there 

 

I wasn’t a fan of Hailey on TV but even then she had a few performances I liked so I would’ve wanted to see her potential. She was also just in the stronger of the 2 groups imo and someone had to go home.

It's good to see I'm not the only one!

The last point is a good one. The first group aired was stronger as a whole. It was clear to see who the two most vulnerable contestants were in the second group (which I will get to later, of course), so Hailey might have had a better chance to survive the first eliminations if she were a part of that group.

7 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

do you have the link for your threads from past seasons? would love to read them!

Sure! I added them to the initial post. Read at your own peril, however.

BLAKE PROEHL

It turns out Blake is the son of former NFL wide receiver Ricky Proehl. I remember watching his father catch the go ahead score in the 1999 NFC Championship game against the Bucs, which led to the Rams advancing to and winning the Super Bowl, but I digress. It turns out Blake himself tried his hand at an NFL career, but things didn’t work out there and therefore, he turned his attention to music. It appears there is some work to do for him in this area based on the little I saw from him on Idol.

POSITIVE: I’ll start by saying his tone wasn't all that bad, at least in the lower part of his range. In addition, he has high heartthrob potential with his looks.

NEGATIVE: His tone is nasally in the higher part of his range. This was evident in his lone performance in the competition. Also, he doesn’t seem to be a natural performer. Tori Kelly mentioned in his rehearsal that it looked like he was thinking, which appeared to be the case in his performance. While we are on that subject…

ANYONE

This started on the wrong foot with his vocals being too low in the beginning. However, they gradually gained a few yards until he reached the chorus, where things went downhill. The notes he hit in that section would have had him surrounded with more flags than a United Nations convention. He brought the bad habits from the practice to the field, which is not ideal to say the least. Moreover, his stage movements still looked forced, and it appeared he overthought everything like Tori pointed out. He still had a chance to salvage the performance by finishing it strong, but he fumbled just short of the goal line.

OVERALL: Blake put up a valiant effort in his one showing. However, his opponent, being the song choice, slowed him down enough to prevent him from scoring any points with the voters and hence, his time in the S22 divisional round came to a swift end. With that said, the tools are there and if he has the discipline to continue working on his craft, he can be much better at catching notes than passes.

-----

HAILEY MIA

Based on a quick Google search, it appears Hailey competed in S21 of The Voice where she made it all the way to fourth place. A little over three years later, the adrenaline of participating in another reality TV singing competition rushed through her body again and therefore, she sung her way into the Top 24 in American Idol. Unfortunately, things did not go as well for her in this endeavor.

POSITIVE: She had a very mature tone to her voice, and her pitch was mostly on point.

NEGATIVE: There wasn’t much about her that differentiated her from the other contestants. As with Blake, she also appeared to be in her head which hindered her some.

SHE'S ALL I WANNA BE

As much as I want to rag on the song choice and artist not being great, I will give her credit for picking something age appropriate. Vocally, she was fine as she didn’t hit too many bad notes. However, the main issue was the performance went nowhere. She didn’t add anything new to the song; it was virtually a carbon copy of the original. There are some songs that are better off sung straight, but this wasn’t one of them. In addition, she experienced one of the Idol traditions of being drowned out in parts which in her case happened to be being overpowered by the backup singers in the choruses. She tried to finish on a strong note, but she didn’t quite get there.

OVERALL: Hailey was a young girl with a nice voice and a lot of potential. However, her lone performance while competent was forgettable, which as I have said plenty of times in the past is one of the worst things someone can be early in the competition. Combined with her performance airing first, it’s easy to see how she slipped through the cracks and became one of the first S22 hopefuls eliminated. Although she didn’t do as well on Idol as she did on The Voice, the tools and potential are there. She might have done better with a song that highlighted her best qualities, but I guess we will never know.

As mentioned before, I will do things a little differently. In my previous threads, the posts were episode and performance based. This time around, however, the posts will focus on the contestants. The plan is to give my opinions on them by discussing both the positive and negative. In addition, I will list my favorite, least favorite and if applicable, most underrated performances from each contestants. I will start from the first eliminated contestants and work my way up to the winner. Lastly, these writeups will start from the Hawaii Showcase Round since I didn’t watch the auditions or Hollywood episodes.

Since I forgot to add this to the first post and am too lazy to edit it, I will add it here. I will toss in some jokes here and there, but I can assure you they will not come from a malicious place. I have always allowed people to call me out if I go too far or say something offensive, and it will be the same here. Just don’t be overly rude about it.

With that said, on to the victims contestants…

27 minutes ago, m1key said:

for anybody who can speak on what IdolForums was like during the FOX years: 

 

which contestants from the FOX era had the most intense followings and stans? who were the biggest "It girls"? 

 

also, were Candice and Maddie considered It Girls? i was lurking during S16 but don't remember fully if Maddie was the It Girl. i also know Angie had a lot of stans during S12 just from discussions on here, but not sure if it was more than Candice? if so, is Abi the first "it girl" to actually win since Jordin (and was Jordin herself even the "it girl"?) 

I was a lurker during the FOX years, but I'll take a stab at the questions.

I'd say Haley Reinhart is the biggest "it girl". She had (and maybe still has) a cult-like following. Other major "it girls" that come to mind are Katharine McPhee, Jessica Sanchez, Jena Irene, and JAX. On the flip side, the only "it boy" I can think of is Kris Allen, mostly because there weren't too many female contestants in S8 (although Allison was pretty popular).

I think Jurnee started as the "it girl" in S16, but Maddie eventually overtook her after it became clear Jurnee wasn't going to stick around long. As for Candice, Angie was definitely the S12 "it girl". I can't recall how popular Candice was, but I know she and Kree received a bunch of negative backlash after Angie's elimination.