Blirel

I’m going to guess Kimberley Locke as #9. @Crisis

Season 16 Amelia was very polarizing in a good way. I remember being intrigued by her day 1. That being said, she had vocal limitations which were shown the more we saw from her. Effie had a massive voice. I didn’t love her audition as the original song was kind of meh and also some of her song choices were a bit too generic for me but no doubt she could sing and she nailed her performance of The Dance. Her Alone cover was good but it displayed just how generic she was. Her duet with Cam of Diane was much better. Layla was not my cup of tea. She’s gotten better now but her voice always kind of annoyed me. Her shaky vibrato was not for me. She was just okay. Trevor- I’m surprised to see him here. His duet performance might be the worst celebrity duet performance we saw. He was overshadowed. I was never wowed by him. I think Shannon O’Hara deserves a mention. She never delivered a bad performance and I always found her super likable. She was one of my favorites of that season. Season 17 Okay. Ashley Hess is one of my favorite contestants of all time. That’s how much I loved her. Such an easygoing fresh voice. I still think she was robbed but song choice did her as she never should’ve sang Sir Duke. She made the top 14... is that considered a semi finalist? This is a bit random as she wasn’t shown much but I’m going to mention Bumbly. I still go back to her duet with Shaggy. I know Vision of Love was meh but her duet of Angel was a standout moment and she would’ve brought something unique to the live shows and she could sing much better than someone like Eddie or Evelyn

Season 15 CJ- meh. I never connected to him and even forgot about him which is bad since I recall nearly everyone from this season forward as they were somewhat current. His style was dated and he was an average vocalist. James VII- Ashley Hess’s boyfriend. I was a huge fan of Ashley but James came on idol first. He was very creative and polarizing with performances like Love Lockdown. Sometimes his vocals relied on too much runs and riffs which turned viewers off. Stephany- she was very pretty. She always hit the notes but if I’m being honest, her voice was very generic and never met the mark for me. I think I would add Emily Brooke who always wowed in early rounds but always faltered when it mattered and Adam Lasher who was a fan favorite but also faltered. I wasn’t the hugest fans but I’ll say they were good in early rounds.

Adam- I never really enjoyed him. I found him as another Caleb Johnson who I didn’t like by the way but less power and even more karaoke. Katherine was totally up my alley. She seemed very 70s, Fleetwood inspired who I love. Rhiannon and Safe & Sound were pretty good. She played it safe but she was better than half the singers but got lost in the shuffle. Looking back you’ve got it right here. This may have been the weakest group of semi finalists. I wouldn’t add anyone. Katherine was the only contestant truly robbed

Season 13... I’m going to mention those who got robbed of singing and one who got to sing but failed to impress. Kenz Hall- She was one of the more creative voices and personalities on the show. I loved her cover of Can’t Hold Us, her audition, but she had a bad performance that almost failed her of making it as far as she did of Your Song. But she deserved another chance. Still super mad over this. She was in my top 5. Brandy Neely- She was a standout from the start. A really strong country voice. People were shocked when she didn’t even get a chance to sing. briana Oakley- She got to sing. She had some of the best performances of the season like My Kind of Love and her audition of Stay. Her rush week performance wasn’t bad of Warrior but it lacked something and was kind of overly nasally. Her tone was a bit nasally always but this seemed more than usual. She still deserved to make the top 13.

Season 12 Breanna Steer is stylistically one of my favorite contestants. I loved her style but she turned in some underwhelming performances when it mattered. Her Bust The Windows performance is still one of my favorites from the season. Vincent- I remember him being a stand out despite me never really connecting with him, he had one of the best voices but they tried to gut the male field of every strong vocalist besides Devin and Burnell. I also really liked Aubrey Cleland although her voice was a bit thin and my favorite male Nick Boddington who nailed Stars and had a few other good performances; his semifinals performance was pretty good as well.

Season 11: Aaron: I honestly didn’t remember him. But think he just failed to stand out. Not bad but I can see why he didn’t make it. Baylie- Her tone was pretty but she made bad song choices and just didn’t stand out. Halle- Was never a huge fan but can’t argue against her being a consistently solid vocalist. I think you left someone out once again. That someone was front runner Jen Hirsch. Nearly all of her performances aired and she could sing. For some reason her last few performances just didn’t click and she was sent home during the wild card. I have to mention Brielle too. the girl could sing but made some poor song choices and vocal choices. And her stage mom never let her stand out on her own. The girl went on to having quite a few popular YouTube videos

And now for in depth comments. Season 10: Julie Zorrilla- She could sing but was generic. I think she would’ve struggled to stand out as Pia and Haley would’ve overshadowed her. And I even think Thia was better. No problem with her going out early. Lauren was for sure good. She had a kind of retro style which it seems the season had a lot of. I don’t think she would’ve made top 5 but she could’ve been competitive that’s for sure. Tim was better than Paul McDonald. He wasn’t super unique but he could sing and was easy going. He appeared on songland this year and he’s still got it. And my favorite Semifinalist who didn’t make it wasn’t mentioned. Wow. Kendra Chantelle. We all know she was robbed after that Georgia On My Mind performance.

Okay so I didn’t fully watch until Season 10 so this is an exciting batch. Here’s the ones I feel like mentioning: First I’m revisiting the old season contestants you’ve put on this list and how didn’t Felicia Barton make the finals. Just wow. Ricky Braddy should’ve made it as well. But I don’t think he would’ve made it much further. He’s someone who sings at a very high level but as I felt on the voice, you feel nothing from. I know Season 9 is a disaster from revisiting performances from the finals and I strongly believe Alex Lambert would’ve been top 10 material. I also think the 3 girls listed were better than some that made it.

I didn’t watch these seasons so it’s kind of fun to watch performances from them. A few fun facts: David Brown is a 4x Grammy Nominee under the name Lucky Daye. Gedeon McKinney’s sister Evvie went on to win The Four. Also looking back... Ayla Brown totally got robbed yikes.

Here’s some people who received callbacks from the virtual preliminary auditions. Mackynsie Mckedy https://www.instagram.com/mackynsiemckedymusic/?hl=en Ava Hesketh Kendra Elise https://www.instagram.com/kayjaybaby253/

Yes Season 18’s Top 40 show was stellar as well as top 20 virtually but then it simmered down and just was too fast due to the pandemic. Sad. Sigh

I’ll admit I started watching in Season 10 but have went back some. Of the more modern seasons (Post-Simon)... Season 11 was my favorite. I liked Phillip and Jessica quite a bit (wish Jessica would’ve won). My favorite was probably Elise Testone (Whole Lotta Love, one of my favorites to date), Joshua was a solid vocalist although not a fan, Hollie & Colton both turned in a lot of consistent and solid performances. Even the bottom contestants weren’t bad like robbed Erika, Skylar was decent for country, Heejun was a guilty pleasure. Jeremy and Shannon could still sing. Jermaine was alright. Wasn’t a fan of DeAndre due to his overusing of falsetto. Also even though at the time I wasn’t huge on Season’s 10 Scotty and Lauren. Haley is my favorite idol competitor of all time. James was also a great rocker. Pia was also very good. Season 11 was simply better due to it being deeper

I have some instagram names of people who have done online auditions... typically those people don't make it far though. I do usually find a few way early like Ren Patrick last season

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