The Buzz with CCX - Season 20 Episode 18

[ScarletDevilCCX]

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I'm sure we'll be celebrating it on Idol. Had some cabernet at dinner, but I'm still going to have a beer; Golden G.O.A.T. from Sam Adams. ...Hello? It's been like a minute with nothing but a black screen. Oh, here we go, and they're recapping Katy's shenanigans from last week as Ariel. Well, I guess it's a good thing that they never have anything important in the first few minutes...oh! Two of our contestants have tested positive for COVID. Noah Thompson tested earlier in the week and will be performing from his hotel room, and Fritz just tested positive earlier today so we'll be viewing his rehearsal video from yesterday. Tonight's theme is TikTok--either a song that the contestants themselves posted there, or something that's associated with a viral sensation. Leah's up first singing "Electric Love" by BORNS--I'm not going to bother experimenting with my keyboard looking for the right sequence to spell that properly. It was...entirely fitting for the theme of "TikTok"--vapid and devoid of any real content. 47. Jay is up second, showing off his muscles, and apparently "I Have Nothing" is a common song on animal videos on TikTok so we're getting the...is it the 11th or the 12th rendition of this song on this show? Oh, and the mentor for this show is Will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas. He makes it his own. It's...not bad. 64. A big step up. Katy seems to love it. Only one judge judges each performance tonight because we're tight on time.

 

Ryan's announcing the TikTok Idol Duet challenge--open the app, duet with your favorite Idol, and you might be featured on the finale. Next up is Fritz Hager with an original song he posted on the platform, "All My Friends". Will.i.am asks him if he went to songwriting school, and says "good" when Fritz answers in the negative, because there's no good drowning in someone else's ideas. Fritz is out there with an electric guitar, and there are two other dudes with electric guitars as well, and he's rocking out. And this is an original! 83. If I'd known he'd do this as an original, I might not have fought so hard against his status as the apparent WGWG of the year. Christian Guardino is singing "Lonely" by Justin Bieber & benny blanco, because he really connects to the song; he did a cover of it on TikTok. He says he sometimes struggles to talk about his retinal condition. And this is his best of the season; 82. Michael Bublé also video calls in, and asks to sing with Christian at the finale. Perfection.

 

Huntergirl's singing Tate McRae's "You Broke Me First". I don't know who that is, but apparently it's a pop song. Hunter heading out of her comfort zone? Well, so far so good. Correction: the song title is "you broke me first". Why is that suddenly such a trend? 85. We're getting plenty of great performances, but no showstoppers yet, which gives us just as narrow a band as if I was going over the top with my praise. Ryan mentions Hunter's nanna liking Derek Hough last week and says he knows Derek's favorite food. Oh do you now? 

 

Noah Thompson is up sixth, and apparently the meetings with the mentor were early in the week because Noah still got to meet with him, too, He doesn't know much about social media, so he's singing the song he was singing in the video his buddy Arthur posted of him. "Painted Blue" by Sundy Best. No, that's not a typo. And this is...amazing. The stripped down acoustic performance is perfect. 98, The judges are giving him a standing ovation. It's well deserved. Luke says American Idol is great at finding stars, and they're stars whether they're on the stage or sitting in a hotel room with COVID. Nicolina has the pimp spot, and will.i.am. is going to follow her on TikTok...and they make a TikTok together of BEP's "I've Got A Feeling"?! And Nicolina's performing Heart's "Alone". Always a dangerous prospect with the Idol nerds, taking on a top contestant's best performance of their run. And this was Carrie's. That said, she stepped up to the task. 90.

 

Oh, but the performances aren't in the same order in Round 2! Which is the Mother's Day Round. Jay and Fritz are our first two, so we could be looking at Leah in the pimp spot with the other six in order. But first, Ryan reminds us that Carrie did "Alone" on Idol and announces that Carrie will be the mentor for the Top 5! Jay's doing "A Song for Mama" by Boyz II Men, which is one of his mother's favorites. He says he hopes that not only his mother, but all the mothers in the audience listen to his performance and know that they're loved. You know, I woke up this morning to my mom bitching about how she feels unloved because my sister is just ignoring her, didn't even call, and then this afternoon my sister showed up in person. And I hadn't completely ruled out that possibility, though it turns out my other theory, that she was taking advantage of the rare day off to get some rest because she's pregnant, also turned out to be correct. As for Jay's song, it's a 73--nothing special, but very good. Fritz has a song he wrote for his mom and for his late grandmother. "House on the Beach". It's very pretty; 78. And Luke gives us the "please vote everybody"; Ryan even backs him up.

 

I was wrong; Leah's up now. But first, congratulations to Lionel Richie for his induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Ryan presents him with a cake shaped like a record player, complete with moving parts. Leah's doing "Sanctuary" by Nashville featuring Charles Eston, Lennon, and Maisy. A slow song, exactly what I hate. My favorite going into the night is not doing a damn thing to earn my vote! I'm not even sure if this is good without my biases against songs at this tempo. Well, the crowd loves it. I say 42.

 

Huntergirl's up fourth, covering Idol alum Lauren Alaina. Which in all likelihood means she's actually covering a much less well-loved Idol alum. Yep, it's "Like My Mother Does", best known as Lauren's would-be coronation song, but actually originally by Kristy Lee Cook. I liked KLC on the show, but as unpopular as that opinion was at the time, it's doubly so now. This performance is solid, I'll give it a 75.

 

Noah's covering "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, and Nicolina's set to follow him, so that means the pimp spot belongs to...Christian? Noah's dedicating it to his grandma. His performance is...not starting strong. And yeah, it's not great. 48. I don't like it. Luke disagrees with me. Lionel says "I'm not going to wish you any bad luck, but when you're sick, you sound better". Yeah, Katy also says that he did his best yet tonight. Nicolina's also dedicating her Pentatonix song to her nona--"Lighten the Hall". Lionel says the song was absolutely flawless, and I have little reason to argue. 93.

 

Christian's doing "My God" by Smokie Norful. The title's appropriate, because my God! Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. 100.

 

Five of the seven contestants on stage, because two are in quarantine. Those two are up on the video screen. The first to make it through to the Top 5 is Noah. We may already have problems. But the second one through is Nicolina! Much better. The third one through is Huntergirl, and the fourth is...Leah! Okay, this is kind of a win-win. And Fritz is the fifth. Why'd they save Fritz for the last to be declared safe? Stupid.