American Idol S22 Top 24 at Disney's Aulani Resort in Hawaii Part #1 Discussion

[Carrie_On]

3 minutes ago, mytake1 said:

Quintavious may not be as vulnerable as people here predicted.  The FB likes are still evolving, but there are several worse than him.

 

He was a child star on AGT.  So he could have people.

I’m thinking he’s gonna last another week now and Hailey and Jordan will be going home. They were at the very beginning of the show and weren’t that great. 

[StarWalker1]

10 minutes ago, Carrie_On said:

I don’t find Hailey to be that interesting and I actually think Jordan is better than her. 
I think she was more impressive on The Voice because she was excellent for a fourteen year old. She just doesn’t stand out for me among this cast. 
 

Blake has gone way wrong and needs to get himself together. He deserves to go home but I’m sure he’ll survive this round. He may not make the Final 14, though. 

to each their own but um ... anyways

[Carrie_On]

Just now, StarWalker1 said:

to each their own but um ... anyways

I should clarify lol. She’s technically a better singer but I think he has the better tone. 

[Anythingcanhappen]

1 hour ago, Solaris said:

How do you even pronounce kaibrienne

This is what I’ve been wondering… this name is a Tragedeigh… I mean cmon Kailey, Brianne etc were right there.

 

If I had to guess I’d guess KAY-bree-enn?

Edited April 8 by Anythingcanhappen

[m1key]

1 hour ago, Carrie_On said:

I don’t find Hailey to be that interesting and I actually think Jordan is better than her. 
I think she was more impressive on The Voice because she was excellent for a fourteen year old. She just doesn’t stand out for me among this cast. 
 

Blake has gone way wrong and needs to get himself together. He deserves to go home but I’m sure he’ll survive this round. He may not make the Final 14, though. 

Agreed. Hailey is obviously a very talented singer, but it's now clear to me that the "voice beyond her years" trope helped carry her on The Voice. She needs more time to find a more distinct sound - right now she just sounds like any other pop girl. I also feel like she has not been strategic with any of her song choices this season, and Idol is a competition that requires much more strategy with song choice than The Voice imo.

 

Hopefully I don't sound like too much of a hater, because I'm not! Just trying to respectfully bring a new perspective to the table

[KelseyW]

Blake was the worst tonight by far! Boy what a stinker. 

 

Course on YouTube AI said he "tackles Justin Biebers song...."

 

Nice NFL reference? Oy.  

[kenboy1]

Just watching the episode now on the West Coast. How is Blake “neck and neck” with Hailey in the Facebook likes? He sounded horrid. No one should finish below him in the votes.

[Anythingcanhappen]

Blake was embarrassingly bad. Terrible.

[Hsamid]

1 hour ago, Carrie_On said:

I don’t find Hailey to be that interesting and I actually think Jordan is better than her. 
I think she was more impressive on The Voice because she was excellent for a fourteen year old. She just doesn’t stand out for me among this cast. 
 

Blake has gone way wrong and needs to get himself together. He deserves to go home but I’m sure he’ll survive this round. He may not make the Final 14, though. 

I haven't been the biggest Hailey fan on AI.

 

But some of her The Voice performances were legitimately very good. Regardless of age. Her live playoffs and instant save in particular, were some of the best performances that round. It's the crystal clear sound and emotive delivery that made her stand out at her best. Her strength is pop ballads and not in the form of a powerhouse vocal. We haven't really gotten that. So I don't really agree with the "excellent because she was 14" narrative.

 

That being said, I think she should have waited years before joining another singing competition.

 

While she has improved, I don't think it's to the point that she's so much better than before. Compare it to someone like Wé who did wait multiple years,  and the improvement was immediately noticeable. 

[CarmenSandiego]

25 minutes ago, kenboy1 said:

Just watching the episode now on the West Coast. How is Blake “neck and neck” with Hailey in the Facebook likes? He sounded horrid. No one should finish below him in the votes.

Agreed, and I really think that he should go, but I fear that he’ll get by this round.

[kenboy1]

4 minutes ago, CarmenSandiego said:

Agreed, and I really think that he should go, but I fear that he’ll get by this round.

im going to say he’s not going to stay…he’s still at the bottom 2 in Facebook likes…

[CarmenSandiego]

Just now, kenboy1 said:

im going to say he’s not going to stay…he’s still at the bottom 2 in Facebook likes…

I hope so.  He’s the worst one and if Jordan outlasts him, I’ll be satisfied.

[wgm]

Best of the night - Females: 

 

1. Julia 

2. Nya 

3. Abi 

4. KB 

5. Mckenna 

On the fence - Jayna 

worst Hailey 

 

Best males: 

1. Quintavious 

2. Will 

3. KAYKO 

4. Jordan 

in the middle - Blake 

 

[QueenKalie]

Watching the videos on YouTube now since it's not up yet on Hulu.

 

McKenna - I had to watch this a couple times and I'll probably watch it some more times later but I absolutely loved it. Great song choice great performance big fan.

 

KB - I loved her as well great performance. She has a special gift to just make you feel something when she performes and that is more important than any vocal run you can do. The song choices wasn't my favorite but if it's her dad's favorite song than that's fine I'm glad she got to perform it for him.

 

Will - He sounded great and I'm sure he will gather a lot of votes for his performance. I personally thought the performance as a whole was kinda boring though. 

 

Quintavious - People actually seemed to like this so good for him I guess but I don't know why I  wasn't a fan.

 

Abi - she sung that song well and she's a good singer I am just not connecting with her like I am with some others.

 

 

Blake - He still has not lived up to his audition for me. After his audition I thought he was going to win but I no longer feel that way. He needs a lot more work than some of these other people do.

 

Nya- That was better than I was expecting it to be. I think she's probably safe for this round.

 

Kyako - Okay so that was the worst performance I heard so far. Parts of his performance were just painful to listen to.

 

 

Julia -  She sounded fine but powerhouses singing Adele aren't really my cup of tea which is fine.

 

Jayna - Another powerhouse but I think I prefer her over Julia. 

 

Jordan - This just did nothing for me honestly.

 

Hailey - weird song choice which I think held her back a bit but she sounded good on it at least. She was sounded better than several people though so hopefully she avoids the bottom 2.

 

[rockerannah]

Am I the only one who likes Jordan? Ya'll make it sound like his performance was bad. He sounded fine. It might not have been exciting but he at least sounded good which is far better than I can say about Blake. Yikes.

[QueenKalie]

17 minutes ago, rockerannah said:

Am I the only one who likes Jordan? 

Probably.

[Crisis]

I can't at Luke and Katy saying they haven't seen a male sing Sia. The indignity!

 

 

Not to mention there was a Sia Night in S15 where three males sang Sia, with one of them having what is considered to be one of the greatest all-time Idol performances:

 

 

[CarmenSandiego]

5 minutes ago, Crisis said:

I can't at Luke and Katy saying they haven't seen a male sing Sia. The indignity!

 

 

Not to mention there was a Sia Night in S15 where three males sang Sia, with one of them having what is considered to be one of the greatest all-time Idol performances:

 

 

They clearly forgot about Michael.  To be fair, so did I.

 

Anyway, are you writing up your rankings this season? I’m writing up my analysis of why most of the contestants lost.

[Crisis]

3 minutes ago, CarmenSandiego said:

They clearly forgot about Michael.  To be fair, so did I.

 

Anyway, are you writing up your rankings this season? I’m writing up my analysis of why most of the contestants lost.

 

A shame since it's considered to be his best performance.

 

As for the thread, unfortunately I will not be doing one this season. If I decide to do something, it will most likely be after the season.

[peachfuz]

ok, first impressions of each performance having not really watched a good chunk of the season beforehand, here we go

 

Hailey Mia: Brought about maybe 50% of the flair an upbeat song like this kinda desperately needs – maybe that's why the venue kinda swallowed her whole. She chose the wrong song to make a first impression with the voters, though this performance did remind me of how much I enjoy the little changes to chord progressions the Idol band likes to sprinkle in. Otherwise, by no means incompetent, but a little limp. Grade: B-

Jordan Anthony: Somehow felt both overbaked and undercooked at the same time. He put a lot into some of those crazy runs at the end of some of his verses and... not really much else. When performing Sia's music, people either need to match the momentum behind her voice's power or take on a radically different approach to song altogether, and guess what Jordan didn't do? Right off the bat, he's lost me. Grade: C+

Jayna Brown: If this is what she sounds like when she's performing under the weather, then I'm really excited for when she can really kick things into full gear. Everything I was missing with Hailey's performance was here in full swing, and while I still think the vocal ultimately suffered from song choice alone, she really made the most of her time on the stage. One of the few cases where someone has done something modern and uptempo during this round without getting eaten alive; that alone should put her through to the next round. Grade: B+

Julia Gagnon: Man, I really wanted to like this effort from her. If Hailey brought 50% to a powerful uptempo number with a healthy dose of diva behind it, Julia maybe put 20%. Sure, she nailed a couple of high notes here and there, but it's hard to be impressed when the performance was packed with dead air. When you look and sound completely out of your element on a song like this, you're putting yourself in a dangerous position, regardless of how great your voice actually is. She needs to do so much better if she wants to carry the Platinum Ticket frontrunner torch. Grade: C

Kayko: One of the better original songs anyone has performed for the voting rounds in the last few seasons underscored with a myriad of vocal problems. We can chalk it up to emotion all we'd like, but he can only whiff so many notes before people start raising eyebrows. But the guy's still got serious pipes, and he's a hell of a songwriter – if he can sort the emotion/vocal dichotomy out by the next round, we could be looking at a dark horse. Grade: B- (A- for the songwriting/artistry, C- for the vocal)

Nya: The easy highlight of the first half of the night, and thank God for that – I couldn't help but be a little nervous for her coming into this round, but her performance had a beautiful arc. Somehow, she helped me learn to love a song I can't stand hearing on singing competitions like Idol through sheer artifice and firepower. Kudos for not only cooking up such a strong arrangement, but for nailing nearly every beat of it effortlessly. I'm a big fan of theirs. Grade: A-

Blake Proehl: ... Oh, dear. Grade: D

Abi Carter: Effortlessly gorgeous. No one else felt so attuned to the very heart of their song quite like she did. Her tone is to die for, and she was able to bring some power without sacrificing the softer, more intimate moments of the song. I really can't be mad that she's a frontrunner at this point, not when she's performing like this. My personal favorite of the night. Grade: A

Quintavious: Something something don't sing Carrie Underwood something something bad edit something something okay genuinely I don't know why people aren't giving him any credit for bringing out the passion in this song? Like, yes, it's Carrie Underwood, but Lady K this guy isn't; he not only chose (in my opinion) one of Carrie's strongest pieces from her discography, but delivered it with fervor and firepower, all while turning in one of the impressive vocals of the night (save for the one glory note he whiffed, but hey, they can't all be winners). His performance was the first this season to genuinely get me a little teary-eyed, so, hey, the guy's gotta be doing something right. Let's give credit where credit's due. Grade: A- (downgraded from an A only for the glory note he beefed it on)

KB Richins: One of the most consistent vocals of the night to be sure, but, unfortunately, said vocal was delivered on maybe my least favorite song choice of the night. At this point, we all know she's got a little more in her than that; she'd benefit greatly from re-evaluating her approach to performance and consider choosing songs that aren't gonna take the audience to Sleepytime Junction. She's got a pristine tone with a little growl on its underbelly – the kind of voice that'd be great on some Grace Potter, or maybe some of Fleetwood Mac's grittier numbers. Grade: B

Will Moseley: Much as we nowadays collectively fear the reckoning of the male country singer every season since Chayce Beckham won, I have to thank folks like him and Noah Thompson for ushering in the kind of creativity we don't see from cowboys like him on, say, The Voice. He took an unexpected song choice and put a really interesting spin on it, and without butchering the melody at that! He didn't really burst out onto the scene, but, really, he didn't need to; it's clear he wanted to deviate from expectations a little, and, in that regard, the guy got what he wanted and more. Hope we just get a little more oomph from him in later rounds, though. Grade: B+
McKenna Faith Breinholt: Even though she got the pimp spot, I might have the least to say about her out of anyone I liked this episode. It was a solid vocal on a song I admittedly wished was a little more explosive (especially with someone like her who has such an incredible tone), and she felt really grounded in an episode where a lot of people either hit the ground running or completely bit it as soon as the band kicked in. She did a great job, but I'm hoping to be a little more excited about some of her later efforts in the season, because I'm only about 60% sold on her at this point. Still, she should be a shoe-in for the Top 10 at least.  Grade: B+

[CarmenSandiego]

4 hours ago, QueenKalie said:

Watching the videos on YouTube now since it's not up yet on Hulu.

 

McKenna - I had to watch this a couple times and I'll probably watch it some more times later but I absolutely loved it. Great song choice great performance big fan.

 

KB - I loved her as well great performance. She has a special gift to just make you feel something when she performes and that is more important than any vocal run you can do. The song choices wasn't my favorite but if it's her dad's favorite song than that's fine I'm glad she got to perform it for him.

 

Will - He sounded great and I'm sure he will gather a lot of votes for his performance. I personally thought the performance as a whole was kinda boring though. 

 

Quintavious - People actually seemed to like this so good for him I guess but I don't know why I  wasn't a fan.

 

Abi - she sung that song well and she's a good singer I am just not connecting with her like I am with some others.

 

 

Blake - He still has not lived up to his audition for me. After his audition I thought he was going to win but I no longer feel that way. He needs a lot more work than some of these other people do.

 

Nya- That was better than I was expecting it to be. I think she's probably safe for this round.

 

Kyako - Okay so that was the worst performance I heard so far. Parts of his performance were just painful to listen to.

 

 

Julia -  She sounded fine but powerhouses singing Adele aren't really my cup of tea which is fine.

 

Jayna - Another powerhouse but I think I prefer her over Julia. 

 

Jordan - This just did nothing for me honestly.

 

Hailey - weird song choice which I think held her back a bit but she sounded good on it at least. She was sounded better than several people though so hopefully she avoids the bottom 2.

 

 

 

Maybe I was a little too harsh on K.B.  I don't think that she was the best but I now think she was probably better than Jordan and maybe even Kayko, but behind the others.

[QueenKalie]

3 minutes ago, CarmenSandiego said:

 

 

Maybe I was a little too harsh on K.B.  I don't think that she was the best but I now think she was probably better than Jordan and maybe even Kayko, but behind the others.

I don't she was the best either but she was definitely better than those 2 guys.

[CarmenSandiego]

2 minutes ago, QueenKalie said:

I don't she was the best either but she was definitely better than those 2 guys.

 

You're probably right on that one.  Jordan was forgettable and Kayko is a better songwriter than a singer, unfortunately for him.

[QueenKalie]

2 minutes ago, CarmenSandiego said:

 

You're probably right on that one.  Jordan was forgettable and Kayko is a better songwriter than a singer, unfortunately for him.

Yeah Jordan was just forgettable and Kayko some of the stuff he was doing just sounded so off. I didn't really mind him in the previous rounds but this round it really stood out to me and bothered me.

[Carrie_On]

Based on performances, Jordan and Blake should go home. I like Jordan’s voice but he really brings nothing special to the show. Some of his runs sound good and others sound awful. Blake could get back in the game with the right ballad at the piano, but he was laughably bad last night. Stevie Wright’s “You Belong With Me” levels of cringe. 
 

But I THINK Hailey and Jordan will be leaving. Quintavious still isn’t 100% safe for me. Hailey has gotten a boring edit and while she sounded fine last night, the performance went nowhere. It was one of those performances Simon would call “So what?” Nothing about that song selection or her delivery of it earned her any new fans that will be compelled to vote for her. She was forgettable and that’s even worse than being horrible like Blake was. The same can be said about Jordan. Quintavious was better than I expected but he could get eliminated anyway like Emma Busse did because of a lack of a dedicated fan base.