The Buzz with CCX - Season 22 Episode 12

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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