The Buzz with CCX - Season 22 Episode 13

[ScarletDevilCCX]

Tonight's mentor is Meghan Trainor. Abi leads off with a Taylor Swift song--didn't catch which one because the cat was pestering me for food but it wasn't one I was familiar with. It wasn't her best work, and even Luke agrees. 64. Also, I had to start this from my phone because my computer randomly decided to require a reboot. Katy picks me up; it's called "All Too Well". Ryan's in a Taylor Swift Eras Tour T-shirt. Will Moseley is up second, singing Chris Stapleton's "Starting Over", and I'm giving it an 84 but I can't say much more because I started zoning out after I'd decided I liked it.

 

Fire-Crotch again. Jayna was a Kidz Bop Kid! At the time that they covered "All About That Bass", no less. She's singing Rihanna's "Diamonds" (I've made it onto the computer now), and while I'm not a fan of her hairstyle, her singing was a solid 85. ...Oh. Last year in Hollywood, she met Kaya, the contestant who was best friends with Season 19's late runner-up Willie Spence. This was his signature song on Idol.

 

Mia's singing Miranda Lambert's "Over You". Meghan's been touring with Kelsea Ballerini and FaceTimes her to talk to Mia. ...Okay the top of her dress legitimately just looks like a bra. You cannot tell me that that isn't just a bra with a skirt attached to it. Snark about her wardrobe aside, that was magnificent. 97. How are these "two yeses one no" contestants running circles around the competition?

 

Next week, Shania Twain will be the mentor and both Just Sam and Scotty McCreery will be performing. Up next is Roman Collins and he's singing Katy Perry's "Roar". ...So you're saying you don't want to be in this competition any longer? ...Nope. It sounded bad in the mentor session, but his reimagining actually kind of worked on stage. Still not great, but 67 is okay. The judges loved it, and Katy asks to try out that version on her next tour (also, her religious parents are big Roman fans). Jack Blocker's up next and he's doing The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights". I'm impressed. He's reigned in the overemoting (still very expressive and always will be), and he recognized that he wouldn't be able to do a straight cover and instead adapted it to fit his style. Katy agrees, praising his brain, his strategy, and comparing him to Mumford and Sons. 88.

 

Emmy Russell is dipping out of her country wheelhouse, singing Selena Gomez's "Lose You To Love Me". 87 86, but again, only half paying attention because I realized that I still didn't have the numbers down for people I didn't vote for last night and Jayna's probably getting my vote tonight. Triston's singing Luke Combs's "Beautiful Crazy" and dedicating it to his girlfriend Paris; Meghan asks him to FaceTime her so she could meet her. Meghan says Triston is "50 years old in the best way". It's not his best performance, but that's because he's just that good. 82. Lionel says "Now we know you're actually human", seeing him blush when his girlfriend came on.

 

Julia's singing "Something In the Orange", no idea the artist. Loving tonight's wardrobe choice, and the song starts off slow but whoa does she have some power notes. 87 and the one-point adjustment to Emmy's score to give nobody the same score; man these scores are falling into a tight range tonight.

 

Before continuing the current contestants, we have "Hell Together" from Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta. He has some facial hair, but otherwise doesn't look that different than he did at 16. Oh, he came out as gay a couple years ago! And when he did, he stepped away from the church, and he thought he'd be estranged from his mother but shortly after, she stepped away too, and said that if he was going to hell, then they'd all go to hell together, and that inspired the song. Next, Kaibrienne is singing "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. From one Utahan to another. ...KB's back! ...Well, she needs to lean in to those big notes a bit more; she's holding back too much. Or is she just not strong enough? I am noting some of the same quibbles I had about her last night wait no here she goes. 93.

 

Meghan will be back in two weeks for the finale. McKenna was still recovering during the mentor session so they did their mentor session virtually. She's singing Taylor Swift's "Cardigan", another one I'm not familiar with. Have I lost touch? ...okay, yeah, it's obviously a more recent song because it's actually "cardigan". Can't believe Taylor's pandering to zoomers. Well, McKenna seems to have recovered; this is a 99. And now Ryan's in a cardigan. ...We're coming down to the final contestant of the night, and I've only not voted for two people.

 

Kayko is singing "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra. He wants to go rock on a pop night after intentionally avoiding rock on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night--zig when they zag. And again, he's everything that teenage me listened to. This is a much harder version of this song... Technically speaking, it's one of the weaker performances of the night. 70. But he's got my vote. Sorry, Abi, I've loved you up until now, but you had an off-night on one of the best nights ever.

 

Two people going home. First to be safe is Abi. Okay, fair. McKenna is also safe, as is Will. Kayko is fourth to be safe and fifth is Kaibrienne. Mia Matthews is sixth--that's all three of the true standouts. Jack Blocker is seventh, and eighth is Emmy. Ninth is Triston. And as the rest of IDF was predicting, Julia's the last one safe; Jayna and Roman go home. I'm a little disappointed that Jayna's going home, but it's a strong field, and it was definitely Roman's time to leave.