The Buzz with CCX - Season 22 Episode 15

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Nope. I'm pretty sure I came up with the whole "Buzz" thing after the pandemic started, when I didn't have to worry about working the next day. I had a bit of a hangover this morning, and it was even hotter today than yesterday. I have work tomorrow. No drink tonight. Colton Dixon, Melinda Doolittle, and Danny Gokey are here for the tribute to Mandisa, which is odd because none of them were from Season 5. Will Moseley's choices are "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash, "Stone" by Whiskey Myers, and ...yeah, I didn't move fast enough to get all three in, and the third one was the one he didn't even consider, eventually going with Folsom Prison Blues. ...I think he's going too upbeat with it. The song literally has "Blues" in the name. 58 for the so-so song and disconnect with the lyrics. Will guesses that Lionel picked it, because Luke would be the only one to know the Whiskey Myers song and Katy would've picked the Chris Stapelton song. Lionel denies it at first...but Will was correct. For the wrong reasons, mind you, because Katy was actually the one who picked "Stone". Kaibrienne will be up second, but up first, the debut of a trailer for a new Disney "live-action" movie: Mufasa. Yes, they're making a prequel to the Lion King. It'll be here December 20. I'm...kind of interested? Lion King was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is doing the score.

 

Kaibrienne's choices are "Take a Bow" by Rihanna, "traitor" by Olivia Rodrigo, and "greedy" by Tate McRae. She picked "traitor", and while it's a step back from last night, that's still plenty good. Wait, I might've spoke too soon. I don't normally break the century this early in the show, but we've got shows on back-to-back nights and the person who earned it last night stayed basically just as strong! 102! Kaibrienne says she originally thought this was Luke's pick but now she's leaning towards Katy. She ends up choosing Luke, but nope, it was Katy. McKenna's up third and we've got duets returning, with Emmy and Jack covering Lionel--oh, right, they said off the top of the show that the judges' songs would be on the docket. Wait, if those two are doing a Lionel song, who's going to be covering Luke? ...Oh, right, Will and Triston. We've got so many country singers this year that even after losing one last night, we've still got three true country singers and a country rocker.

 

Emmy and Jack sing "Hello". It starts with a Jack solo, then an Emmy solo. The sound department is working well on this one--there's not a moment where they're truly "dueting" but both of them play backup to the other at times. 84, and I'd say Jack probably shined a bit more. Lionel is happy, and comments on how both of them had their moments of doubting themselves but they worked well together. McKenna's choices are "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, "Angels Like You" by Miley Cyrus, and "Everywhere I Go" by Lissie. She loves the second song and had been told that she should sing it even before it was an option, but when she first heard the third song, she cried. This song's also about angels, and it makes her think of her birth mom--oh, yeah, she's the one whose birth parents were musicians and died young. Speaking of which, McKenna still seems to be stuck in an earlier era of Idol. This is the type of performance that would've fit in in the early seasons. Not so much in 2024. 48. She thinks she picked Lionel's song, Katy picked the Miley song, and Luke picked the Pat Benatar song. Nope; Lionel picked Benatar, Luke picked Miley, and the Lissie song was Katy's; she's up 2-1-0. Apparently McKenna was performing barefoot, and the fact that I didn't even notice should tell you all you need to know about how little I care for McKenna. Today's World Wish Day, the anniversary of the original Make-A-Wish. Jack will be up fourth, but I feel like we should also have another duet? Unless we're going 3-3-2, but that seems a tad off.

 

In two weeks, the Top 5 will go to Walt Disney World in Orlando and the Disney theme will be making its annual appearance. Jack's choices are "Heading South" by Zac Bryan, "Earned It" by The Weeknd, and "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson. Of course, he's picking the Willie Nelson song; his inspiration as an artist. It starts slow, almost talking, then gets...overexaggerated. He's falling back into his old bad habits. 64. He's married. He guesses that Lionel picked the song, but he's wrong; it's Katy again. Next up, as expected it's Will and Triston doing the Luke song, then Abi will be fifth to perform.

 

The song is "What Makes You Country", not a Luke Bryan song I'm familiar with. 93. Abi's up fifth and her choices are "His Eye is On the Sparrow" (Traditional), "Dangerous Woman" by Ariana Grande, and "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. She saw the third and immediately was like "yeah", but the traditional song caught her attention. She ends the pre-taped session "undecided", but I saw her outfit for tonight; it's obvious she went with "Bring Me to Life". ...Goddamnit, you're really going to make me do this. 108! Abi thinks Katy chose this, but nope, Luke's finally on the board! Julia's up sixth, but there's no duet announced. We are getting four duets, right?

 

Julia's choices are "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland/Eva Cassidy, "Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson, and "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion. And it seems like we're getting, for the first time, something other than a straight cover of the original or a straight cover of Brother Iz's version; kind of has elements of both. 94. She eventually comes up with Katy as who she thought picked it. Wrong. Luke's got #2. ...Amazingly, that won't even be enough to get my vote, probably. I don't know. The tribute to Mandisa is up next.

 

Oh, right, all three of these singers also were very strongly Christian. They're singing "Shackles (Praise You)" which Mandisa sang on the show . Obviously since it's three established artists, this is the real performance of the night. Oh, Melinda and Mandisa were background singers together before Idol! I knew Melinda was a background singer before Idol but I didn't know Mandisa was, let alone that the two of them worked together. ...Oh, they are putting the other four contestants in a quartet.

 

Quartet time now, Abi/McKenna/Julia/Kaibrienne on "Wide Awake". Julia's unfortunately in a sleeveless dress again. ...I think Abi was actually the worst in this group, and McKenna the best. Crazy, I know. 88. "Mountain Music" by Alabama was the first option, and the one he initially picked was "Sand In My Boots" by Morgan Wallen, but he considered switching to Tim McGraw's...I'm not sure what because he stuck with the Morgan Wallen song. *sigh...* 90, but I can't vote for someone covering MAGA Morgan. Lionel gets a second point, which assures Katy a share of the title...but what if Emmy doesn't pick Katy's song? ...Oh, right, it means the two judges who won will have to decide together who gets the save.

 

Emmy's up last, and her choices are "Here You Come Again" by Dolly Parton, "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall, and..."Coal Miner's Daughter" by Loretta Lynn. They went there. And she's going there, singing a tribute to her late grammy. She's really shown a lot of growth, hasn't she? When she got here, she felt like she wasn't really getting to be herself, that she was never going to escape Loretta's shadow. 105. And Katy did win the challenge alone, 4-2-2.

 

The first contestant to be safe by America is Julia Gagnon. Second is Emmy Russell. Two for two on people I voted for. But Will is third to make it, and that's...maybe problematic. Fourth is Jack Blocker, so it's McKenna or bust for a good elimination. Triston is fifth, and sixth is...Abi Carter. Boom or bust. Katy's bringing the other two judges in anyway. Katy's crying, and loves them both, but she picks McKenna. I had a feeling Kaibrienne wouldn't get saved, almost no matter who she was up against.