S19.E03: Auditions, Part 3

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

Auditions across California – Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai – continue.

Airs February 28th.

[Annber03]

Dang, Ronda. That's one hell of a voice for a 19 year old to have. Good note to end the show on :).

I would've sent Mirs through over E.T. girl and the one who kept breaking into tears. I did like that his firehouse co-workers were all together to watch and cheer him on, though. 

So parents are naming their kids after Alanis Morissette now. I officially feel old. 

 

[Silver Raven]

God, that Girl Crush girl was awful.

 

[OLynn33]

What were they even thinking this week. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Snap thoughts on Audition #3:

The poor jingle writing guy they turned down will end up having a better voice than 40 to 50 of the people they put through to Hollywood.

Was that a joke? Was the guy dueting with his mom really sent through to Hollywood? WTactualF?

I don't want to spend a lot of brain power on ET girl, although I will say if you are going to (as a judge's panel) lose your shit over her affectations or "gimmick" and then you don't say a word about Hunter Metts who was 85% as bad, then you are just telling on yourselves a little bit..

Christian, the incredibly shy girl who sang Girl Crush..I sort of understand why they (especially Luke) wanted to fight for her. However the odds of her getting over her nerves and her extreme issues with singing in or on time during the pressure cooker that is Hollywood week seem incredibly long. Part of me wonders if they advanced her through so they can contrast her with the really cocky/aloof girl from last Saturday at some point during one of the Hollywood rounds.

It's also interesting to see who some of the younger singers are copying and taking inspiration from now. The girl from Cleveland, Mary Jo is totally singing from the school of Julia Michaels/Dua Lipa/Bebe Rexha/Halsey. I give her credit for having control over a strong vocal instrument, but it sounded like she was doing a Karaoke version of one of those 4 artists instead of really singing for herself. Same thing with Cecil Ray. If you listen to Sirius's The Highway country channel..he definitely sounds like any of half a dozen current male country artists who blend that twang with some R&B mixed in. Your Sam Hunt, or Chase Rice or Adam Doleac..

Total aside, but Mary Jo's song was by Tate McRae. The same Tate McRae who competed on that one SYTYCD Juniors season when she was like 11 and she dropped out because she had a chance to backup dance a tour for some big artist?

Other than being just a bit old-fashioned/dated Rhonda can really sing. One of the top 2 or 3 auditions we've heard so far. YMMV, of course.

 

[KHenry14]

Sending Hunter, crying girl, and creepy ET through is bad on the face of it, but denying jingle guy and fireman Mias is a disgrace.

Ronda has the pipes to win it all. So does Mary Jo. But MJ needs a haircut badly.

Also liked Alanis a LOT

 

And this show is sob story central.

[JayDub1987]

I didn't understand most of the decisions we saw this week. The maid who sang Girl Crush seemed like a sweetheart, but does she really have a chance of winning? No. Her timing is terrible and there's nothing remotely special about her voice.

ET? What in the blue hell was that?! Katy liked her because she's weird and it felt like she kinda goaded Lionel and Luke to push her through as well. That girl will get bounced early in Hollywood. 

Mias didn't get through because his voice was lacking "something," yet there was at least three other people worse than him who got a pass. Maybe he didn't cry enough?

Cecil? Nice guy, nothing remarkable. Sounds like every teenage guy who does a country cover at a high school talent show in a small town. But again, sad story. Gotta push him through. 

Mary Jo, Alanis and Ronda were the class of the episode, IMO. Outside of that, I sat there and wondered what the judges were thinking for the most part.

[peachmangosteen]

9 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Total aside, but Mary Jo's song was by Tate McRae. The same Tate McRae who competed on that one SYTYCD Juniors season when she was like 11 and she dropped out because she had a chance to backup dance a tour for some big artist?

I googled it and she got 3rd place on SYTYCD: The Next Generation so she doesn't seem to have dropped out but you are right that it is her.

I liked Alanis and Mary Jo the most from this group. I mean, Ronda sounded amazing but she likely will never choose a song I really like so I'll probably never be the interested in her.

[sempervivum]

Best of the night: Jennifer Hudson, looking and sounding like a goddess in that MasterCard ad. And she came in 7th on her season.

Honestly, there isn't a singer in this episode that I have any interest in seeing or hearing again.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

peachmangosteen, thanks for the clarification. I hadn't remembered that Tate actually made it all the way to the finale. I still feel like there was another contestant who did withdraw at the Dance Academy stage. Anyway, it's interesting that we are now hearing a song by her on AI.

I forgot all about Alanis. She was excellent. Probably my favorite voice of the two hours. Although when you see that she is 19, and Casey Bishop from the previous week was 15 I think a lot of people would've said that's a switcheroo on their ages. Casey seems to have a more "lived" personality (despite only singing in her bathroom) whereas Alanis comes off extremely young, right down to the kids toy used as her microphone.

Two others who deserve a mention, are the Pilot guy with a very delicate (in the vein of Jack Johson) voice and the girl from the giant family singing group. Mostly I was just surprised that they didn't list Branson, Missouri as their hometown and I thought again the judges laid it on really thick with the Pilot Guy. He does not strike me as someone who should make it through all of the Hollywood rounds but with their over the top praise I kind of sort of think he will (I say that as someone who stays spoiler free through these audition rounds).

[Ms Blue Jay]

Mary Jo:

 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

100% dead on, Ms Blue Jay!

[Ms Blue Jay]

Why did they say no to the Black firefighter Mias but yes to the 15 year old (or whatever) who had a shaky voice singing about a goddamn girl crush?  Is there any musician out there who can explain that?   That seems like a huge unfair bias towards anyone country (and white) over not..... 

I agree with most of you.  Alanis was wonderful.  

And you guys are right bringing up the jingle guy.  What's wrong with him, at least he is a freaking artist and not some scared child?

I admit that it took a loooooong time, but I think I hate Luke Bryan.  I am never going to watch the Voice because I hate (I'm never going to remember his name.  Gwen's boyfriend who they bought Sexiest Man Alive for) and I think Luke is like that but just hiding it better.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

55 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Mary Jo:

 

Oh my god another one!  E.T. W.T.F. send her home!!!!!!!!

[SassyCat]

When I see them picking people who are obviously off key and not very good at singing I come to the conclusion that they pick them because they need people to cut out as the number of participants gets less and less as the show gets to the big winner finale. There are so many good singers out there. Keep the best and pepper in the ones who won’t be winning, just filling in space for awhile.

[KHenry14]

21 minutes ago, SassyCat said:

When I see them picking people who are obviously off key and not very good at singing I come to the conclusion that they pick them because they need people to cut out as the number of participants gets less and less as the show gets to the big winner finale. There are so many good singers out there. Keep the best and pepper in the ones who won’t be winning, just filling in space for awhile.

You are partly correct. They do need a certain number of singers to fill out the show, so they may take some that are head scratchers.

 

With that said, we also need to remember that this is a TV show, so they need people like the Pitbull clone for comic relief/entertainment. ET also falls into that category, bu more into the freak show genre. But it is frustrating when they advance these people at the expense of people who can actually sing

[pezgirl7]

The best part of this episode for me was discovering a new (to me) artist, Tyler Childers, whose song Lady May was played in the background during the beginning of the episode. 😁

I think ET could be good, but she needs to enunciate and drop the shtick!

[peachmangosteen]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I admit that it took a loooooong time, but I think I hate Luke Bryan.  

Same. Although, his 'Is this another language? Is this in English?' when ET was singing was hilarious.

2 hours ago, pezgirl7 said:

The best part of this episode for me was discovering a new (to me) artist, Tyler Childers, whose song Lady May was played in the background during the beginning of the episode. 😁

The background songs have been fantastic in every episode. Does anyone know if there's a list of what songs play in each ep?

I forgot to mention how flabbergasted I was that the firefighter didn't get through. I fast forward the judges most of the time so I missed their explanations. How did they justify it?

[Ms Blue Jay]

6 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

The background songs have been fantastic in every episode. Does anyone know if there's a list of what songs play in each ep?

https://www.tunefind.com/show/american-idol/season-19

[OLynn33]

2 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Same. Although, his 'Is this another language? Is this in English?' when ET was singing was hilarious.

For real! His wtaf is happening right now head was the most honest reaction I've seen in a long time. So funny.

[Silver Raven]

22 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

otal aside, but Mary Jo's song was by Tate McRae. The same Tate McRae who competed on that one SYTYCD Juniors season when she was like 11 and she dropped out because she had a chance to backup dance a tour for some big artist?

Tate came in third in Season 13 of adult SYTYCD.

 

[peachmangosteen]

10 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

Tate came in third in Season 13 of adult SYTYCD.

No, it actually was the kid's one that she was on.

[LennieBriscoe]

Hey, peeps! My brief thoughts....but I might have the order mixed up.

--Cecil Ray Baker: Meh. Loves his baby girl.

--Singing Family: My ears!! But the daughter singing "Titanium" was very good.

--Graham DeFranco: Big WGWG. Didn't care for.

--Tom the Jingle Guy: No. Clever lyrics, though.

--Mary Jo Young: 19. Excellence in Cleveland!

--Xavier Washington: Black Yalie with quite the falsetto!

--Celeste Butler: Like Adam Lambert, a former cruise ship singer. Very good.

--Dzaki: Just Dzaki. Just okay.

--Christian: Yes, spelled that way. Molly Maid. Sent through?! Needs a metronome. At the least.

--Alanis Sofia: Excellent, with a powerful voice.

--Jeremias Williams: Young Black firefighter. Grew up EXTREMELY  POOR. Like, beyond. I was shocked and dismayed he was a "No." [See: Christian]

--Erika Perry: "E.T." WGirlWG. Cannot enunciate to save her life! Trying to be Amy Winehouse, maybe? 

--Hunter Metts: WGWG. Tenor. Didn't like at all. Katy and Luke declared "Top 10!"

AND THEN THERE WAS.........

--RONDA (Not Rhonda) FELTON: FINALLY TONIGHT, SOME TRUE STAR POWER!! Was homeless, with her mother. Not the most articulate contestant when asked about herself, but when she SANG---FABULOUS! I was in tears right along with Lionel! 

From the previews, we're  going to see some major talent next week, too!

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by LennieBriscoe

[mamadrama]

My family's favorite part was the first audition. The song playing in the background during his intro is by a guy named Tyler Childers. He wrote the song for his wife, Senora. Weird to hear him on TV. He's literally my neighbor. I've been friends with Senora and her family for years. She sang at my son's memorial service and my mother-in-law's, too. (We couldn't make it to England for her funeral so my friends held a service for us here.) We're a tiny mountain town in a part of the country few care about. It's weird and fun to see one of our people on the national stage. 

Rest of the episode was meh for me. 

[Maya]

This show reeks of being scripted this year (even more than usual).

Does anyone know how they’re doing Hollywood week this year? 

[spacefly]

Quote

The best part of this episode for me was discovering a new (to me) artist, Tyler Childers, whose song Lady May was played in the background during the beginning of the episode. 

I found him listening to John Prine Radio on Pandora, all his stuff is great. You might like Whiskey Meyers, Uncle Lucius, Three Tall Pines and Sturgill Simpson. All my new found rotation.

I thought the first country boy last week Chayce (maybe) sounded a lot like Tyler Childers.

[mamadrama]

On 3/1/2021 at 4:12 PM, pezgirl7 said:

The best part of this episode for me was discovering a new (to me) artist, Tyler Childers, whose song Lady May was played in the background during the beginning of the episode. 😁

I think ET could be good, but she needs to enunciate and drop the shtick!

Senora is also very talented. You should check her out, too. I don't know him as well as her (he's not from my county, she is, and they live here), but she's a very good singer (so are her parents) and a genuinely nice person. She gets lost in the shuffle a bit. 

I do NOT understand some of their reasoning this season. I liked the firefighter more than the nervous girl. And ET...she had to be scripted. Right?