S19.E11: All Star Duets and Solos (2)

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

Following Sunday's kickoff to the All Star Duet round, "American Idol" continues the two-night event. The remaining contestants will perform for their last shot at making it to live shows.

Airs April 5th.

[thesupremediva1]

That... was unequivocally one of the worst nights of singing I’ve ever heard. So much shouting, so many totally off-key performances. It was shockingly bad.

I can’t figure out how so many folks look so great in Hollywood and then crumble when they hit the big stage.

I don’t know if the judges are hard of hearing or totally checked out, but some of the things they have standing ovations for were embarrassing. Part of the risk of bringing on duet partners is that some performances with big names might suck, and you have to actually critique that. Blowing smoke makes everyone look bad.

[Ms Blue Jay]

First half:

This show started out R O U G H for me.  I found nothing of interest, honestly, until Hannah sang.  I know that people find her schtick is wearing thin, and I think sometimes she sounded really bad, but her voice is just so different than the other voices and I enjoyed her.

The show started to get much much much better from there.

I cannot believe the gets of BRANDON FREAKING BOYD (!!!!!!!!!!) and Jewel.  Brandon feels like too much of an advantage for Chayce.  That song "Drive" is so cool, famous, and so good, but then again it's still technically the 90s so maybe I'm overstating things.  The youth today likely don't know it. Brandon is so damn hot and so damn talented.  I couldn't concentrate on Chayce at all, whatsoever.  I cannot see or hear him when someone like Brandon is on the stage.

Same effect with Mary Jo and Jewel singing "Foolish Games", another iconic song of my time. Sorry!  (JEWEL.  LOOKS.  THE.  SAMMMMMMME.  She looks amazing.)

Colin picked a great song for his solo ("Locked out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars), but I think I just really like that song.  He did a decent job with it. But......... I just don't find a lot of these people memorable.

I was SHOCKED to see Liahona in sweats and a pit-stained t-shirt.  And then I thought, am I just an out of touch (old) Millennial?  Am I being sexist and heteronormative?   Because I didn't even notice what the guys wore.  I just......... it made me question a lot of things.  LOL.  So maybe she's teaching me something.    I'm glad that Liahona sneakily stood up for herself and publicly stated that she was simply trying to connect with "Stay" by Rihanna/Mikky Ekko but was then torn apart by the judges.  That's a damn good story whether it's true or not.  Screw you Katy.  

Edited April 6, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Annber03]

1 minute ago, thesupremediva1 said:

That... was unequivocally one of the worst nights of singing I’ve ever heard. So much shouting, so many totally off-key performances. It was shockingly bad.

Regarding the bolded part, yeah, I thought the same thing . I think last night's batch of contestants were generally much stronger. 

That "Both Sides Now" duet felt like something out of some old-school musical film. I'm not sure slowing the song down that much worked for it. Changing up a song can be a very risky endeavor and some of these songs felt like they didn't really need that much changing.

(That being said, Jason and PJ's take on "How Deep is Your Love" was rather interesting. Again, the vocals were a little over the top, but I did like what they did with it musically. It felt like a natural modern update of the song.)

[DietCokeJunkie]

Dear God, Hannah Everhard was so bad. Mr. DietCokeJunkie looked up from his phone in disgust and asked if we could turn the tv off. Hope nobody’s doing vote for the worst this year! And the constantly bringing up the ribs is not cute. Just stop. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by DietCokeJunkie
Forgot to mention the ribs, lol

[TheGreenKnight]

I enjoyed Madison and Casey. As for the rest, Liahona and the second guy who performed with Jewel (the one that was scared to do the high notes) both have voices that I find interesting to a degree, if they can come out of their shell a bit more.

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

That "Both Sides Now" duet felt like something out of some old-school musical film. I'm not sure slowing the song down that much worked for it. Changing up a song can be a very risky endeavor and some of these songs felt like they didn't really need that much changing.

Is that Ava and Josh Groban duet?  I feel like I'm in church 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Last half:

Driver's Licence by Olivia Rodrigo - talk about an advantage.  Ava August picked a song that the youth is just NUTS for (because she is the youth) so that was very smart whether she meant it to be or not.

Songs that should not be slowed down ( @Annber03 ). "Chandelier" by Sia, WTF?  and "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa.  THESE ARE BOTH CLUBBING SONGS  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NO.

Oh shit, Hunter did a good job with "Who Will Save Your Soul?"  I didn't expect that..... good for him.  Another amazing song.

God Jewel is so hot............ 

Last song, "Decode" by Paramore!!!!!!!!   Another greaaaaaaat song!  But the original singer Hayley Williams has a very, very, very strong voice.  That's very hard to imitate.  I turned my volume up to 100 and it was still not enough.  Casey's just not there.

The show's sweethearts definitely got Brandon Boyd (Chayce Beckham and Casey.) 100%.  AND Casey gets the last performance of the night.

I added all the songs here in chronological order, except for two which I didn't know.  The last performance with Jason Aldean and the last performance with Josh Groban.  

https://www.tunefind.com/show/american-idol/season-19/105716

My Mom is freaking out about Liahona's sweatpants.  I am my mother's daughter all right.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

That "Both Sides Now" duet felt like something out of some old-school musical film. I'm not sure slowing the song down that much worked for it. Changing up a song can be a very risky endeavor and some of these songs felt like they didn't really need that much changing.

My Mom votes yes on the song

Edited April 6, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[radiochik]

Just wow.  After Sunday's show, I was expecting so much more from last night's performances.  Most were awful.  This is why I hate when they split the Top 24 in half to decide who is going through.  Someone who was good Sunday night will go home over someone who was unbelievably bad last night.  

I'm so used to Katy's odd get-ups that I was almost shocked at how beautiful she looked last night.  I forgot how pretty she is.

Still beautiful is Brandon Boyd.  He has definitely aged well.  

I am not a Josh Groban fan.  He's talented but it's not my thing. Robbie Williams lives in LA - they should have had him come on and sing it with Beane.  But really, I don't like when anyone else sings it.  Jessica Simpson? No.  David Archuleta? No.  

Hollywood Week, I was a fan of both Chayce and Hannah.  After last night, I'm off the Hannah train.  Lord, that was bad.  Chayce wasn't great either but I'm pretty sure he'll go through so I'll see how he does next week.  He and Boyd didn't fit well.  That duet was NOT good.  

Add me to those who were surprised at Liahona's choice of outfit.  I have no problem with athleisure and being comfortable while you sing but you are performing on a national tv show.  It would help if you didn't look like you rolled out of bed. I'd even take that t shirt with jeans over sweatpants.  Or even a decent pair of joggers.  I didn't get why Katy was giving her props for hair and makeup but didn't comment on the clothing. To be fair,  I also thought Colin looked a mess too.   

Was never a Jewel fan but she sounded great last night.  It's never good when the celebrity outshines the AI contestant but she did that to both of her duet partners.  

I'd rather keep more of Sunday night's contestants than keep 8 of this night's contestants.  

 

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

1 hour ago, radiochik said:

Was never a Jewel fan but she sounded great last night.  It's never good when the celebrity outshines the AI contestant but she did that to both of her duet partners.  

The idea of the celebrity duet is very flawed.  There's no way that Jewel, Brian McKnight, Brandon Boyd won't sound amazing singing their hits.  It's amazing for me as a home viewer and I loved it, but I have very little recollection of the contestants in those duets.  It's like this trick, of American Idol acknowledging that these contestants are going to suck at first.  And it's a trick where they get do all sorts of manipulations to help their "favourites" by giving them special partners/songs/placements in the week and show.  

[peachmangosteen]

Yea, this episode was decidedly worse than Sunday's. I still liked a few of the performances though.

I was shocked to see Lihona with makeup on. She hasn't seemed to been wearing any at any other point. I figured maybe they were like, "Let's dress you up for the big stage!" and she settled on letting them do her makeup but still being able to wear the clothes she always wears. 

I am starting to really like Hunter and the guy who was in the boy band. I think they're both kind of adorable and I like their voices and the songs they're choosing.

Casey is amazing. I don't wanna agree with Luke, but I think she could easily win this.

[sempervivum]

Well, I liked last night's show much better than Sunday's. I thought the celebrity partners were generally better, too.

I like Hannah's tone and attitude, but she's proven several times now that she isn't stage-ready.

I've been on the Bean train from the beginning, but that wasn't good. I also don't understand his eye makeup.

I wonder if Hunter knows that Trent Harmon did 'Chandelier' a few years ago on Idol, and actually hit the high notes? I like Hunter, but that choice was puzzling.

Speaking of puzzling, apparently we're about to get hit with a 'twist':

Spoiler

 The Return of...

 

[leighdear]

Once I saw Brandon Boyd, everybody else kind of faded away.  I had to queue up my video of "Drive" to watch him perform it younger and shirtless.  *LOL*  Delicious. 

Jewel is still such a star, nobody can eclipse her on stage, it was almost unfair to put a newbie up there with her.  But I think they gave her the-hat-formerly-belonging-to-Wyatt.  Not a good look for her. 

Katy looked like Courtney Love from a distance.  I'm really tired of her.  Really.  More tired than she is, being a new mom.  She's a new mom, ya know.  Does everybody know she's a new mom?  Because I'm pretty sure she's a new mom. 

Beane is just not my cup of whatever is trendy now.  He'll have a very short shelf life if he makes it far in.  I think he's fodder. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by leighdear

[LennieBriscoe]

I had high hopes, after the initial auditions. 

Then they cut Nia Renee. 

Four episodes devoted to duets. Feh. Didn't bother watching Sunday, and shouldn't have bothered Monday. 

I cannot abide Hannah. Lihona is fodder, if not this coming weekend, then soon after. Chayce leaves me cold. Too many others sound the same to me. And I know Grace won't get the votes. 

Who was that Rock chick at the end? She, a WGWG, and maybe Willie are my bets now for T3. 

[Annber03]

6 hours ago, radiochik said:

Robbie Williams lives in LA - they should have had him come on and sing it with Beane.  But really, I don't like when anyone else sings it.  Jessica Simpson? No.  David Archuleta? No.  

Haven't heard Archuleta's cover of "Angels", but I agree that that's not really a song that just anyone can sing. Jessica Simpson's cover is awful. 

[peachmangosteen]

If anyone wants to discuss the rumored twist, please take it to the Spoilers & Spec thread. Thanks!

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Belated thoughts:

Jason is desperate. He's a guy who thought he would've made it by 21 and he hasn't yet. The desperation oozes through his pores.

Madison is kind of the female Jason. She's been at this for years too. Her curly red hair is more memorable than her voice at this point.

Beane, if he makes it through it's on the strength of his duet with Josh Groban. His Dua Lipa reimagining went a bit too far into left field.

Hannah, her solo was about as bad as Cecil's solo from the first group of 12. Her duet with Jason Aldean was an improvement, but still not that great.

Mary Jo, she's the quintessential awkward teen. She didn't understand what "unison" meant? Really?

Chayce, I actually thought his parts of "Drive" were not great. Instead of cutting through, his vocals felt kind of dull and too blunt.

Colin, is the free spirit of the season. He's the anti-Jason. But he did pick a great and memorable Bruno Mars song for his solo..

Liahona, Well you never totally know what you are going to get with Liahona. I guess that's a good thing?

Ava, Honestly the combo of her solo and her duet with JG...I thought she was best of the night.

Caleb, I think actually just being able to interact with Jason Aldean was helpful to Caleb. I'm very interested to see what he does with his next solo performance (I'm guessing he makes it through to the Top 16). He could use a little more balance in term's of his voice, but he did get a taste of that in Flyover States so maybe he'll be able to take that into future performances.

Hunter, Ooh...Chandelier was a trainwreck. Even if Lionel and Luke wouldn't come out and say it directly...they still kind of said it. He's another one, if he survives it'll be based on his Jewel duet or (more likely) his general popularity/likeability from previous rounds.

Casey, Jeez Luke. Asking a barely 16 year old girl to singlehandedly "bring rock back". No pressure there or anything. That said, even at 16 she has the best female rock voice AI has had in eons. The way Decode was raw and almost a little unhinged...I cannot wait to see what other songs she brings out. If anything, I wish Brandon Boyd would've been up for an even harder song from Incubus's catalog. They would've slayed on something like Pardon Me or Anamoly..

 

 

[Blissfool]

Wow I thought Ava August's version of Driver's License was so bad. 

Also, I think Ava looks and acts like Taylor Swift. 

[radiochik]

15 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Haven't heard Archuleta's cover of "Angels", but I agree that that's not really a song that just anyone can sing. Jessica Simpson's cover is awful. 

He did it during his season on Idol.  I remembered that because he called it a cover of a Jessica Simpson song which confused me and then I found out she had a hit with it in the US.

6 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

 

Mary Jo, she's the quintessential awkward teen. She didn't understand what "unison" meant? Really?

 

Casey, Jeez Luke. Asking a barely 16 year old girl to singlehandedly "bring rock back". No pressure there or anything. That said, even at 16 she has the best female rock voice AI has had in eons. The way Decode was raw and almost a little unhinged...I cannot wait to see what other songs she brings out. If anything, I wish Brandon Boyd would've been up for an even harder song from Incubus's catalog. They would've slayed on something like Pardon Me or Anamoly..

 

 

I can't believe I forgot the whole "unison" thing in my post.  Shades of Kellie Pickler, I guess.  She went down a few points in my book after that - she's 19, she should know what "unison" means. 

Anamoly is my favorite Incubus song and I would have loved to see them sing that.

[MarylandGirl]

On 4/6/2021 at 9:23 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

The idea of the celebrity duet is very flawed.  There's no way that Jewel, Brian McKnight, Brandon Boyd won't sound amazing singing their hits.  It's amazing for me as a home viewer and I loved it, but I have very little recollection of the contestants in those duets.  It's like this trick, of American Idol acknowledging that these contestants are going to suck at first.  And it's a trick where they get do all sorts of manipulations to help their "favourites" by giving them special partners/songs/placements in the week and show.  

I agree. I feel like Jewel in particular seemed to be showing off her voice, doing lots of vocal flourishes, which made the contestants pale in comparison (I initially typed "fail in comparison," which might be more accurate!). It felt like the others were more acting as partners and trying to support the contestants as much as they could without intentionally outshining them.

Really, it would have been more fair if the artists hadn't been able to sing their own songs (though not all of them did). Or to just mentor the contestants on how to sing the song, but then not done a duet. I did enjoy most of the artists interacting with the contestants.

[ForReal]

31 minutes ago, MarylandGirl said:

I agree. I feel like Jewel in particular seemed to be showing off her voice, doing lots of vocal flourishes, which made the contestants pale in comparison (I initially typed "fail in comparison," which might be more accurate!). It felt like the others were more acting as partners and trying to support the contestants as much as they could without intentionally outshining them.

Really, it would have been more fair if the artists hadn't been able to sing their own songs (though not all of them did). Or to just mentor the contestants on how to sing the song, but then not done a duet. I did enjoy most of the artists interacting with the contestants.

Yeah, it's an odd dynamic. The mentors know how to focus the attention on themselves and throw a glance or two to the contestants at the right times, while the contestants seem to keep looking at the mentors in a deferential way. I kept waiting for the contestants to have *moments* in their duets, and I don't know if it's because they couldn't or wouldn't.

I did not give Ava a second thought this whole season but thought she was the best of the night last night. Best of both nights, even.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I don't think Jewel was showing off.  I think that's how she sings the song.  I wouldn't want her to temper it or change it to accommodate the contestant.

There were definitely past seasons where celebrities came and just mentored the singers - no duet.  One of my favourites was Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal mentoring a contestant named Colton Dixon.  I think he sang Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper and Gwen and Tony said that's the song they wished they had written.  I used to watch that clip all of the time but it's been removed from YouTube I think.  Gwen harmonizing with Colton backstage was very pretty and I'm sure they taught him a thing or two.  He was so blown away by it he asked her to duet with him and she said "This is not about me right now."  LOL.  How things have changed with this show.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[filmfan2480]

I feel like I'm living in an alternate reality.  To me, Ava was far & away the best of the night.  What a talent, and at that age.  Her voice is angelic, clear, full-voiced, nuanced.  And I loved her duet with Josh Groban -- maybe because I've loved that song since hearing it in 'Love Actually'.

[pezgirl7]

On 4/6/2021 at 6:58 AM, radiochik said:

I am not a Josh Groban fan.  He's talented but it's not my thing. Robbie Williams lives in LA - they should have had him come on and sing it with Beane.  But really, I don't like when anyone else sings it.  Jessica Simpson? No.  David Archuleta? No.  

It seems like all the celebrities agreed to make an appearance so they could advertise a new album or tour. Angels is on Josh's latest album, and I think he might be going on tour. I saw him perform the song recently on a talk show.