S19.E10: All Star Duets and Solos (1)

[peachmangosteen]

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Contestants will showcase their talent by performing duets with surprise celebrity guests for a chance to make it to live shows.

Airs April 4th.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Trying to make this chronological for you all:

I thought Alanis did wonderfully (Alive by Sia, and Shallow) and I was surprised by all the criticisms.  Cassandra, I do not get at all at this point.

The most FUN I had during a performance was Alyssa doing "I'm Your Baby Tonight" by Whitney Houston.  I just love love love that song.  LOL.  I was singing the whole time.  But,  I thought Alyssa sounded amazing, especially for a Gen Z kid who doesn't even know the song.

I'm sure Kat McPhee is nice and all, so I feel bad, but she got outsung but everyone she sang next to and her Botox is so distracting.  I was shocked to see her singing songs by Celine and Whitney.  Just..... why?  I assume that's what she did during Season (4 or 5?) but damn, I just don't think that's her wheelhouse.  I would not have picked those songs or artists for her at all.

It was such a PLEASURE seeing Brian McKnight on my screen singing those classic songs ("Back at One" and George Michael's "Careless Whisper", which Brian has his own version of).  He looks amazing and sounds AMAZING.  That was such a treat for someone like me who grew up with his songs.  Just wow.  I hope he wasn't risking his health to go on this show.  LOL.  (And I hope Lionel is completely ok).

I have no idea what any of the music was when Cecil, Graham, and Wyatt were singing.  Nothing against them, I really do like Cecil as a person, I just don't know this genre and I have no idea how to comment.

I'm a little confused by the duet between Joss Stone and Grace.  I think Joss is very talented but she seemed kind of yelly and I couldn't even HEAR Grace.  Maybe I'm nuts.  However, I really liked Grace's solo (Jessie J's "Queen").  And I normally don't get much from her.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Annber03]

Just now, Ms Blue Jay said:

I thought Alanis did wonderfully (Alive by Sia, and Shallow) and I was surprised by all the criticisms. 

I really liked her, too. Especially on her duet with Jimmie, I thought they sounded quite nice together. 

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The most FUN I had during a performance was Alyssa doing "I'm Your Baby Tonight" by Whitney Houston.  I just love love love that song.  LOL.  I was singing the whole time.  But,  I thought Alyssa sounded amazing, especially for a Gen Z kid who doesn't even know the song.

I was with Katharine on her reaction upon hearing that :p. But yeah, Alyssa did good on it. 

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It was such a PLEASURE seeing Brian McKnight on my screen singing those classic songs.  He looks amazing and sounds AMAZING.  That was such a treat for someone like me who grew up with his songs.  Just wow.

"Careless Whisper" was a really good choice of song for him, wow. It fits right in his wheelhouse. I'd be all for hearing him do a full studio version of that song at some point. Also, you know the guy playing sax was having loads of fun getting to do such an iconic saxophone bit :D. 

And man, I haven't heard "Back at One" in years, so it was fun hearing that one again. 

I liked Joss and Anilee's version of "Tell Me Something Good"-that's a tough song to do, but they had a lot of fun with it. And Willie's version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" had kind of a Luther Vandross vibe about it that worked for me :). 

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

"Careless Whisper" was a really good choice of song for him, wow. It fits right in his wheelhouse. I'd be all for hearing him do a full studio version of that song at some point. Also, you know the guy playing sax was having loads of fun getting to do such an iconic saxophone bit :D. 

Brian has released his own version:

Here's another slowed down version apparently:

2 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

And man, I haven't heard "Back at One" in years, so it was fun hearing that one again. 

I liked Joss and Anilee's version of "Tell Me Something Good"-that's a tough song to do, but they had a lot of fun with it. And Willie's version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" had kind of a Luther Vandross vibe about it that worked for me :). 

Yeah, "Back at One" IMMEDIATELY takes me back to that time.

I agree, Willie did a really good job. Unexpected song choices but they worked.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Annber03]

Oh, cool! Well, there we go, then, off to listen to that :). Thanks!

[Ms Blue Jay]

37 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Oh, cool! Well, there we go, then, off to listen to that :). Thanks!

He seems to really like this song so search Brian McKnight + Careless Whisper on YouTube to see all his versions!  😄

I forgot to say I really enjoyed Jimmie Allen.  I do not remember from his original season of AI but he was great.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Diana Berry]

Were they lip syncing tonite? Or was my local feed just wonky 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Snap Thoughts:

I think the kids in tomorrow's 12 lucked out a little bit. This 12 seemed unfairly stacked.

I couldn't quite focus on Alanis as the NCAA Women's Championship game came right down to the buzzer, but I thought her Solo performance was solid (if a little bit a continuation of her Showstopper performance stylistically). The fact that she had to go first (the death spot), would make me worry for her somewhat.

Cassandra is rising, and fast. Tonight was the first time I really heard the Florence (from FaTM) in her voice come out to play. And I don't know what the judges were talking about. I thought her duet with Ryan T. was as comfortable as she's been in this entire competition.

Alyssa just gives me entitled vibes (despite her backstory). Like she's the freshman "star" who gets cast as the lead in the college musical. And she knows it. I will give her a bit of credit on her duet, that's the first up-tempo song she's sang in the entire show and she did pretty well with it.

Wyatt actually looked a bit more "cool" without his Ranger hat. I feel like I should know who Ben Rector is, but I don't.

Alana-absolutely guaranteed to be in the 4 that are eliminated. They pitched her part of Back at One way too low for her. She could barely get down there, let alone do anything interesting/memorable with most of her parts of the duet).

Anilee I thought really came out swinging (especially on her solo song). But my fear is the fact that we only saw her initial audition and then didn't see her again until they showed her being selected for Top 24 means that she's fighting an uphill battle to finish 7th or 8th..

Deshawn If you need a choir solo, Deshawn's your guy. If you need someone even remotely ready for the radio..Deshawn is absolutely not your guy

Graham It pains me to agree with Katy, but I was with her. Graham's duet with Ben was the revelation. His solo was good, but it got a little too wavery in places.

Andrea Definitely made a solid comeback after a pretty disastrous Showstopper performance (Hashtag: Pirate Power)

Cecil Oh dear, was that solo awful. Cecil naturally has a nasally voice but that was really rough. Having Jimmie onstage to offer some support definitely allowed Cecil to step up his game. However if we are voting on merit, he needs to be one of the four to go.

Willie The more you tell me he's the second coming, the more I'm just going to dislike Willie because of that. He reminds me of Jordan Smith (Voice winner) a little bit. He has a narrow range of songs that he's going to want to do because his obesity limits what he can comfortably do as an onstage performer..

Grace I think Joss did her a big favor with her suggestion on Midnight Train to Georgia. Without that, it could've been runs to the moon and back. I actually appreciated that she tried something a bit more contemporary with a Jessie J solo song even if her execution of it wasn't quite perfect.

Super looking forward to hearing Brandon Boyd, and his duet partners tomorrow night!!

 

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

5 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

Alana-absolutely guaranteed to be in the 4 that are eliminated. They pitched her part of Back at One way too low for her. She could barely get down there, let alone do anything interesting/memorable with most of her parts of the duet).

I didn't like her solo, and I didn't like her in the duet (Brian of course was amazing).  I'm not getting why they saved her and cut so many other people who are just so much more memorable.

[LennieBriscoe]

I think I'm just going to delete without watching, based on the posts! 

I don't know why two different type duet challenges were deemed a good idea by TPTB. 

Insightful comment ^^^ about Big Willie's performing limitations. (I've seen Ruben Studdard many times, so...yep.)

[PhD-Purgatory15]

They needed Alana for cannon fodder. If this week only one person would've gone home from this group of 12 (instead of four)..she still would've been that person. 

If I had to guess, I'd say Alyssa, Willie, Grace, Wyatt are locks to advance. I'd say Deshawn, Alana, and Anilee are probably the three longest shots to make the Top 8 and advance out of this group. That would leave all but one of Cecil (who on merit should go home, but he also happens to be one of the "underdog" stories of the season), Graham, Alanis, Cassandra, and Andrea to also advance..

[Ms Blue Jay]

17 minutes ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

They needed Alana for cannon fodder. 

What does this mean exactly?  That there are good singers that would be popular with the voting audience, that American Idol specifically doesn't want to win, and that's who was eliminated the past couple of weeks?

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Like, AI (whoever you believe...the judges/producers, whoever) could have chosen Emisunshine or Lizzy O'Very (Murphy's duet partner) over Alana. Or Ronda, or Funke. Do I think any of the four of them were real threats to win? No? But were they interesting enough that they could've made Top 10 or 8? Yes, absolutely.

And in doing so, they potentially could've knocked out someone who the judges/producers really want to make Top 6 or whatever. By picking Alana (who barely got any screen time, easily the least of the 24) you eliminate any chance of that happening. You basically (w/ the show going from Top 24 to 16 in two fell swoops) guarantee one of the first eliminations. They may have tried to do that a second time with Anilee (who apparently wasn't in the original Top 24 and was only added after the fact when Benson Boone, the Tik Tok kid from the very first audition show decided to withdraw or was forced to withdraw for some unknown reason). They easily could've replaced Benson with Murphy...but Murphy would've been a legitimate threat. Whereas Anilee will be doing amazing to avoid getting cut this first week..

Edited April 5, 2021 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Ms Blue Jay]

That's why I don't get the criticisms of people like Murphy of "not being able to adapt to other styles".  That actually doesn't matter.  When you like your favourite pop artist, you don't care whether he or she can "adapt to other styles", you simply like their music and that's it.  All that matters for Murphy and the other singers on AI is for people to vote for them.   So when Murphy is removed from the show by the judges/producers, and it's justified after the fact (oh that was because he couldn't adapt to other styles) that annoys me, because if he gets the votes that's really all that matters.  Same for that super tall country contestant, whom I am not even a fan of, but of course I wondered why the judges got rid of him, and he was criticized for the same reason that Murphy was.  

Edited April 5, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Annber03]

4 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

That's why I don't get the criticisms of people like Murphy of "not being able to adapt to other styles".  That actually doesn't matter.  When you like your favourite pop artist, you don't care whether he or she can "adapt to other styles", you simply like their music and that's it.  All that matters for Murphy and the other singers on AI is for people to vote for them.   So when Murphy is removed from the show by the judges/producers, and it's justified after the fact (oh that was because he couldn't adapt to other styles) that annoys me, because if he gets the votes that's really all that matters.  Same for that super tall country contestant, whom I am not even a fan of, but of course I wondered why the judges got rid of him, and he was criticized for the same reason that Murphy was.  

That criticism also frustrates me because sometimes they'll tell contestants they want them to change it up a little, and then they'll tell others they don't want them to change their style, 'cause it works for them and they should stick with it. So...which is it, should they change things up or not? 

And that's an issue that's been part of the show since its inception, I'm not singling out these judges here for that inconsistency. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Annber03

[suebee1212]

Do you know how quickly one can watch a 2 hour show if you skip most of the songs? I admit I am old but so many of the songs were ones I didn't know that I skipped after the first bit. And how can I keep all the female "A" folks straight? It really seemed like having a name that begins with an A was mandatory!

[Maya]

6 hours ago, suebee1212 said:

Do you know how quickly one can watch a 2 hour show if you skip most of the songs? I admit I am old but so many of the songs were ones I didn't know that I skipped after the first bit. And how can I keep all the female "A" folks straight? It really seemed like having a name that begins with an A was mandatory!

Yes I do know.. 45 minutes 🙂 

The only A I can keep straight is Alanis. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, suebee1212 said:

Do you know how quickly one can watch a 2 hour show if you skip most of the songs? I admit I am old but so many of the songs were ones I didn't know that I skipped after the first bit. And how can I keep all the female "A" folks straight? It really seemed like having a name that begins with an A was mandatory!

Yes, the key for me is to start watching the show 20-30 minutes late, that way I can fast forward the judges' speaking in particular.  I'll watch every performance, or most of them, but I'll FF everything else.  

[peachmangosteen]

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Yes, the key for me is to start watching the show 20-30 minutes late, that way I can fast forward the judges' speaking in particular.  I'll watch every performance, or most of them, but I'll FF everything else.  

This. I actually wait an hour to start it and last night I got live right before the final performance. I watch everything but the judges comments lol.

I really like almost everyone in this Top 24 and think most of them are so talented and interesting. It's gonna be hard to see a lot of them go. 

So, we think 4 from this group and then 4 from the next group will go and not just the lowest 8 vote getters regardless of group? I'd rather they do it the latter way but you're all probably right that it'll be the former.

[DietCokeJunkie]

When are they doing eliminations? At the end of tonight's show? I'm really confused. 

 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

peachmangosteen, it's 4 from last night's group of 12 and 4 from tonight's group of twelve that will be eliminated on next Sunday night's show.

Tonight's 12 are Ava, Beane, Caleb, Casey, Chayce, Colin, Hannah, Hunter, Jason, Liahona, Madison, & Mary Jo. For whatever reason it feels like (IMO) AI stacked the deck last night, and tonight's group is a little more even (and wide open). To me there's only 3 probable locks to advance (pretty much regardless of how they do)..that's Caleb, Chayce, & Hunter. I also feel like Casey and Madison would have to really bomb to not advance either..

 

**Last night it was the "A's" to keep track of, tonight it's the "C's" lol 🙂

Edited April 5, 2021 by PhD-Purgatory15

[After7Only]

13 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I forgot to say I really enjoyed Jimmie Allen.  I do not remember from his original season of AI but he was great.

Me too.  I had to google him, as I didn't remember him either.    Jimmie was on the season McCreery won.  He was eliminated before the live shows.  But went on to tour with McCreery and worked his way up the Nashville ranks to a recording contract.  

[sempervivum]

12 hours ago, PhD-Purgatory15 said:

He has a narrow range of songs that he's going to want to do because his obesity limits what he can comfortably do as an onstage performer..

(Above is re. Willie) It's not just his size- he also has a weirdly impassive face. And when the chyron said 'Wind Beneath My Wings', I groaned and went to another room to clean the cat litter. 'The Prayer' was very pretty, though. But what's up with Katy telling him to stay in the diva lane, when just a couple of weeks ago she told him to try other genres-am I imagining that?

I haven't cared much for Allysa (other than that duet of 'Grenade' that she did with Grace), but I liked both performances this time. I especially appreciated that she chose 'Something in the Water' for an Easter performance.

It'll be interesting to see if Cecil goes through, he was by far the worst of the night.

Don't like 'celebrity' duets, and thought most of them elevated the celeb at the expense of the contestant.

[waving feather]

Alanis and Grace have the same issue. They are great belters and powerful in their higher registers, but dull and flat in their lower registers. Grace is better, but I feel the difference when she sang with Joss, who had so much dynamics.

Cassandra is so talented and a natural singer, but she needs to believe in herself more and embrace every part of herself as a performer.

[MarylandGirl]

I think I need to do ratings based on: "Did I look up from my computer? If so, did I just glance up occasionally, or did I watch the whole performance?"

Lowest ratings: Cecil (I did look up to FF through his solo because it was painful). I was momentarily entranced by Jimmie's outfit in their duet (beadazzled leather jacket?), but that was unrelated to Cecil.
                          Anilee, including her duet with Joss Stone.

Middle: DeShawn, Grace solo (and others not mentioned)

Highest: Graham, Andrea, Willie, Grace duet

Side note: Grace needs to figure out something with her hair.

[TheGreenKnight]

Andrea and Grace were the highlights. The only other performance I cared for was "The Prayer" with Katharine McPhee and that guy (I don't know most of their names at this point).

I really loved hearing "I'm Your Baby Tonight" being performed on this show. Usually you'll only hear "I Have Nothing," "I Will Always Love You," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," etc. on these shows, but Whitney has such a fantastic discography and it's refreshing to hear something else performed. (And, besides, 99% of Idol contestants couldn't match her at her best, so why do they even go for her most iconic songs?)

[ljenkins782]

On 4/5/2021 at 8:22 PM, MarylandGirl said:

I think I need to do ratings based on: "Did I look up from my computer? If so, did I just glance up occasionally, or did I watch the whole performance?"

Lowest ratings: Cecil (I did look up to FF through his solo because it was painful). I was momentarily entranced by Jimmie's outfit in their duet (beadazzled leather jacket?), but that was unrelated to Cecil.
                          Anilee, including her duet with Joss Stone.

Middle: DeShawn, Grace solo (and others not mentioned)

Highest: Graham, Andrea, Willie, Grace duet

Side note: Grace needs to figure out something with her hair.

Yeah, Cecil's solo was truly painful. A lot of people sounded really rough in the first several seconds of their songs and then evened out, so I thought maybe there was a sound issue, but his never got better. Straight through the nose for the entire song.

And yes, choices were made in Jimmie Allen's outfit, lol. He's very charming and seemed to accidentally outshine his duet partners with his stage presence.

I couldn't believe it when I heard Brian McKnight's name mentioned, I totally didn't recognize him and it instantly made me feel ancient. I was hoping for One Last Cry, but no dice. He still sounds incredible, a lot of people lose that high register with age.

Agreed on Grace's hair. It especially stood out next to Joss Stone's coiffure. It ended up looking like Joss got to the hairstylist first and took so long that they didn't have time for Grace. 

In general, I enjoy this group and I'll be sorry to see a lot of them go.