American Idol 2025

[Mollywolly555]

Started a topic 2025 American Idol, because I can remember what season it is. 

Can't not can

[thesupremediva1]

This was the first auditions ep I’ve watched in several years. For my money, the chemistry is better now than it’s been since the original panel. Carrie is a wonderful addition and I think she gels beautifully with Lionel and Luke.

Talent is already impressive! 

[sempervivum]

My tv menu says 'season 23'.

 I didn't actually mind Katy as a judge, but Carrie is a big improvement. She needs to quit with the lip-inflating, though.

I appreciated the (so far) lack of sob stories.

Maybe I just don't remember previous ABC seasons very well, but it seems like there were more rock-style singers this time; couldn't believe the heavy metal guy 'Insight(?)' went through!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

couldn't believe the heavy metal guy 'Insight(?)' went through!

That was ridiculous. When they asked him if he knew or could sing something else I thought ok here's where he sings a ballad and we all are wowed by his actually amazing voice. But nope.

I too never had a problem with Katy. Not exactly sold on Carrie but they are sure trying to sell me on her.

[Annber03]

I had "Bodies" in my head the rest of the night thanks to that one guy who auditioned XD. I agree the guy wasn't the best singer, but it was nice to hear something that wasn't the same old styles of music that have been most common on there recently. 

[Meowwww]

Opposite from you all….I didn’t realize Carrie Underwood a)had such a grating speaking voice and b) was so closed off.  I miss Katy and her antics, I guess.  

Edited March 13 by Meowwww

[tv echo]

I'm not impressed by Carrie Underwood so far. However, she's a better judge than actor. I still remember her terrible, cringe-inducing portrayal of Maria in The Sound of Music Live! on NBC in 2013.

[Gemma Violet]

33 minutes ago, tv echo said:

I'm not impressed by Carrie Underwood so far. However, she's a better judge than actor. I still remember her terrible, cringe-inducing portrayal of Maria in The Sound of Music Live! on NBC in 2013.

"Wooden" is the word I remember using at the time.  We can be grateful that the few episodic TV appearances she's done since then have been playing herself instead of a character.  I think all the bad press made her realize she should stick to singing.  I remember discussing The Sound of Music at work and how horrible she was, and a co-worker (who was obviously a Carrie fan) said, "But you don't understand!  This was her first acting project ever!"  And I said, "Yes, and she was awful!"  I will admit she did fine in the "My Favorite Things" singing scene and some of the other singing scenes, but the non-singing scenes were terrible.  

[TheGreenKnight]

I like both Carrie and Katy. I expected Carrie would do fine just going by how great she was hosting the CMAs with Brad Paisley all those years. 

I'm not crazy about the audition episodes, but I watched this one since Carrie just started. Liked the first three contestants.

[Mollywolly555]

Is it me,  or is this AI kind of redundant and even boring?

Cue the sob story.

Cue the whole fandamily running out to hug the talent and then acting surprised when they get a good ticket?

Cue the talent singing a judge's song...a song that was done by one of the judges. (I wd love to see a few poorly-done versions of any of their songs,  just for their cringey faces).

Something almost new this season is giving the talent a performance at a major venue. I think they did it once in recent past years.  Maybe twice. 

One consistent part that I really like... and want more of... it's seeing Ryan talk with the family outside the door.  He makes it fun and real.

I wish Carrie wd be less shiny. Cut down on the  lip gloss, shimmer eye shadow, blush highlights, etc. My!  Her lips have certainly grown since her earlier videos! She's still beautiful and a great singer,  although I only know her hits. 

Love Lionel dancing to the songs. 

[Annber03]

I kinda liked the guy who sang Smokey Robinson. 

Also,, LOL at the girl with the song that was juts all, "Fuck you" to various groups of people. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

I don't mind Carrie, although I hope the reminiscing about her season of AI starts to wind down after this episode. There's healthy nostalgia, & then there's beating a dead horse..

Gotta love the double standards with this show still. They tell the 14 year old with a pretty good voice who sang the Red Clay Strays (an awesome band) that "he's just not ready" OR "it's not a no, it's a not yet" and then 15 minutes later they put the clogging kid through who was clearly the same level of not ready and had an annoying personality to boot..

Some pretty good singers. I also like the falsetto kid who did Smoky Robinson, & thought the Gracyn (a blonde) had one of the more captivating voices we've heard so far. The kid that sang Luke Combs's Where the Wild Things Are was pretty good too..

[sempervivum]

I usually assume they turn down promising, but very young auditioners (like the 14 year old) because they expect them to return in a future season, which happens often, iirc. 

I also liked MKY (the handsome Smokey singer) best, although he went a bit too far on the teeth-whitening. Some Bruno Mars vibes there.

I was intrigued by Brajawn who sang a Billy Eilish song; I thought he had a beautiful tone and very sophisticated phrasing.

LaShon reminded me of Just Samm, with the weird look (huge hair, raggedy winter outfit) and pretty great voice.

Filo is clearly skilled, but the uber-runniness (?) should have disqualified him from the Platinum ticket. Hopefully the vocal coaches can reign him in.

[Guest]

Guy in the wheelchair looks like Hardy and Kid Rock had a kid. I liked his voice though. Thought he was one of the better contestants. 

Wilson Phillips? Didn't they already have a career? 

Overall so far this season is very meh for me. No one is blowing me away and I find the show is so overproduced now. Nothing feels organic especially when most of the contestants seem to have an entourage with them ready to run in on cue.  Also the energy of this season is low. I miss Katy's energy and antics. Her snack eating alone was a sideshow unto itself. 

Edited March 24 by OLynn33

[sempervivum]

Some decent auditions- I liked Jamiel, Jamar and Desmond Roberts, John Foster, and Drew Ryn- but I have to vent about this season's nepo baby- Lola, who is Carnie Wilson's daughter and Brian Wilsons' granddaughter, should NOT have gone through (although I'm quite sure she won't last through Hollywood).

Also, I agree that the mob scenes in the audition room are becoming repetitive and dumb. 

[stcroix]

I agree about Carnie Wilson's daughter, Lola. She had a pretty little voice but nothing there to start a big career with. I've been a fan of Carnie's after seeing her on different reality shows and of course Wilson Phillips. She has a huge personality and beautiful singing voice, but that doesn't mean her daughter got the gene... I hope I'm proved wrong. 

[Annber03]

6 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Some decent auditions- I liked Jamiel, Jamar 

Yeah, ,I really liked them, too.

[twilightzone]

19 hours ago, OLynn33 said:

I miss Katy's energy and antics. Her snack eating alone was a sideshow unto itself. 

The judge's antics was one of the biggest complaints from viewers.  It took away from the contestants.  NO judge deserved the $25M that Katy Perry was getting.  She was all about herself.  In 7 years, she never took any contestants on tour with her.  Luke has done that.  So did J-Lo.  And Randy was known to give contestants contacts in the industry,

[pezgirl7]

I thought the Nepo baby (the one with the songwriting father), that they showed right before Lola, deserved to go through, but not Lola. Showing them back to back just highlighted the inconsistencies in the judges’ decisions that happen sometimes. 

Tonight’s show had some pretty unique voices, especially with the guys. 

[Meowwww]

Carrie’s face doesn’t move, just sits there with lower lip sticking out and she expresses no emotions.  So offputting.  
It’s a shame, she used to be so vibrant.   

[sempervivum]

They really crammed a lot of singers in the final audition. I can't say there was anyone I'm very curious to see again, although I liked Kyana, Gabe, Ethan and Kaleo. 

The judges were doing what seemed to me like very heavy-handed 'acting', turning down people for weird reasons and interrupting performances to 'coach' the singer. They also passed a lot of people through to Hollywood who are basically human sacrifices, notably Trenton, Zaylie, Carolyn and Will. And I actually thought Lillian, who sang 'Perhaps, perhaps' should have been asked to sing something else, because she had a good voice and performance skills. 

The platinum ticket guy- well, I like gospel, so I liked him. But it seems practically every season there's a soft, overweight church guy who won't win but is too good to turn down. 

All IMO, of course.

[TheGreenKnight]

I feel like John Foster is this season's winner. If not, I'll be very surprised.