AI Season 8 – Group 3
I’ve totally called 5 of the first 6 contestants moving on to the top 12. And that oil rigger guy… I still don’t get that one.
So here we are with the last group of the top 36 and this week’s task is to pick 3 more. This is a tough week – a lot of good singers but a lot of crappy performances and song choices. Yikes… what do you do with this batch?
Von Smith – Grey suit with red V-neck tee and red shoes. He was ok except for a flat note or two, although it was kinda wedding singerish to me. I thought the judges were too nice to him, but having seen the rest of tonight’s performances I now think it’s premature for him to be clicking the heels of those ruby slippers and heading back to Kansas (City). He’s not All I Need to Get By, but he could get by to the next round.
Taylor Vaifanua – Odd black, white and brown top over black leather pants. I thought it sucked. Bad song choice and marginal vocals. She sang “If I Ain’t Got You” and honey… you don’t.
Alex Wagner-Trugman – GEEEEEK. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Black untucked dress shirt and black pants. Kid can sing but he was far too animated for the song choice – total disconnect. I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues. I call it a ticket home.
Arianna Afsar – Cute and I liked the knee length blue dress. But she slaughtered ABBA. Terrible version of a good song and Simon agrees with me. The Winner may Take It All, but she won’t be a winner tonight.
Ju’Not Joyner – Black leather jacket over black tee. The vocals were pretty good. Hey There Delyla – get to votin’. He’s good enough for top 12 but my gut tells me he’s going to fall a few votes short. We’ll see.
Kristen McNamara – Unflattering red dress with pink trim. Give Me One Reason to like here performance. Really. Completely wrong song choice. She seemed to attempt to be kittenesque and failed. I just didn’t like anything about it. I’d joke that she should head back to her day job at the karaoke bar, but apparently it’s no joke. She works as a karaoke host.
Nathaniel Marshall – I didn’t even have to hear him sing. Send him home. PLEASE. He and Tatiana tied for most annoying from Hollywood week. It would be hilarious if they ended up dating but I suspect she’s not his type. He did a high school musical version of classic Meatloaf – and I’m not talking about the multi-sequeled Disney film. (Maybe I am – I haven’t seen it/them. They probably suck too.) Take your sequined headband and freakish piercings back to grandma’s basement and cry into your tutu.
Felicia Barton – Black leather jacket over black sequined top and black pants. And cool shoes. (No, no, no… don’t take ‘em off…)
Pretty good, but I suspect she’s in Ju’Not’s boat a few votes short. No One thought it sucked, but that doesn’t always translate into votes.
Scott MacIntyre – Also all in black. (Fourth one tonight – did they all come from a funeral?) He was one of my favorites from auditions/Hollywood. He picked the right song but he seemed to choke a bit. Nevertheless, I agree with Simon. Probably not the best vocal of the night but there is a good chance that he’ll make it to the next round.
Kendall Beard – Adorably cute. Yellow dress and awesome smile. I’m not a huge country fan and she didn’t seem to be singing for my vote. This One’s for the Girls. But I’ll give her my vote because I like the eye candy and it wasn’t terrible.
Jorge Nunez – Judges were way too nice to him. I thought he slaughtered the song. I say Do Let the Sun go Down on Him. He does have a good voice, but it was a bad song choice and he wasn’t good enough for top 12.
Lil Rounds – “Fashion maven” doesn’t know how to describe the odd black dress with yellow… boobs. Simon called the performance “brilliant” but I thought that was an exaggeration. Well… maybe not for this group. The vocals were admittedly good and I predict she’ll be in this season’s top 12. Interesting that they have been closing the show each week with one of the best performances. Week 1 = Danny, last week it was Adam. Now Lil.
I’m going to cheat a little this week and choose four names to fill three slots. However, I’m going to justify my hedge and further predict that all four will make it into the top 12. That’s right – I’m attempting to fill a wildcard slot. Here are the four: Von, Scott, Kendall and Lil.
Felicia or Ju’Not could surprise us, but the other six can pack their bags.
Tomorrow (Thursday 3/5) we get a bonus American Idol night for some Wild Card action. The format is unclear, but if I find reason to comment I’ll be back for a bonus this week too.
Christopher
Themocracy
Chris,
This is the second time I’ve read your AI post and I love it! I’m glad that Nathaniel doesn’t seem hurt by Simon’s rude comments. I wasn’t that impressed with Kendall. Have you ever noticed that the judges(especialy Paula)will compliment the singer’s outfit if their performance sucked?
Meg
Meg-
Or their legs. Remember last week?
C.
I guess I should have paid more attention to Kendall’s singing.
I got two right (Scott and Lil) and Von still has a chance.
Good to see Jesse as a possible wild card slot but disappointed that Felicia didn’t get another chance. Tatiana?!? Seriously?