American Idol: Chicago

*Starting this week, Christina and I are going to attempt a back and forth discussion on the American Idol episodes. Instead of posting a separate blog, Christina will continue this blog with her comments. I will then do the same for her post on Wednesday's episode.


Well, this should be an easy one to talk about. In one of the worst audition shows ever, there were only a few contestants who really stood out as long term potentials.

First let's start with Shania Twain! I think she would fit perfectly as the new Paula. She's pretty, nice to the contestants, and doesn't make me want to fast forward my DVR the way Paula did. She may have not offered too many great critiques other than "nice bottom", but do you really expect that from the judges at this point? It's unfortunate that we had to sit through two hours of Victoria Beckham and only an hour of Shania. I think she should have made it to Hollywood.

The only two auditions that I felt strongly about were Charity Vance and Angela Marin:

Charity Vance- Usually I think the judges overrate singers with "unique" voices. I have no problem with singers who are different. I am, after all, a huge Bob Dylan and Lou Reed fan. Unlike previous "interesting" voices so far this season, Charity's singing made me want to hear more. And as Randy, the age expert, pointed out, "I can't believe she's 16!"

Angela Martin- As her backstory shows, there is no doubt she has what it takes to make it through Hollywood week, at least when it comes to her vocals. Her story is obviously heartbreaking, but I still don't understand why she had to drop out of the top 50 because of a court appearance. Why couldn't she just pay her fines? She couldn't postpone this court date? If it was just a traffic violation I'm sure arrangements could have been made. It just seems fishy that for someone who so desperately needs this chance at success, a little traffic violation stood in the way. Maybe there is more to the story that we're missing. Angela may be her own worst enemy. She might be the Elijah Dukes of American Idol.

And that concludes the list of people that I thought were great tonight. The next level of singers who were pretty good include:

Paige Dechausse- I hate the American Idol sob stories, but if you didn't root for her to have a great audition then you must have a heart like Simon Cowell who DID say no to her. She doesn't have the voice to make it too far in the competition, but after letting a good amount of bozos go to Hollywood over the past eight seasons, Paige certainly deserves the experience.

John Park- He's the one with the great bottom [voice] that Shania alluded to. Unfortunately, he seems a little too boring. It's hard to get a full sense of what these singers can do based on one audition, so I think John is someone to keep an eye on.

Marcus Jones- They may have squeezed the best male audition for the very end because I think Marcus hasa  lot of potential based on the 10 seconds we saw of him.

CHRISTINA'S RESPONSE:

Definitely a bit torturous to sit through that hour.  I didn’t even love any of the ones that made it to Hollywood.  Shania Twain was a good judge, but I’m just really looking forward to Ellen to start judging.  I’m hoping she adds an intelligent, but kind critical angle to the panel which is something I feel like the panel never had.  Right now the only one who has the true critical, worth listening to thing going is Simon, but he can be just a little bit insensitive sometimes (just a little).  Plus she’ll be funny (I hope).

My favorite singers of the night:

Katelyn Epperly:  I liked the tone of her voice—that has that deep, sould kind of feel to it.  Like Simon and Shania said, she needs to lighten up a little, but the potential is definitely there.

Angela Martin:  She was the best one of the night.  I think she’ll make the top 50 again, but I think she really needs to add something extra to make it any further.  I’m not sure what it’s called in musical terms, but she needs to be able to hold her voice better in the higher range.

The others were all just okay.  John Park was nice to listen to but like Mitch said, there was nothing special about him.  Also did anyone detect a little stereotyping there from the judges?  The two girls said, “I was very surprised" when commenting on how good his voice. Why because he’s Asian?  So Asian's don't sing?  The other guys voice I liked was Keith Semple (he was only on for a second, holding a guitar).  I’m not sure why the judges were iffy on him.  He needed more range, but I think he has something there.  Paige and Charity were okay but I don’t think either of them will make it very far.

Hopefully tonight will be a little better!