AMERICAN IDOL 11 SPOTLIGHT: Hollywood Week #4

AMERICAN IDOL 11 SPOTLIGHT: Hollywood Week #4

The final pre-"Sing For Your Life" segment of the season focused heavily on the singing, the groups, and of course the drama and the not so shocking twists. The following is a look at the groups and the ensuing drama.

1) Cari Quoyeser, Chase Likens, Colton Dixon, & Skylar Laine

Jennifer Lopez said they did a great job with the harmonies. Jennifer told Cari, "The whole thing felt shaky and weak." Randy added, "It wasn't your strongest day today." And with that, Cari's Season 11 journey came to an end. I actually felt like she sang fairly decently but the judges clearly digressed. It's also worth noting how much I loved Skylar's vocals were great, especially on the "baby" part and Randy correctly pointed out Colton's nice vocal range on this song. I was totally thinking the same thing before Randy even said anything.

+ Likens, Dixon, & Laine
- Quoyeser

2) Jeremy Rosado, Ariel Sprague, Gabi Carrubba, & David Leathers, Jr.

The group met during the Savannah, Atlanta audition. Gabi, in the rehearsal cutaway, emotionally told the camera, "I feel like I'm pulling the weight of the group. I'm not trying to bash anyone." The group had perfect unison and harmony and Randy simply told them, "That was hot, man." The entire group went through as a result. I thought that David really brought it. His tone and range was perfect for this and you have to imagine they gave them this song just because of the clear allusion to Michael Jackson himself.

+ Rosado, Sprague, Carrubba, & Leathers, Jr.

3) Adam Brock, Erika Van Pelt, Angie Zeiderman, & Shelby Tweten

With Adam Brock banging on the keys for their rendition of "Great Balls of Fire", I felt like Adam was actually too strong and Shelby, a personal favorite of mine, advanced too but I felt like it wasn't her strongest vocal either. Still, the group performance was enough to advance everyone from the group. However, there was a somewhat telling moment when Randy leaned over to Jennifer Lopez to confirm that Angie would move on. Steven had added that the choreography was astounding. Ryan tried reassuring Angie, saying, "Randy had something up his sleeve - I could tell." Jennifer also felt the whole number suited everybody and played to all of their strengths.

+ Brock, Van Pelt, Zeiderman, & Tweten

4) Schyler Dixon, Brielle Von Hugel, & Molly Hunt

Sporting the World War II era G.I. uniforms ala the Thompson girls from last season of The Voice, Steven had no choice but reminisce about making out to "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" or at least I hope it was the song and not the girls themselves causing this bit of teen angst nostalgia. Molly was criticized for her "individual vocals hurting" and as Molly was eliminated, Jennifer added, "Sweet. She's a sweetheart, that one." Molly had simply smiled and said, "Thank you so much," before exiting and fighting back her emotions much more visibly. It's hard not to like Molly and her sweet personality.

+ Dixon, Von Hugel
- Hunt

Exit Montage

Wayne Wilson
Ashley Robles
Stephanie Renae
Aubree Dieckemeyer
Janelle Arthur
Tina Torres

5) Haley Johnson, Reed Grimm, Elise Testone, & Eben Franckewitz

They did a great job but it felt too Vegas Lounge for me. Elise had one vocal breaking incident in my opinion. Eben had a kick - which Nigel tweeted about during the East Coast broadcast. It did feel like they were all trying to out-Barry Manilow each other. I did love Haley's vocal at the end though. The judges gave the group a standing ovation. Steven loved Elise's and Reed's "beat box to melody", calling it "spot on" while Ryan made Haley kiss Eben. (He was trying to get her arrested, apparently.)

6) Jermaine Jones & Richie Law

They were the only duo of this round. Each of them had only each other to turn to. The unlikely duo had issues jelling together at first. Richie pissed off Jermaine with his physical banter. They didn't even rehearse until they reached Vegas. Honestly, it was just strange given the pairing. The judges liked it though as Randy volunteered, "Brothers Righteous." Jennifer mimicked Richie to Randy, "It was a pleasure working with you." Richie then proceed to piss of Jermaine twice more, hurting Jermaine's should twice with his physicality. Richie won't win American Idol but he will probably win the title of Most Oblivious To Social Cues.

+ Jones & Law

7) Hallie Day, Baylie Brown, & Chelsea Sorrell

Hallie did great in the quick bit we saw of her. Baylie was softer while Chelsea was clear and crisp too. Sounded like it was just a solid group effort but we really didn't see much of it.

+ Day, Brown, & Sorrell

8) Jessica Sanchez, DeAndre Brackensick, & Candice Glover

This might have been my favorite group performance. We finally saw Jessica Sanchez do her thing. DeAndre really provided some great Bee Gee like falsetto harmonies and runs. "Three different voices coming together to make a beautiful sound," is how Jennifer described it. Having said that, Jessica Sanchez was unquestionably the star and it was well worth the wait. Randy simply just asked, "Jessica, really?" I would say so.

+ Sanchez, Brackensick, & Glover

After this group performance, however, the judges called everyone who had performed up to now back and warned them that since they had already put so many people through that they might have to make additional cuts. Just take a wild guess about what eventually happened.

9) Clayton Farhart, Scott Dangerfield, Adam Lee Decker, & Curtis Gray

Loved the theatrics of it all. The whole chain gang thing was pretty ingenious of them. I thought the performance itself was average but it was great seeing a "guy's guys" group like this on a show like Idol. Curtis totally reminded me of John Travolta. There's a total bromance going on with this foursome. Unfortunately for Curtis, it was the end of the line this year but to see four grown men sing a man's song on a show like Idol will remain a highlight of this season for me.

+  Farhart, Dangerfield, & Lee Decker
- Gray

10) Caleb Johnson, Joshua Sanders, River St. James, & Blair Sieber

All four were cleared to the next around although they did have some minor criticisms of Blair's performance. The judges liked it and overall I felt like it was adequately good enough but that's about it.

11) Curtis Finch, Jr., Joshua Ledet, Shannon Magrane, & Amber Holcomb

Shannon got props for "bopping" and Joshua really impressed the judges. Curtis and Amber got some critical feedback and were therefore sent home.

+ Ledet, Magrane
- Finch, Jr., Holcomb

12) Courtney Williams, Britnee Kellogg, & Jessica Phillips

The trio confidently proclaimed that they did not need the band or the coaches to practice, saying that they didn't want to waste the band's time. That turned out to be a colossal mistake. Jessica, who actually said it, wound up getting cut on the spot and she did not take it well. In fairness to all three of the women, the criticisms were all over the place and eventually would prove to have been inconsistent with the extra cutting of Britnee later on. Jessica railed about the show not wanting to find an actual artist. It's tough to tell how much of it was Jessica being upset in the moment and how much of it is just her. Telling America that there were people advancing that weren't real artists is a tough sell and makes it that much harder to launch a successful music career. It's also worth noting that Courtney, who survived both rounds of cuts for the same performance, was actually criticized a bit by Randy for not showing some restraint in some of her choices. The fact that they told Britnee she was really strong and then cut her later anyway showed why this entire performance critique raised eyebrows. I really thought all three of them should have easily advanced. Courtney tried to hint to Jessica to walk away gracefully as Jessica continued to rage about not being there to win a talent show but rather to land a record deal. She might have accidentally ruined any chance of that ever happening now.

13) Lauren Gray, Wendy Taylor, & Mathanee Treco

Peggi Blu is back! The group, or more particularly Lauren, had some problems with the arrangement and Blu made her feelings about her lack of focus and singing, prompting Peggi to channel Tom Hanks and tell the crying Gray, "There's no crying in music!" She then followed that up by asking, "Are you on Ridilin?" Gray semi-snapped back, "No, I'm not on Ridilin," and that seemed to have snapped her back into her comfort zone. It was actually kind of funny how Blu was addressing the 23 year-old Gray like she was still in grade school and the way she stood there taking the reaming played it all up to par. Despite all the fuss, Lauren delivered her most controlled vocal performance to date. Wendy hit some rather tough notes and her voice welded very with Lauren's. The show hadn't really shown Wendy Taylor much up to this point so with just the Top 42 left before the live shows, we'll find out of if this is her coming out party or not. They usually do hold back a few of their talents until right about this stage for fresh buzz and water cooler purposes.

+ Gray, Taylor
- Treco

14) Jairon Jackson, Neco Starr, Phillip Phillips, & Heejun Han

Heejun admits to Peggi she's afraid of her. (He had done some YouTube research.) Peggi hugs him after he was starting to walk backwards from her. "Are you afraid?" asks Blu. "A little bit but that's okay," responds Heejun.Really loved Heejun's vocals here; they showed a different side of his vocal range. Everyone really pulled their own weight. Got to see Neco Starr's talent for the first time. The group thanked Peggi Blu and Mary (the other vocal coach). Randy gave one of the all-time worst head fakes when he had all four of them step forward. Heejun was oddly emotional though after they were all put through. Jairon told him,"Turn that frown upside down, man!"

15) Lady & The Spectacles
Creighton Fraker, Jen Hirsch, Nick Boddington, & Aaron Marcellus

The group was missing Reed Grimm so they were no longer Group Sauce. The boys were sporting the Buddy Holly look. Along with the group before them, they had the best chemistry of all the groups. Creighton especially looked like Buddy. I still find Creighton's vocals to be somewhat graining but I felt like Jen Hirsch really brought it again. Nick was cut and he was definitely disappointed with himself.

Cut

Gabi Carrubba
Schyler Dixon
Angie Zeiderman
Candice Glover
Johnny Keyser
Jairon Jackson
Britnee Kellogg

Britnee took her elimination especially hard and no sooner had Colton been saved again (or at least in terms of the editing) did he find out Schyler was cut too. Colton was probably much more upset about her being cut than she was. Gabi felt more embarrassed about being the only from her group cut. Johnny simply told the cameras that what can't happen just did and that probably summarized it better than anything.

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