Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Can Jason Warrior avoid The Four-like drama on American Idol in Season 19?

The next job: Whittle the excellent singers we’ve met down to a Top 24, likely 12 girls and 12 boys.

That translates into better odds for the Idol guys than for the gals.

By my count, we met 32 female during the five audition shows; we met 24 guys. That means half of the singers pictured at right might make the semifinals.

Here’s how I’d break down the field.

Who will make the girls swoon: Katy predicted the girls will swoon over Benson Boone. But they might also swoon over Hunter Metts. Or Colin Jamieson. Or pop singer Beane. Look, it’s no secret that guys have a massive edge on Idol. Male singers have won nine of the last 12 seasons. Even last season, when Just Sam won, four of the Top 5 were guys.

This is the show were Trent Harmon won over La’Porsha Renae. Where Phillip Phillips beat Jessica Sanchez. Where Lee DeWyze defeated Crystal Bowersox. None of which should have happened. I sometimes wonder if Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson could win Idol today. But enough of the rant.

Benson Boone? He’s up to 1.4 million followers on TikTok. And has posted four shirtless photos and one singing video to Instagram since his audition aired. Which is think would be the opposite of letting one’s talent do the talking.

See also …
Photo gallery with mini bios of the American Idol guys
What to watch for from the ladies
Photo gallery with mini bios of the American Idol ladies

The male country spot: Yep, at least one male country singer will make the Top 12. To date, we’ve met three — Alex Miller, Cecil Ray and Caleb Kennedy. Two, Alex and Caleb, auditioned with originals. Of the three, Alex seemed the most big-stage ready to me.

The male R&B spot: The judges might not have said it aloud, but there’s at least one male R&B spot awaiting someone in the semifinals just like there’s a male country spot. Calvin Upshaw, Deshawn Goncalves, Jason Warrior and Willie Spence were the male R&B singers who got the most screen time in the audition episodes. If he can tone down the drama, Jason’s my pick of the four. Vocally, he was outstanding on The Four.

The singer-songwriters: Ever since Alejandro stepped foot in the Idol audition room, the show has been in love with singer-songwriters. And kudos to Idol for allowing auditioners to sing originals. Remember, all four of those males who cracked last season’s top five were singer-songwriter types. That might bode well for the likes of Murphy, Graham DeFranco, Wyatt Pike and Chayce Beckham. Murphy was my favorite of the four in the auditions, but my guess is he’s going to be deemed too mellow for Idol.

The gimmicks: Yurisbel (the aspiring Pitbull) and Anthony Guzman (the Viking) got golden tickets in gimmick filled auditions. Did they get them because of vocal talent? Or did they get them to even out the ratio of Hollywood-bound guys and gals? We’re about to find out.

The mystery men: This is the trio of Cameron Allen, Dzaki and Xavier Washington. We got to hear Cameron sing off of two lines in a montaged audition. We didn’t hear must more from Dzaki or Xavier. If one of them is going to make an impact, my money’s on Xavier. He’s a student at Yale where he’s been a member of two renown singing groups.

Idol’s whittling process begins Sunday and Monday when the show starts airing its pre-taped
Hollywood Week episodes.