When Janelle Arthur releases a debut album, don’t expect the country-pop you so often hear on country radio stations today. The afternoon after her ouster from American Idol, the 23-year-old from Oliver Springs, Tenn., said her goal will be to make a more “root-sy” record.
His audition: Vedo, 20, of Atlanta, Ga., chose to sing Justin Beiber’s “Boyfriend” for his audition, knowing it was a major hit for an artist Usher discovered. Early in the song, Usher turned his chair. As it turned out, he was the only artist to do so.
Their audition: Midas Whale — Jon Peter Lewis, 32, on guitar, and Ryan Hayes, 26, on accordion — auditioned with Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” Usher was the first judge to turn around, followed by all the rest. In the end, Midas Whale decided to team up with Team Adam.
Her audition: Sarah Simmons, 22, of Memphis, Tenn., sang Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” and dazzled the judges, getting all four to turn around. After hearing praise from all four, she decided to join Team Adam. After all, Adam Levine told her “you, 150 percent, can win this show.”
That was one heck of a vocal Janelle Arthur delivered on her save-me song Thursday night. But it wasn’t enough. The Idol judges deadlocked 2-2 on whether to save Janelle. And since the save must be unanimous, Janelle wound up heading home in fifth place on Season 12.
Well, the insistent support for Amber Holcomb finally paid off on American Idol. Somehow, some way, she finished in the top three and ahead of Kree Harrison in the Idol voting this week. Folks, this favoritism toward Amber on Idol is out of control.
When the biggest complaint about an American Idol episode is a bad song choice by one contestant — I’m going to resist any dumb blonde jokes — you’ve just witnessed a pretty good night of music. A Top 5 made up of all ladies delivered 10 performances ranging from good to very good to better…
For three years, I’ve been begging for Jimmy Iovine critiques on show night. I mean, what good does it do for us to find out what he thought of a performance after all the votes are in. Lo and behold, Wednesday night, there he was, standing backstage, telling us what he thought of each performance…
We’re down to just ladies on American Idol. And like I said in my rankings blog, who would have ever thought that would happen? Even in what’s supposed to be a girl’s year on the show.
American Idol just announced its summer tour dates. And folks from this area should circle Aug. 24 on their calendars.
