Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Very early in tonight’s episode of American Idol, I bet we’ll hear Ryan Seacrest proclaim that American Idol is making history.

He’ll be correct, of course. For the first time ever, thanks to the pandemic, the show will be airing performances the Season 18 Top 20 recorded in their homes.

Unfortunately, Idol will be making history in a rather shameful manner as well … at least it should be shameful to everyone who had a hand in the planning.

The show will go from a Top 20 to a winner in just four weeks, robbing Season 18 of any sense of legitimacy, regardless of how the competition is proceeding.

And that means that regardless of how seamless or impressive tonight’s virtual telecast is, producers have ruined Season 18.

That’s why this blog and all that follow will carry a disclaimer.

For those who would still like to vote, there are three options — text voting, heading to AmericanIdol.com or voting via the Idol app. You can vote 10 times per contestant per account per method.

For the text voting, each contestant has been assigned a number between 1 and 20, text that number to 21523. I’ll put the number in parenthesis behind each contestant’s name in the song by song grades below.

I reserve the right to go back and adjust grades based on what happens as the night goes on.

Kimmy Gabriella (1): “Leave Me Lonely” by Ariana Grande: Nice song choice and nice vocal by Kimmy, who manages to show off a bit of her sparkle in spite of the format. And it wasn’t just because of a sparkly shirt. No secret that I think Kimmy belongs in the Top 10. Grade: A–

Jovin Webb (2): “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Joe Crocker: An even better song choice by Jovin. And check out the backdrop for this performance. This is perfectly suited to his gravelly vocals. If I was ranking the Top 20 heading into tonight, Jovin would be at the top or very close. Grade: A

Franklin Boone (3): “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fear: Apparently Franklin is performing with a little cheer squad on hand. He should open his eyes a bit more so he can see them. There’s something off with the timing of the arrangement and that didn’t work nearly as well as the first two songs we saw. Grade: C

Olivia Ximines (4): “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish: Bold song choice. Not sure that makes it a smart song choice. Olivia brings her attitude to the song, but not sure fans of the song are going to love the vocal gymnastics she applied to the smash hit. I had mixed feelings about it. Grade: B–

Louis Knight (5): “If the World was Ending” by JP Saxe: Louis delivered a pretty solid vocal and tons of emotion. Lionel compliments the cry in his voice. I have to think that would have come off better on a big stage with mood lighting. Katy though he was a bit nasally. Grade: B

Makayla Phillips (6): “Greedy” by Ariana Grande: Loved the fact that Makayla didn’t let the format make her shy away from an upbeat pop song, or from showing off some groove during the performance. Great vocal too. That’s the first performance that I really, really wished I had seen on the big stage. Grade: A–

Aliana Jester (7): “Run to You” by Whitney Houston: I’ve already seen that this format really requires lots of attitude or emotion, more than just a great vocal. Aliana delivered a pretty good vocal. She seemed a little sharp to me on some of those big notes, especially the first glory note. Grade: C

Faith Becnel (8): “River” by Bishop Briggs: Having performed in bands since she was very young, Faith probably misses a stage and audience more than most of the singers. She’s probably go a little crazy interacting with an audience on this. Lionel makes a good point, her eyes were closed for most of the performance. Grade: B–

Nick Merico (9): “Hey There, Delilah” by Plain White T’s: Hey, I loved Nick’s opening and liked the way he rearranged the song. The ending was strong too. His vocal wavered a bit here and there. But all and all, that was solid. Grade B.

Lauren Spencer-Smith (10): “Mama Knows Best” by Jessie J. Okay, this is weird. Lauren is sassy and upbeat and all attitude. And in the background, we have the most tranquil lake scenery you can imagine. Just weird. Fortunately for Lauren, she delivered a killer vocal. One of my favorites so far. Grade: B+

Cyniah Elise (11): “Warrior” by Demi Lovato. Wow, Cyniah started off great. And she certainly delivered the passion in that performance. The only problem was, it seemed to get a bit shouty over the second half of the song, perhaps from trying a bit too much given the setting. Grade: B–

Francisco Martin (12): “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. Interesting song choice. And Francisco, who struggled so much with nerves in the early round, probably feels more at home with this type of performance. He turns in a solid, but not necessarily memorable performance. Grade: C+

Sophia James (13): “Burning” by Maggie Rogers: Sophia looks so darn classy and scores an A for the staging. She also happens to be one of the best singers in a very talented group of females. Very nice performance. She looked completely comfortable with this style of performance and gives off such a feel-good vibe. Grade: A

DeWayne Crocker Jr. (14):“I Feel Good” by James Brown. The kids dancing in the foreground were adorable. But that’s a song that needed a big attitude and an over-the-top vocal, and DeWayne only half delivered in that sense. No doubt a big stage would have helped. Grade: C

Dillon James (15): “Let It Be Me” by Ray LaMontagne. Like the stage James has created for himself. Not so sure about that song choice though. The singer-songwriter competition is so tough this season. That was solid, not necessarily memorable. Almost wished James had performed one of his originals. Grade: B–

Arthur Gunn (16): “Lovin’ Machine” by Wynonie Harris. Odd song choice for singer-songwriter Arthur. Nice attitude, but what the heck, I could only understand half the lyrics. Enunciation, enunciation, enunciation. Totally spoiled the performance for me. Grade: D+

Julia Gargano (17): “Human” by Christina Perri. Another singer who gets a bonus for creating nice staging. Loved her tone when she went soft midway through the song. In fact, she picked a song that allowed her to show off lots of vocal dynamics. Grade: B

Grace Leer (18): “Cry” by Faith Hill. Grace benefits from being the only country singer — male or female — on Season 18. That started out of one of my favorite vocals of the night, but seemed to go sharp in a couple of spots. Still, Grace delivered some impressive glory notes. Solid. Grade: B

Just Sam (19): “I Believe” by Fantasia” — That was the weakest performance we’ve seen from Just Sam since the show started. She had her eyes closed most of the time. It wasn’t vocally on point, and I didn’t feel the emotional connection I normally do. She’s popular enough she might get another chance on Top 10 week. Grade: C–

Jonny West (20): “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. Hey, nice song choice. Jonny’s another of the contestants who need a lesson in eye contact, but I really like his arrangement here, and the vocal is flawless. He wins tonight’s male singer-songwriter sweepstakes. Very nicely done. Grade: A–

Disclaimer:
Producers, coaches, judges and hosts on American Idol and The Voice will pretend they are hosting a legitimate singing competition over the next few weeks. Having blogged about singing shows for more than a decade, I can assure you they are not.

You cannot go from a Top 20 to a winner in four weeks (American Idol) or a Top 17 to a winner in three weeks (The Voice) and call it a fair and legitimate singing competition.

So have fun watching. Vote if you want. Put very little stock in the results because they will mean virtually nothing.

Most of all, support the singers when their time on the show ends. They deserved a better showcase for their talent.