CD Giveaway - 33Miles, "One Life"
Ends Aug 4, 2010
The country-pop sound established in their eponymous debut is a mainstay for this album as well, and even adds a little more southern flavor.
CD Giveaway - Phil Wickham, "Cannons"
Ends Aug 3, 2010
With an opening shot that hits the sonic pinnacle, this collection of spiritual Brit pop/rock is heavily influenced by Keane, Travis, Coldplay, and U2.
One of the most frequent complaints I hear about American Idol is how brutal the show is on contestants during the audition phase. A friend of mine from my high school days said that she generally didn't watch the show, but tuned in during this year's auditions and was appalled.
"...That tendency to laugh at the expense of others is one of the darkest parts of humanity, and I really hated seeing that this show played into it so hard," she wrote.
I tend to agree with that point of view (though it doesn't keep me from writing about that part of the show). But as nasty as the auditions can get, I still think they pale in comparison with the nastiness that abounds during Hollywood Week's group round. It's in this segment that we see the true personalities of the contestants come out. Sometimes, it's a rewarding thing to watch. But more often than not, we're privy to meltdowns, temper tantrums and outright sabotage.
If laughing at others is one of the darkest parts of humanity, Hollywood Week brings out the underbelly of the dark parts. Sadly, this year was not an exception, though along with the disappointments, tonight's show did reveal a bit more about the true contenders for the American Idol crown.
One of the tricks of the groups round is that the contestants have to piece together their own groups. That can lead to some instant frustrations, as with Tatiana del Toro, who was fairly unimpressive in her San Francisco audition. At that point, I wrote that, "she's such an incredible drama queen, and she has no idea what this contest is all about." Between the audition and Hollywood, it appears that she didn't discover any clues to help her out with that.
During her group's rehearsal's Tatiana showed that she has absolutely no filter between her brain and her mouth. That's a nice combination for someone on this show. If the rumors about her inclusion in the Top 36 are true, there will be a ton of people who might forego the show until she's removed from it. This girl's laugh, which resembles a hyena on crack, is bad enough. But her utter lack of sensitivity and her overabundance of drama make her completely unbearable. Tatiana's a looker, but the only way I'd have her in my house is on a poster.
Unfortunately, we had to endure Tatiana and company during their group number. The little we got to see of it was average at best, including Tatiana's strutting across the stage, and her follow-up run of, "I wanna get through," which was rightfully rebuffed by the judges. Despite the average performance, all four girls advanced -- leaving us to endure more of Tatiana's antics. For a preview of what that might entail, reference her melodramatic and unnecessary Oscar-style gratitude speech outside the auditorium. This is a girl who will milk every single opportunity to draw attention to herself. If she's allowed into the Top 36, you are guaranteed to see one of the silliest and most dramatic semifinal performances in AI history. Hopefully the judges will spare us from that fate.
Of course, Tatiana's destruction extended beyond her own group. She also briefly invaded the three-person group of Nancy Wilson, Nathaniel Marshall and Kristen McNamera. Her brief interruption into their space aside, that was another group that didn't need distractions, as they were having a tough enough time working together. Nancy may be a bit overbearing, Kristen may not like to burn the midnight oil, but Nate is almost as big of a drama queen as Tatiana. If you recall, he's the guy who last night cried to the judges that this show was "on my skin." Tonight, he cried again about how badly his group was working together. I'm over this kid -- grow up already.
On stage, this group was far from entertaining. Drama-queen Nate was over-the-top with his dance moves, and his vocals weren't even close to spot-on. Sadly for Nancy, she took things down a level with how off-pitch she was. Kristen was the bright spot of the group, but her reach for the high note was overkill. Nate and Kristen advanced to the next round, but neither of them should find a place in the Top 36.
One of my early favorites in the auditions was Emily Hughes, who last night edged closer to elimination with a terrible song choice. Her group seemed unusually focused on the fringe elements of their act, including cheesy dance steps and a cheesier name -- Action Squad. The first rule of this show, though is that you have to be able to sing, and in that respect, her crew was mostly lacking. Anne Marie Boskovich seemed to coast on her initial round successes, and Alex Wagner-Trugman was merely passable. Though he was shown the door, Ryan Pinkston seemed to have the best vocals of the group, and Emily was given a trip home as well, presumably because she botched the lyrics on her solo.
But the most frustrating team to watch was the one that included hippie girl Rose Flack and bikini girl Katrina Darrell. While Rose was apparently dissatisfied with her entire team, it was Katrina's attitude that grated her beyond belief. Of course, that's understandable; segment by segment, Katrina revealed herself to be incredibly self-absorbed and self-indulgent. Of course, Rose is likely more serious than most girls her age because of the abundance of tragedy she's had to endure at too early an age.
This group named itself "Divas," but by 4 a.m., they still hadn't made much progress and Katrina bugged out and went to bed, leaving Rose, Jasmine Murray and Lauren Barnes to work things out for themselves. In the morning when the girls tried to retrieve Katrina, she refused to get out of bed, but eventually showed up and demanded to be caught up on the act. I guess having a hot body and a beautiful face makes someone completely able to avoid work and preparation and gives them the right to have others pick up the slack.
When it came time to perform, the Divas were a complete mess. Instead of four girls working together on a cohesive number, they were four individuals, doing their own thing -- most of them doing it badly. Katrina is a rank amateur, Lauren is decent but unmemorable and poor Rose could hardly remember a word. Only Jasmine, nasality and all, shined in the slightest, and she moved to the next round. On her way out of the competition, Katrina shunned the others and tried to absorb all of the attention through a series of poses. She also refused to admit that she had any role in the group's failure. Said Katrina, dusting off her shoulders, "They don't mean anything to me." With deep character flaws like that, it's doubtful that Katrina will even be a success at her modeling day job.
One group that was a pleasure to watch was the one including best friends Danny Gokey and Jamar Rogers. With those two as the anchors, their group seemed to immediately gel and put together an amazing group number. On "Somebody to Love," this group went a cappella and hit every note flawlessly. With Danny's stunning voice leading the way, the entire group, including Taylor Vaifanua, moved into the next round.
Another pleasant surprise was the group, "White Chocolate," that was comprised of India Morrison, Matt Giraud, Kris Allen and Justin Williams. With a mixture of soulful vocals and a bit of rap from India, they set the bar for what the following groups would need to meet.
Aside from group successes, some early-round favorites shined on their own. Blue-collar guys Michael Sarver and Matt Breitzke nailed their moment in the spotlight, and west coast thespian Adam Lambert continued to establish himself as a potential early front-runner.
On the other hand, some other early faves saw the dream come to an early conclusion. High school class president Austin Sisneros forgot his lyrics and was dismissed, but had an incredible outlook in spite of the disappointment. David Osmond also ran out of good will (though conventional wisdom was that the judges would probably keep him out of the Top 36 if only because David's last name would be an instant boost above the other contestants).
The group round sent another 29 contestants packing for home, with only 75 singers remaining for the final day in Hollywood. Next week, we'll see the judges pare that number by 39 in order to get to the final tally of 36. That begins Tuesday night, so be sure to check back on Wednesday to see who will be favored to make the final cut into the Top 36!
What did you think of Season 8's Hollywood group round? Do you any of the contestants drive you crazy, or do you think all's fair in love and American Idol. Do you agree with who the judges kept, or do you think they dumped the next American Idol? Please e-mail us with your feedback and let us know what you think!
