Johnny Keyser, Symone Black
The auditions are over! It’s now time to see what the latest crop of singers gathered on season 11 of American Idol are made of in the always-grueling — and entertaining — Hollywood Week round, which began airing last night.
As with seasons past, groups of golden ticket holders came out on stage to face the judges — Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson, and Jennifer Lopez — for sudden death. They had one chance to sing a song of their choosing, sans backing music, and wow the judges. They were then separated into two lines: one stayed, the other went home. The singers who survive the first two days of cuts would go on to battle each other while having to work together in the group round, or what we’d like the call “the best freakin’ part of the show, like, ever!”
Some of our faves from the auditions round proved themselves and their greatness once again. Others fell from grace, while others, like Symone Black, just fell, literally, off the stage.
Johnny Keyser, who we openly swooned for after seeing his audition in St. Louis, continued to be great. He’s just so effortlessly good, it’s crazy! And his confidence is off the charts without being annoying. Let’s hope it stays this way. Another stand out in his group, Heejun Han, on the other hand, needed a confidence boost like no other. But we don’t know why. This kid has a great voice. They both survived.
We got a quick peek at Baylie Brown sounding amazing and surviving the first round of cuts. Woohoo!
In another group, we met the frigidity Jen Hirsh for the first time. Loved her! She has such range. Also in Jen’s group was St. Louis standout Lauren Gray. Look, we know she’s supposed to be so great to the judges, and we gave her a pass when her voice was cracking all over the place during her audition, but enough is enough. She needs to stop choosing songs that aren’t in her vocal comfort zone. Both ladies survived.
Reed Grimm and his quirkiness returned. He’s the guy who sang the theme song from Family Matters in Pittsburgh. He chose another iffy number, “I’ve Got A Golden Ticket” from Willy Wonka, and jazzed it up to fit Hollywood Week. So smart. And so through to the next round.
Not so lucky was 18-year-old Travis Orlando, who, even after improving his skills since being cut last season, still didn’t have the chops in the judges’ eyes. We’re saddened by this. Yes, there are better singers in the competition, but there are worse singers too. And Travis really wants this. Boo.
Other familiar faces getting the boot included Ramiro Garcia, Jason Hamlin aka Wolf, Jenni Schick, Lauren Mink, and Jim Carrey‘s daughter Jane Carrey.
Others making it through included Adam Brock, David Leathers Jr. (A-FREAKING-MAZING!), Jessica Phillips, Creighton Fraker, Aaron Marcellus, Jeremy Rosado, and Erika Van Pelt, who, can we just say, is everything Lauren Gray is being hyped up to be. This chick here has range and control. Love. Her!
And then there was Symone Black. The 16-year-old seemed to be on the right track with a delightful rendition of “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay,” but it was when she was explaining why she chose the song that she stumbled to the front of the stage and BAM! right off of it! The medics were called and rushed to her aid, but we have to wait until tonight’s episode to see if she’s OK and if she makes it to the next round.
Dun dun dun!
[...] action of the groups could start, we had to see what happened to 16-year-old Symone Black, who collapsed and fell right off the stage on Wednesday night’s episode. Turns out she was fine, a little banged up from the fall and [...]