Tonight we kick-off our American Idol 2013 Hollywood Week coverage as the focus is on the boys. And even though they’re splitting Hollywood Week up by gender, they’re all shooting for the same goal: The American Idol 2013 Top 40. And yes, that’s 20 guys and 20 girls.
Now there are bits of format changes here and there, so this is going to make for an interesting live recap. So bear with me.
Hollywood Week Standouts (The Guys)
Sudden Death Round
Micha Johnson: His a cappella of “Bennie and the Jets” was likely the best of his group. He’s on to the next round.
Other familiar faces going through: Nate Toa, Gabe Brown, Gurpreet “Peter” Singh Sarin.
Karl Skinner: This time around wasn’t as good his first audition and the judges agreed. And he’s out of the competition.
Cortez Shaw: This is a guy we haven’t seen much this season. His version of “I Will Always Love You” was fine. The judges didn’t agree. Nicki had a bone to pick. But in the end, he’s through.
Lazaro Arbos: He stole a lot of hearts during his initial audition and he probably stole a few more tonight. His version of “Angels” was solid but it’s the amazing change in his speaking voice to his singing voice everyone first notices. He’s easily through to the next round.
And suddenly it’s time for group night. And there’s some new laws. Nigel Lythgoe announces that they’re assigning people to groups. And once they’re assigned, they cannot change. The contestants are so not happy. And some of the groups are CLEARLY put together for drama. Disgusting move, production. This is so not how to keep Idol alive.
Group Rounds
Nick Boddington, Mathenee Treco, Matheus Fernandes, Gabe Brown. Their version of “Somebody To Love” may have been the best Queen cover on any reality show ever. I usually hate when people cover Queen, but this was great. They’re all through to the next round.
Johnny Keyser, Kareem Clark, etc. This group’s version of “(Reach Out) I’ll Be There” was so bad that they didn’t even introduce all the members. No one should have gone through. But for some reason Johnny made it through even though he forgot the lyrics. Kareem is the only one cut.
Curtis Finch Jr and Charlie Askew shined in their group, which helped all three of them go on to the next round.
Micah Johnson, Vincent Powell, Marvin Calderon and David Willis. This group was solid and all got an easy OK to the next round.
Random thought: For some reason this season, forgetting the lyrics means nothing. Weird. Well, until that group singing that One Direction song took to the stage. That was awful.
Tony Foster, Mario Jose, Burnell Taylor and Darien Moses. Their version of “Some Kind of Wonderful” was a bit scattered, but it was still pretty solid. I liked them all, but the judges didn’t send them all through. Darien and Mario get cut. The other two move on.
Josh Stephens, Scott Fleenor, Christian Lopez and Lazaro Arbos. Their song included a lot of forgotten lyrics, which seems to be the theme of the night. But for the most part it was a decent audition. But as to be expected, not everyone was put through. Josh and Scott are cut. Lazao and Christian move on to the next round.
Lee Pritchard, JDA, Joel Wayman and Trevor Blakney. Well this group was a complete disaster. Josh, JDA and Joel are moving on to the next round despite that.
David Leathers Jr, Kevin Quinn, Kayden Stephenson and Sanni M’Mairua. They’re young and cute but the performance was not good. David and Sanni are moving on. The others are cut.
Papa Peachez, Adam Sanders, Frankie Ford and Charles Allen. And yet another horrible group with forgotten lyrics. Did they sleep deprive these people more this season than last!? What was with all the dropped lyrics? Frankie is cut. The others move on.
I do not like the way American Idol puts people into groups, it isn’t fair to some of the people!
The judges suck. How could they pu thru the last group who sang Adam L song? The worst of the worst.
Crazy night. Lots going through that shouldn’t.
Yea a lot of white and guys that sing country sent home, I guess the judges want a black to win this year.
Quite a few going home that shouldn’t. Clearly. Who’s running that show? We want the spirit of last year back. This blows. See ya American Idol you had a good run.
Tell Randy the judge not to make it so obvious he looks racist when he whoops and yells for the black singers and acts as if he is writing when whites are singing. . Did not see any white country singers going through, I guess they thought since the last 3 yrs whites won it is time for a black to win, There are a lot of whites are being sent home. You just watch and see if I am correct.
Wow American idol is going to get kicked off the air.Seems to me only one person is running the show should be Nikki idol.So many people did not deserve another round and some should have not went home.To many drama queen guys for me.Makes me sick.I feel sorry for the children having to grow up in this sick twisted world.
This is the worst group of guys I have ever seen on Idol. The judges need to clean out their ear wax and clean their glasses – the picks on horrible – YUK!!!
I wish someone would send Nicki home!
No send Randy he act racist, when blacks sing he whoops and yells for them when whites sing he asts as if he writing something down., looks not interested .
Yea they need to hire 2 whites , a male a female, 1 who sings rock, 1 who sings country, 2 blacks a male and female, 1 who sings r&b and 1 who sings hip hop. so it will fair . Keith does not have a voice when there is 3 against 1.
I am soooo glad that Papa Peachez didn’t get kick out. The other guy (Frankie) on his team was a real downer. Papa Peachez has a soulful and peaceful heart. I can’t wait to hear his true inner soulful and husky voice singing next time. I am so happy that Frankie was cut. He brought the WHOLE TEAM down. He really needs to grow up. GO PAPA PEACHEZ!!!! You’re a PEACH!!!!!!
I think since all this gay rights stuff is going on, that they are putting gay people through just because they are gay and not because they actually have talent. They are trying to turn American Idol into a drama show instead of what it used to be loved for. It’s ridiculous. Men went home because they were out with a group purely to add drama and it caused them to be sent home. I think a lot of great singer got sent home and a lot of rubbish got to stay.
Kaylee, May- be they want a black or gay to win this time all the whites are being sent home, as well as the country singers.Everyone can see this is a setup deal., American people are not stupid.
It doesn’t matter if a white, black, gay, straight person wins, just make sure they can actually SING! They are setting it up just to make black people or gay people happy due to Obama being voted president again(God knows why) and the gay rights issues going on. And Nicki is taking over the show. She’s trying to find a Character like her and not a Singer. We need talent not someone corky or a drag queen.
Nicki Minaj needs to go home!!!! Not being mean just blunt!! This show is now ruined….
SIMON FULLER CAN U PLEASE HELP BEFORE YOUR SHOW IS GONE??????