American Idol Season 9 Group Round Recap

February 11, 2010 Ashli Rae American Idol, Season 9 20

The dreaded group round of American Idol is over and a couple of my early favorites were sent home.  I loved Matt Lawrence during the auditions but his group chose the wrong song in “Sweet Escape” and none of them were able to continue in the competition.

Ben Honeycutt’s group, The Phoenix, was an absolute mess with the exception of Jermaine Sellers who outsang everyone.  It didn’t help their groupmate left within minutes before they go on stage.  I think Ben should come back next year because he does have a good voice.

These group auditions are absolutely chaotic.  There is a lot of frustration when groups rehearse so close together and accusations of stealing idea’s come into play every year.  There is fighting amongst the singers and you always have one who wants to contol the situation and this year that person was Mary Powers.  Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a good singer but I would not have taken that crap from her like the others did.  Alex Lambert was in her group and I thought he could sing much better than the rest of them. 

Big Mike finally has a daughter and it was a good moment for the show to have him talk his wife through the delivery.  Surely he has gotten to go home and meet her while waiting on the Top 24 rehearsals to begin. 

The standout groups for me were the very first group called Faith.  Three of our Top 12 women made up this group and I can see why they are all in the finals.  Also the final two groups were amazing and they were the one with Casey James and the other with Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens. 

All in all this episode was a train wreck at full speed.  We only have 71 hopefuls left and next week we get the official word as we are introduced to our Top 24.  If you don’t want to wait to find out, you can click on the link and check it out now for yourself.

What did you think of the group round and any standouts you want to mention?

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20 Comments

  2. It’s hard to say which group stood out when we didn’t get a chance to see them all. I wish they would at least put the entire performances on the internet so friends and family’s of the contestants could watch them here.

  4. Watching the “Group Round” was just as chaotic as it appeared it was for the contestants. I really don’t understand the reasoning behind having it. I DID NOT like it!

  5. I think that the song selection list was a set up for allot of GOOD singers to be sent home … seriously, love Gwen but that song is one of her worst and NO ONE could pull that off … it was a musical suicide …
    the 16 year old girl, with the special needs siblings should not have been sent home .. she just picked a bad song .. but the girl’s vocals are powerful … and Seth … Seth is WAAAY better than big Mike … way better …

  6. SINCE MOST OF US KNOW THE TOP 24, WHICH REALLY STINKS BECAUSE IT TAKES THE FUN OUT OF WATCHING IT…….AS ALWAYS THE GROUP WEEK IS CHAOTIC…STILL DON’T KNOW WHY THEY DO IT….IT IS AN INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE THAT WINS AI….PLEASE ADVISE…..ON MY FIRST LIST OF THE TOP 24 (THERE WERE ONLY 22 AT THE TIME) BEN HONEYCUTT WAS ON THE LIST AND THEN I RECEIVED THE NEW TOP 24 AND HE WASN’T. DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED????

  7. I know that it’s good if they are able to sing as a group to see the chemestry between each other…and be able to sing in solo as well as in a group…but yesterday was a bit unfair as far as some contestants….Maybe the production wanted it that way in order to eliminate the unwanted ones… but I was under the impression that the choices was already made because how can you as a judge watch their performance and write comments at the same time. They kept looking at their paper all over the place on their table to say who stays and who goes..I never saw them taking notes…

  8. Phyllis V, when the top 24 was previously posted we only knew 22 of the contestants and ben honeycutt was thought to have made it. As we received more info the list got updated to what it is now.

  10. Has anyone found an actual list of the 71 that were left after the group performances? A kid from my hometown made it to Hollywood and I think I saw him celebrating after the groups but he wasn’t featured and nothing has been on local news about him…??? Just wondering how he made out in Hollywood.

    PS I agree with Shanny… Seth is way better than Big Mike…but who is better looking is what it seems to come down to when they decide between two similar talents/styles.

  12. TO SKOTIE68,
    SORRY ABOUT THAT BUT MY COMPUTER AT WORK IS ALWAYS ON CAPS FOR MY JOB…..BUT DON’T TAKE OFFENSE PLEASE I’M NOT SHOUTING. I’M JUST ALWAYS IN A HURRAY TO COMMENT AND GET BACK TO WORK…..

  15. I enjoyed the show but was very sorry that you did not think that Seth Roland an insurance adjuster Age 29 from Lakeland, Fl did not get to go on. I thought his voice was great!

  16. Hello everyone,

    I think the judges are able to tell if a person has a standout voice and are able to stay in tune when someone else is singing with them – one of the markers of a good singer. So the group idea may be sound.

    I just wanted to add that I have been impressed with Katie Stevens from Middlebury, CT. She is a standout and Simon commented, “You really might be our next American Idol.” I think that is a premature statement because we need to see (and vote) how she does, but it is still impressive, and all the judges have so far had very positive comments for her and she is young. We will have to see how she does, these kids have to learn a lot of songs with stage presence, etc. in the next weeks to months.

  17. I thought the group night was boring. We watch the show because it’s fun and upbeat, and the group night wasn’t either. We prefer hearing the individuals. Poorer members of a group drag the better ones down and caused some not to move to the next round. Too bad. We wish they’ed not show the group thing.

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