We think the true character of the American Idol 13 Top 10 finalists shows in those moments between the stressful performances and the smiles for the red carpet cameras. It is in the candid moments that you can see past the faces they put on for the show and glimpse what’s underneath.
That’s why we love this new set of American Idol 2014 Top 10 photos released by FOX. In these quiet moments while the finalists are waiting for what’s next, you can see — in many of them — their serious side. We can find the determination to succeed in their faces, even when they are exhausted.
In these introspective candid shots, we can also imagine we see a bit of the real stress of what it means to be in a competition like this. In some faces, we ponder if we even see a little of their fear of what will happen next. In others, we see a momentary expression of the joy they must feel even through the nerves at making it so far.
This is the real American Idol. When you take away everything else, it’s really about a group of young people desperate to make their dreams into a reality. Real people with real feelings, real hopes, real fears, and real talent they hope the world will embrace and appreciate.
Let’s remember that tonight when we watch them take the stage.
Last week was the starting gate and this week the competitors musical
personalities are off and running! It’s intriguing to watch and hear.
Jena’s become a ferocious front contender and giving her strongest
counterpart, Caleb, a real run for the finish is exhilarating! Her song
choices have been smart and spot on! Her command of the stage is so polished and professional it makes her the one to watch. Harry was
right–again–when he first named Jena the ‘sleeper’. Who knew this
petite, exotic beauty was such a power-house singer, musician and
performer? Malaya’s coming up roses with each new performance. This week’s song choice was not only smart but smartly sung–her musical choices with the lyric and melody were beyond her years. She’s blossoming into a musician to be reckoned with. Other
notable performances of the night were Alex with his deft musical
precision and interpretive skills; Jessica, although better tonight,
remains defiantly within the ‘comfort-zone’ and refuses to challenge
herself to stretch beyond her own limits. Again, Harry was right to
point out that she did nothing to bring out the lyric–which is the
whole point to the song she chose, “Pumped Up Kicks”. MK appeared
more confident but, her commitment to the song wavered, and Sam did an interesting arrangement of the song “We Are Young”, with very musical harmonic choices in the chorus. Not surprisingly Harry was, once again, right in his critique that Sam needs to break out if he’s to stay in the race–having a ‘good voice’ at this point in the competition is just not enough to remain a force to be feared.
On a different ‘note’, J.Lo needs to chill-out with the hostility she’s
projecting toward Harry Connick Jr. She needs to respect his critique
and judgement–especially since he’s a consummate, highly respected musician among musicians. Superimposing her opinion as the absolute final word to disprove his critique then following her arguments by making faces and sticking out her tongue is disrespectful to her fellow judge, imbecilic, immature and has
nothing to do with the objective of a judge–which is to help the
performers improve their performances and competitive edge.
Jena Irene !!