American Idol 2020’s Hollywood Week kicked off on Monday night, and things aren’t like they used to be.
Instead of the rushed solo numbers and the messy and dramatic group rounds, this season we get genre rounds and we only see a select few of the auditions. Then the contestants are lined up by genre and that’s where the first cuts are made.
So we won’t really be able to recap actual auditions from Hollywood Week this time. There just weren’t enough full songs to go on. But we can give you a run down of how the episode played out.
The Singer/Songwriter genre was up first. The standouts in that group were Arthur Gunn and Julia Gargano, so it was no surprise they were sent onto the next round. Pop music was up next and Louis Knight had a big moment and was featured a lot, furthering my theory that they’re really pushing him this season. He made it through to the next round along with Demi Rae, Genavieve Linkowski, Robert Taylor and Geena Fontanella. Also making it through from the pop group were Shannon Gibbons, Lauren Spencer and Bilaal Avaz.
From the R&B group, audition standouts Just Sam, Makayla Phillips and Cyniah Elise make it through to the duet rounds.
We head back to the singer/songwriter rounds and more favorites make it through, like Francisco Martin, Jonny West, and Dillon James. Back on the Pop front, Nick Merico gets his second shot and American Idol, as does Margie Mays.
The group of country singers all get sent through, including standout from Sunday night Grace Leer, and other standouts Lauren Mascitti and Hannah Prestridge.
It’s a group of soul that closes out the night. After wowing the judges once again with “Rise Up,” Amber Fielder, three weeks off giving brith to a baby, leads the way and makes it to the next round. Joining her are Sophia Wackerman and Jovin Webb.
Hollywood Week was a jumbled mess like always, and as usual, really hard to recap. We hope the new duet rounds next week will be much easier to write about. Who stood out to you during the first episode of American idol 2020 Hollywood Week?