American Idol 2009 Week 3 Program 3: Salt Lake City, Utah

The American Idol auditions in Salt Lake City, Utah, started with a reminder that this is David Archuleta’s home town and a warning that the Osmonds were coming. There’s also a repeat of our pink-bunny-hugging-Simon hallucination. If I see that any more, I’m going to think it really happened! Ryan described the contestants in Salt Lake City as some of the happiest people they’ve ever seen and Paula told viewers that this is the home of High School Musical, but the Idol machine will no doubt find a few tears too.

Salt Lake City Auditions

David Osmond, the son of the oldest member of The Osmonds, talked about growing up as an Osmond and about his and his dad’s battle with MS. Standing next to Ryan, David looked crazy tall! In his audition he had a nice enough voice and he’s very good looking but I didn’t think the audition was great. Paula Abdul criticised David for picking a song for a group rather than a solo artist, saying he was too used to singing harmonies. The other judges agreed, but he got a ticket to Hollywood. On his official blog, David wrote, “Being on American Idol is a much more extensive process that just walking in and getting the Golden Ticket. I decided right up front, if I was going to audition, then I wanted to do it without any special treatment. I was adamant about not telling anyone my last name. I wanted to stand toe-to-toe with the amazing talent I met at the audition here in Salt Lake and just sing. Then wait to see what happened.” Interesting … this contradicts information we have from the first audition round.

The second auditionee was goth, Tara Matthews. Let’s hope for the people whose death she predicts, her ESP is as good as her singing. Simon was predictable with his ‘hopefully soon’ response to Tara singing ‘one day I’ll fly away’, but we were expecting it sooner! Aleesha Turner, Katie Sullivan, Rich Kagel weren’t so hot either. Rich took Simon’s ‘never ever in a billion years’ on board … for about half a second, but then asked if he could sing something else.

Chris Kirkham brought a pink rabbit along for luck …. a six foot five pink rabbit by the name of Greg … and a ‘handsome Simon’ head on a stick. Sadly for Chris, none of the distractions disguised his voice enough and he didn’t get a ticket through to the next round. Simon got a bear hug from Greg the Rabbit, but did Chris get his autograph? The next montage portraying the people of Salt Lake City as too nice was funny … ‘you suck! ‘Okay … thanks!’ and Ryan had to give the contestants in the holding room a pep talk about giving it back to the judges, which we all know keeps Simon entertained and makes for better TV.

Frankie Jordan was confident about her ability, and, for once, it wasn’t misplaced so she got four yeses and a ticket to Hollywood. I thought it was a little copycat, but we’ll see what Hollywood brings. But Ryan…. was it really necessary to say ‘Frankie goes to Hollywood’? Next up, Megan Corkrey had quite a distinctive voice, old-fashioned in many ways but it was unique and she had a good energy. Paula loved it and she was one of Simon’s favourite auditions. At times it sounded like she was about to go off key. I can’t decide if she’s brilliant or a train-wreck waiting to happen. Either way, she should be interesting enough to get through to the finals.

Andrew Gibson couldn’t sing well, but clearly thought he had soul … the judges disagreed. Class President Austin Sisneros was used to leading students and wanted to inspire people, but his songs were awful and his voice wasn’t all that. The judges didn’t like the song choices either but they liked Andrew enough to put him through to the next round.

Jarrett Burns and a whole host of tuneless auditions had us reaching for the volume control, but Taylor Vaifanua towered above most of the competition, literally and figuratively, and all four judges wanted to see her in Hollywood. The next contestant, Rose Flack, was interesting but I didn’t think she was anything other than an average singer. Simon thought there was something about her, Randy liked her vibe, and she was one of thirteen Salt Lake City contestants through to Hollywood.

At the first auditions round, Ryan wore a grey and black teeshirt, dark grey jacket, blue jeans, white sneakers. At the judges’ round he wore a very becoming green and black checked shirt over a black teeshirt with blue jeans and black and white canvas shoes. Green really suits Ryan and that shirt looks strokeable! As does Ryan. Can I say that? [no!! — Ed]