American Idol 2009: Hollywood Week Round 2
107 contestants made it through to the next challenge — singing in groups of three or four. Forming groups was a challenge, and although most of them sorted themselves into a group within the first thirty minutes, a few were wandering around like stray dogs. Not a great start!
The annoying Tatiana Del Toro joined a group late and took control, but quickly managed to annoy the others. She came across as very selfish and self-absorbed and looks like she’d be a nightmare to work with.
After a couple of hours, some of the groups were back at the hotel, but others really weren’t happy — either at having to work in a group (some of the singers are obviously not team players), or were unhappy with the group they were stuck with.
Rose Flack wasn’t happy with her group, including Bikini Girl, because she thought they just wanted to be cute. Listening to the practices, most of the groups seemed to be arguing and going way off key, but the group that included Danny Goken and Jamar Rogers seemed to be getting it together — they probably had a bit of an advantage.
Tatiana continued to annoy the groups, switching backwards and forwards to find the one that she thought would give her the best advantage and screwing both in the process.
Bikini Girl also decided to bail on her group, but in her case to go to bed because she was tired. The other members of Team Diva didn’t look at all impressed but tried to dig Katrina out of her room to join them the next day. She turned up at the last minute, not doing herself or the rest of the Divas any favours.
Meanwhile, Ryan continued to dominate the show, so it’s all good so far!
Things weren’t looking so hot at the auditions. Simon piled on the pressure by warning the singers that anyone who forgot their lines would be cut and Ryan walked through the theatre for a link wearing a lilac shirt, black jeans or trousers and a smart jacket. On day one he was wearing a blue shirt, dark wash jeans and a black belt, and it looks as though he’s gradually getting smarter throughout the competition. I like Ryan much better in jeans and casual shirts, but he does look good in a suit too — no doubt he’ll wear those in the live shows. It’s just a shame that it’s so difficult to see clearly what he’s wearing … time to buy a HD TV … or as this is the only show we watch, would it be overkill just to be able to tell whether Ryan’s wearing jeans or pants?
The first group, India Morrison, Matt Giraud, Kris ALlen and Justin Williams rocked it with a mix of singing, beatboxing and rap and were applauded by the crowd. Ryan pointed out the audience’s mixed feelings hearing the bar set so high: “the contestants are cheering now but inside they’re all saying Damn, I wish we were that good!”
The next group, Maryn Azoff, Austin Sisneros, JB Ahfua, Shelby Swartwood, and Julissa Veloz all either forgot their words or sang out of key. Simon called it an absolute mess, but although the girls were cut, the guys got through.
Action Squad (Alex Wagner-Trugman, Ryan Pinkston, Anne Marie Boskovich, and Emily Wynne-Hughes) didn’t have it together and Emily and Ryan were cut. Emily was disappointed but accepted it whereas Ryan saw evil in Paula’s eyes! Wow we saw it too! She’s got red eyes like Lord Voldemort! Simon said the contestants were all crap, describing it as “excruciating … succession of horrors … chaotic … useless” and asked for a crate of Advil to take away the pain. Perhaps something to take away the lousy singers would be better.
Danny Gokey, Jamar Rogerss, Taylor Vaifanua sang an a capella that Randy thought had nice harmonies and Simon thought was brave. Simon had Danny step forward on his own before putting all four through — is it mean to be looking forward to the moment when Danny and Jamar are split?
Ryan said that some voices had stood out in the group auditions, ahead of a clip of Michael Sarver, Adam Lambert, Matt Breitzke and Jesse Langseth. Adam Lambert is really good; I love him! Kara loved it and Simon thought they were terriffic.
Team Diva was the expected train wreck. Bikini Girl made excuses for bailing after Simon pointed out it was obvious they hadn’t worked together. Katrina disappeared without congratulating Jasmine Murray, the only girl from their group to go through, causing Kara to call her a bitch (we think) again and Simon to say she’ll go far.
David Osmond, Austin Sisneros and Deanne Brown were cut, bringing us to the final two groups. We got to see Ryan trying to find out who was causing the trouble, but the group somehow got through. I’m not sure why, they weren’t so good.
Compromise was the last group through, but I’m not sure why they thought praying would help — cutting the crap and practising might have helped. Kristin McNamara thought she was getting a date with Simon (she did genuinely look tired) but got something even better: a yes, along with Nathaniel Marshell. Nancy Wilson was singing something entirely different and forgot her lyrics so she was out. Simon thought they were trying to sabotage each other on the backing vocals, but I think they were just bad!
After the second day of culling contestants (most of whom we didn’t see get cut), there are 75 left to go through to next week when they should be whittled down to the final 36.
