For just an hour episode, tonight’s episode of American Idol was great. There were funny moments, moments of awe, and moments of pure awful.
The evening started with a dental assistant, who sounded like a cartoon voice-over. Christine McCaffrey sang a classic Lee Ann Womack song and it was… less than classic, but definitely classic awful Idol.
Then, there was a duet audition where the duet had dated and ended it – Rob Bolin and Chelsea Oaks – both had great voices and some definite chemistry in their harmonies.
A tattoo artist, that we hoped would surprise us with the unexpected happened to be expectedly off tune with his Lynyrd Skynrd audition. There were a handful of other awful auditions – Latoya “Younique” Moore rolled into her audition in formal wear and attitude to kill. She had a recorded album, but was far less than flawless. There were several meltdowns and even the funniest costume we’ve seen yet this year. Blue spandex suit man – http://www.hellogreenman.com/ – in case you didn’t see it, he had one of those suits on.
Yesterday’s episode of Idol may have included a Whitehouse intern, but Nashville’s auditions had Miss Teen USA 2009, Stormi Henley. Stormi was Miss Tennessee and wowed both Steven and Randy, but JLo was less than impressed. We have to agree with her – Stormi’s voice was weak and will get swallowed during any group audition process.
The two great stories of the night were Adrienne Beasely and Lauren Alaina. Both had tragic stories paired with their auditions. Adrienne was adopted at a young age by a white couple and grew up on a farm. Her voice had the grit of a young Lauryn Hill, but the soul and charm of a girl raised in Tennessee. Steven said she had something truly special. We agree.
Lauren Alaina, at only 15, told the story of her own Idol, her cousin, Holly, who suffered a brain tumor and survived rounds of chemotherapy. Lauren talked about how she was inspired by Holly and even hosted a fundraiser for Holly’s treatment. Lauren belted out her audition of Faith Hill’s “Like We Never Loved at All” and wowed the judges with her big voice. The judges adored her voice and unanimously said yes. We were treated to a little extra audition when Lauren, who was the last contestant in Nashville, brought her family in to meet the judges and gave a little extra audition of “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. Steven helped on some key lyrics and it was an awesome extra clip. We know we weren’t crazy about “Jenny from the Block” being sung to JLo, but Lauren can sing Aerosmith to Steven Tyler any day of the week.
See Lauren Alaina’s audition here:
Lauren was the one that Steven said could be “the one.” Do you agree? She knocked our socks off for being only 15.
One other moment we enjoyed from the evening was during the quick series of golden tickets to guys. We loved when one of the guys said “Thank you, Mr. Tyler.” It was so earnest. We loved the respect that was apparent.
So what do you think? Favorite moment from this week’s two episodes? Best audition in the five cities we’ve seen? Could Lauren Alaina be the one? Comment below.
