4/11 American Idol 19 - Top 16 Discussion

Grace sings a Sia song, Elastic Heart, and does a nice job.

Alanis makes it through too, and sings "The Story." Her voice sounds pretty at first, then she kicks it up and belts out the rest. Not sure she can compete with the other two powerhouse women who have already gone through. Good try, though!

Deshawn gets through too. Sings "Feeling Good" and starts off acapella, then plays piano for a bit before getting up and walking around the stage.
He sounds great! (I think his voice cracked a little but it was kind of cute!)

Cassandra goes through, as many expected. She sings "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak.

I thought she did a fine job, but the judges go on and on about her confidence. She looks so young, but it seems she's one of the oldest ones going through so far!

Next we'll get the second group of 12.

And Colin is in, too. So he sings "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

I didn't care for this performance, but I think he is fun and has potential. The judges love it.

Ryan says something about us choosing 10 and the judges get the other two picks. Hmmm.

Madison is in, and sings "Gravity."

Judges are loving it.

I'm not as big of a fan, but she looks good up there!


Beane and his shiny shirt make it through! "Searching For a Feeling" (not a song I'm familiar with), but he does a good job. He's got an appealing voice.

Even though I agree that he was good, listening to the judges fawn over ALL of them ALL of the time, gets a bit boring. I appreciate the positivity, and focusing on what they're doing well. I didn't always agree with Simon, but I think the contestants learned a lot from the criticism back then.

Casey really killed it tonight.

Ok, bite me AI for making me wait on Chayce!!! I did worry there for a moment, glad it was all for not because he KILLED it on that song. I was worried seeing he was gonna do some Bob, but damn he took it and made it all his and still honored Bob's original. I cannot agree with Luke more, he will be someone who write songs for guys like him and girls that wanna marry guys like him. He is all his own, I think more than anyone else on the show right now.

I was happy to see Ava go through too, she is such a doll and her voice is amazing. I am not happy that Katy said her little classic trumps cool shtick.. Ava is 15, let her be 15. This was a great song choice for her.

Hunter was another one with a great song choice. I like Bon Iver and his voice gave it a little something something extra. Glad he moved on as well.

Cassandra, who I think is still visibly fighting nerves, did a really nice version of Chris Issac's Wicked Game. I really hope she feels more comfortable in her own skin soon because I do like her voice. I wish she would do some Florence Walsh and just own it already, she does sound so much like her.

Wyatt surprised me, I wasn't sure where he was gonna go with Kings of Leon, but I really ended up enjoying it. I hope he sticks around a while too, that kid just has something about him that makes me want to listen.

Willie, oh my Willie, I just love you. An angel that came down from the Heavens to grace us in a suit each week. I love him.

Grace, another GREAT song pick for her. I'm not a huge Sia fan for many reasons, but this song was perfect for her. I have nothing bad to say about Grace, I mean how can you shes absolutely gorgeous and has a killer voice.

Deshawn rounds out my top pics this week, any person that can sing my beloved Nina Simone with such confidence and strength should move on. I think he did worlds better than last week.

Casey, I still like her a lot, and her vocals were technically good but I think it was a bad song choice for her. Chris Cornell as long been one of my faves, and he did well surviving the Grunge era of the 90s, only to leave us all too soon IMO. I just did not feel her on this song but she should move on no problems.

I was surprised to see Caleb, Madison, and Colin move on if I am being honest. None of them are bad singers, not by a long shot, but I was just kind of "oh, ok" when they were announced. Caleb had a great song choice I think, I still want more range from him. Colin always looks like a party on stage, and not a bad song choice, but his smiling the whole way through was distracting for some reason, it is not a happy song it needed a bit more angst i think. Madison, again sang well enough but she really does not bring anything special to the table for me.

I hate to say I was rather disappointed with Graham, Alyssa, and Alanis. Again, all are GOOD singers but maybe it was song choice? Delivery? Combo of both?

Alyssa almost felt like she was trying too hard, and I did not like the choice of song for her. I hate that the judges keep pushing this 'sing the classics' BS. Yeah sing them here and there because they never go out of style, but these are young kids for the most part let them revel in their youth.

I may be the only Italian on the planet that does not like Frank so I just could not get in to Graham's performance, I think he has a better voice than that songs allows for him to show.

Alanis, sigh, I so wanted her to do better than I felt she did. Brandi Carlile is such an emotional singer, and draws the listener in without needing runs and holding high notes constantly. She has such a beautiful simple delivery in her singing, with a haunting rawness when she does belt it out. There is almost a perfect imperfection in her style, even a bit of controlled anger (in a good way), I do not think there will ever be a time where I can't listen to What Can I Say, that song is perfect to me. Alanis missed the mark on what made The Story so wonderful, it needed to be dirtied up a bit. I think she is in over her head given the rest of the field.

And then we have Beane, I like him too.. but I felt he may not be able to hold his own with some of the top singers. I am still not sure, because he did a good job on this song and I think he allowed him self to be more him. I do wish the judges would offer better feedback, especially with him, because there is some room to improve. And angst from him?! No, still do not see it.

On a side note, I just want to say that Hannah really showed her age with her sour face throughout the show on the side.

I would like to have seen Mary Jo move on but the rest of them, yeah I had no problem seeing go.

I thought Deshawn really performed well last night. He stood out to me from the rest, really.

Yes, and I love Willie and Ava. 

Good question, especially since Luke won’t be there. He has Covid and Paula Abdul is stepping in.