American Idol Reaction: Hollywood Round 1

Finally! We made it to Hollywood! What I love most about the first Hollywood episode of American Idol is how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the contestants are as they take the stage to try to convince the judges that they made the right choice by sending them to Hollywood. The Idol “boot camp” that is the group-auditions rehearsal process hasn’t started and everyone’s feeling hopeful.

Tonight’s episode introduced new permanent judge at the Idol table, Ellen DeGeneres. As I’m sure plenty of people are dubious about Ellen’s credentials as they pertain to this new job of hers, it seemed fitting that she addressed that off the bat, stating to the auditioners that she does know what it feels like to stand out on stage and try to please a bunch of people. She may not be a musician but she’s a performer and a good one at that. As a fan, I’m eager to see what she’ll bring to the show. We got a taste of her comedic styling tonight when she messed with some of the auditioners, having them step forward and then back (and then to the left) only to announce that they were all going through. The joke would’ve been less funny (to the auditioners, anyway) had she announced that they were all eliminated and she just wanted to make them dance a bit before she cut their hearts out.

Tonight’s portion of the audition process was the sudden-death round. Essentially it’s a chance for the judges to sort out the “has a chance to win” people from the “what were we thinking when we sent them through to Hollywood” people. And for us, it was a chance to get to see more of the people who were showcased during the early auditions and no more of the people who weren’t featured and probably won’t see any substantial air-time until America starts voting.

Among the stronger contestants were:

Andrew Garcia: He took a chance by singing an acoustic version of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” and knocked it out of the park. Not only were his vocals fantastic but the arrangement of the song was really fresh.

Casey James: He has that scruffy-hot thing going on. Makes me think he probably doesn’t shower a lot but he plays the blues guitar and sings like nobody’s business.

Crystal Bowersox: The single mom was featured tonight as she went to get a tattoo of her son’s name on her back. While we watched this, her audition began to play in the background and it seemed evident even before the shot cut to her on stage that she was going through.

Didi Benami: Her style (at least with the Kara DioGuardi-written song she performed) reminds me of Taylor Swift, except her voice seems more controlled. She’s pretty and as Simon pointed out, her waitress status makes her the ideal story for this kind of show.

Michael “Big Mike” Lynche: Excellent voice and the token “my wife’s having a baby right now!” contestant of the season. He deserves a spot in the finals SPOILER ALERT but unfortunatley, we won’t be seeing him by the time America gets to vote. END SPOILER

Other featured auditioners who went through include Tim Urban, Haeley Vaughn, Mary Powers, Katie Stevens, and Lilly Scott.

Of those who were cut, a few that we saw were people who barely cut the mustard when they went through to Hollywood. Among them was Vanessa “Air-o-plane” Wolfe, who charmed the judges with her country-bumpkin adorableness but completely botched her rendition of “No Rain” during her Hollywood audition. Antonio “Skiiboski” Wheeler scared Ellen, who told him he shouldn’t frighten his audience and that, “Sexy and scary… it’s a fine line.”

Some auditions were just sloppy. Call it nerves or the fact that the contestants just weren’t ready for the situation. Maddy Curtis is someone I could see going further in a couple of years when she has more confidence in her vocals and remembers to choose the right song next time around.

Tomorrow we’ll see the contestants get grouped up and that’s usually when we get to see which contestants have what it takes to handle the grueling rehearsal schedule and learn how to play well with others and which ones just aren’t cutting it.