American Idol Season 6

Hollywood Week show #2, February 14th

The contestants are brought up one by one to talk to the judges individually. Previously, the judges have reviewed the tapes and have made their final decisions. I can’t imagine how nerve racking this would be for the contestants as it is a constant waiting process. They wait downstairs, wait in the elevator ride up, and wait for the judge’s comments.  I know I would just prefer for them to rip off the band aid.

The first contestant, Sanjaya, had made it through the previous round without his sister, as she had just been cut. He was overjoyed to discover that he had made it through to the top 24. Some people took rejection well, but others didn’t. One girl even argued with the judge’s decision, and believed they should have put her through because she was tall.

I have to say, Paula’s hairstyle was not working well today. It kind of looked like a wig.

It was good to see that two singers, Melinda Doolittle and Brandon Rogers, made it through because they had both previously been back-up singers. Another contestant, Gina, had made it all the way through to group competitions in Hollywood last year but had been cut. However, it was finally her turn to make it through.

One guy I was really rooting for was a guy who had missed his baby’s birth for his prelim audition. I really liked his voice, and noticed he sounded very good in the Hollywood week. Fortunately, he made it through

They showed some clips of events during Hollywood week that we didn’t know had happened. It turns out, it wasn’t all hard times for the guys, as they were taken to a special screening of the new Simpson’s movie, coming out on July 27th. They then got a special tour of the studio where the Simpson’s episodes are created.

One of my favorite contestants, based not on singing talent, but on personality is Chris Sligh. I remember him making me laugh in his prelim audition, and he did it again today. He is just a fun guy, with a decent voice, and for that reason, I couldn’t see them cutting him, and they didn’t.

One thing I found very interesting was when they put through Blake Lewis, the beat boxer of the competition. They had never given us a chance to hear his actual singing voice, so I figured he was only there because he was such a good beat boxer. However, it was surprising and exciting to see that apparently he does have a very good voice, and he made it through.

Nick Pedro, and A.J. Tabaldo had both previously made it through to Hollywood week, but never made it passed there. Luckily for them, it was their year and they both made it through. One guy I hadn’t ever seen before really blew me away. He was one of my favorite guys so far, and his name was Jared Cotter.

There is one contestant who completely reminds me of Justin Timberlake, and his name is Chris Richardson. It’s a good thing he made it through, because there can never be too many Justin Timberlakes.

Look out for your top 24:

Sanjay Malakar
Melinda Doolittle
Brandon Rogers
Gina Glocksen
Haley Scarnato
Philip Stacy
Chris Sligh
Blake Lewis
Rudy Cardenas
Paul Kim
Jordin Sparks
A.J. Tabaldo
Stephanie Edwards
Leslie Hunt
Nick Pedro
Alaina Alexander
Chris Richardson
Sabrina Sloan
Lakisha Jones
Nicole Tranquillo
Jared Cotter
Amy Krebs
Antonella Barba
Sundance Head

1st day of Hollywood Auditions, February 13th

The first day of Hollywood week is used for the girl’s auditions, with the boys following the next day. Ryan Seacrest explains to viewers that six girls will be taken back stage at a time. They will each perform for about 30 seconds, and based on that performance, they will be sent home, or sent through. The day began extremely rough as the first six singers were immediately sent home. This came with a warning from Simon saying that the girls had to be original and creative. This made the girls extra nervous, as they waited for their turn to sing.

Throughout this week, they always follow-up on some of the people they showed in the prelims. I was surprised to see that a lot of people I liked were cut in the first round of Hollywood week. The day ended on an annoying note as a contestant, Nicole Turner, was cut from the competition. Before she took the stage, she had been telling the camera about her debate on song choice. She wanted to sing a song she liked, but her mother and aunt wanted her to sing another one. To make this short, she chose the wrong song, and blamed the whole thing on her mother, causing her mother to then go on stage and beg the judges to let her daughter through. Needless to say, her plea did not work, and Nicole was sent home. 56 out of 114 girls were sent home just on the very first day.

On the second day Randy said that “The boys are starting way ahead of the girls.” There was one guy from the prelims who had parents that didn’t support him. However, after he made it through the first round, he cried because his mother was finally proud of him. I was happy to see him make it through the first day of Hollywood so that he could make another happy phone call to his mother. 34 guys made it through to the next round out of 54, a significantly smaller amount than the girls

Immediately after the guys finished, the group collaborations began. This year, the groups were given a lot of freedom, in that anyone could go with anyone. For the most part, genders stayed with their same genders, but occasionally there were some co-ed groups. For the remainder of the night, the contestants dedicated their time to making their group performances impeccable. Some groups didn’t get off to the best start and were up late into the night practicing for what seemed like a hopeless cause. Other groups were in bed at a reasonable hour, confident with tomorrow’s performance.

Once again, Simon makes the contestants more nervous by reminding them how important it is for them not to forget their words. I felt so bad when the boy, who made his parents proud, got cut, because he called his mom who then hung up on him. That is completely terrible. Some groups shined more than others such as a group of four guys who harmonized with a beat boxer.

The final stage of this show was the separation of contestants into rooms. The judges take some time to themselves, and using Polaroid’s of the contestants, decide who will be cut, and who won’t. From there, they separate the winners from the losers into separate rooms, and visit each room. In all, 40 people made it through to the next round, with another 16 being cut the next day.