American Idol 12

 The seventh and eight episodes were about the guys in Hollywood. The first round  was a round in which the guys solo without any music accompaniment and after the first cut , they were arranged  into groups. The group rounds was where many stumbled as they had only 24 hours to prepare for their songs. However there were a few incredible performances too - most notably the first one - a cover of " Somebody To Love".

Hollywood Week, Male 1st Group ~ American Idol... by HumanSlinky

Generally the judges were right about most of the cuts. For example, the cases of Lazaro Arbos and Kayden Stephenson  who both  had sad back stories. Kayden was not quite ready yet, whereas Lazaro had the potential to go all the way. However, the judges may have been a bit too lenient in letting so many to go through the next round even though they have forgotten the lyrics.

After the group rounds,  were the solo rounds with music accompaniment. 28 singers were picked from there and out of those only 20 will carry on after next week.

American Idol 12

In the fifth episode,  auditions were held in San Antonio, Texas and Los Angeles   while in the sixth episode, auditions were held in Oklahoma.

I thought the most entertaining audition was at Oklahoma  by Halie Hilburn, the ventriloquist. She can sing very well too.


Halie Hilburn, Auditions Oklahoma ~ American... by HumanSlinky

I was surprised how Zoanette Johnson managed to go through. Also felt that Kayden Stephenson wasn't that good either.

American Idol 12

Third auditions were held in Charlotte, North Carolina while the fourth one was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Both episodes were not as funny as the first one.

Generally the Charlotte auditions had many country singers in it and it seems like Candice Glover was the best among them.

However at Baton Rouge, I was not really  that impressed with Burnell Taylor whom most of  the judges gave a standing ovation.

American Idol 12 - those spoilers!

There is something about those spoilers that I never really understood- how did those people get the information? Those spoilers have been on for quite some time already and they are quite accurate. American Idol producers have not taken action on the sites that  release them possibly due the fact that they are not 100% accurate (but most of the time, they are I think!) Anyway I will be writing less about them in the future.

American Idol 12

Second auditions were in Chicago. Seems like  there were better performances in the second one but maybe my expectations were too high in the first auditions. The second auditions started really well with Mackenzie Wasner. I think Nicki was  right in saying that she is one of the  singers that come only once in a few years. Strange enough though she seems to have not made the top 40 spoiler's list.

Isabelle Parell was also very good - don't know why Randy said no- but seems like she did not make the spoiler's list as well.

The most touching was Lazaro Arbos. He has a very bad stutter when he talks and because of that, he has had a lonely life. However when he sings, there is no stutter. He gets to go to Hollywood and it appears he has also made the top 40.



American Idol Season 12 - Lazaro Arbos Audition by FanReviews

Corinne Bailey Rae

So this is what "Put Your Records On" really sounds like.




And here is another one of my favourite songs "Like A Star"

American Idol 12

First auditions were at New York. New judges were Mariah Carey, new star Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban. So J-Lo has left and her shoes are hard to fill. While Steven Tyler seem to be better at the end of last year, he still decided  to quit. Still there was room for improvement I  guess. If my dreams are true then  Madonna would have been a better choice as judge - Mariah   may have had a troubled life. Another good choice would probably  have been Carrie Underwood. For the male judge, it is harder to choose  - possibly a better one would have been David Archuleta. One could choose Casey James or Heejun Han  I guess- but they don't have really that good record sales. I heard Heejun did judge a K-pop competition last year though.

Quite a few of the videos  on my blog  seem to be removed from time to time. Hopefully I can replace them but it may take some time.

There were  some great voices but not great performances (not the ones like Phillip Phillips and Jason "Wolf" Hamlin last year) in the first episode. There were still some humour and touching moments in the show- basically Idol is still worth watching even at its 12th season.

I felt  the performances for those who got to Hollywood, were better at the beginning than at the end of the episode.

The funniest performance was probably by Albert Chang. Nicki Minaj said his range is better than Mariah's!



Albert Chang & More Unsuccessful Auditions New... by HumanSlinky