‘American Idol XIII’ review: Tessa Kate, Paula Hunt, and C.J. Jones help close auditions
“American Idol” this week headed to a city that has gotten quite a bit of publicity as of late, though mostly because of Peyton Manning randomly shouting it during football games: Omaha. Also, there were random advertisements for beef / steak throughout.
Hopefully, all of the fun surrounding the episode’s setting makes up for the fact that the auditions themselves were really not that great this time around. There were a few standouts, but after a huge crop of great ones last night in Salt Lake City, we really needed to have the roof blown off for us to be excited.
Take a look at least at some of the good singers from this episode below. We’re going to go ahead and ignore most of the duds.
Quaid Edwards – An interesting contestant, given that his mom has a history performing with Keith Urban. There is some talent there with the strangely-named Quaid, but his biggest issue right now is that he just feels like he’s been surrounded by too many people who have just told him he is good. There needs to be some work done!
Madison Walker – An okay country singer for a 15-year old, but this is where we sort of wish that the judges would have some restraint. Madison could have really benefited the most from being told to come back in a year after improving a few things, since there’s no real identity to her sound yet.
Tyler Marshall – One of the best singers of the day? Sure, but we do worry about gospel singers finding a place on this show in a post Joshua Ledet world. What can you do now to really impress us? The pressure’s going to be on in later rounds.
C.J. Jones – We totally feel for this guy; not only did he have to try to perform “Stand By Me,” but Harry Connick Jr. was standing RIGHT THERE the entire time. He actually rocked it out despite it; if he can handle doing this, he should be able to take on Hollywood Week without a problem.
Tyler Gurwicz – Harry Connick Jr.’s right about making a mistake here. Tyler didn’t really have anything that stood out with him; but then again, are we really going to yell at Harry the Great for one mistake in a magnificent season for him so far?
Dajontae Lenear – We didn’t see a lot of him, but he’s a J. Lo super-fan who also seems to be a ton of fun. Great sense of humor too.
Paula Hunt – She’s got an admirable job with the Air Force, and one of the cool things about it is that it’s a job you don’t really hear a whole lot about in the military. She maybe needs to do something a little more fun in the future, but a nice start.
Andrina Brogden – We really wanted Andrina to be amazing, but she was more okay. She has this cool story about wanting to make people care about North Dakota, but during this audition, she felt like a small-town girl in the big city. With some training, she could be good … and that’s why we are happy to see her move forward.
Casey McQuillan – A great take on “Skyscraper,” but we didn’t see very much of her. She may actually be one of the most promising ones in here.
Tessa Kate – A great singer to close things out! At least the show saved one of the best for last here with folksy Tessa and her take on “Folson Prison Blues.” A very unique contestant who could go far. Grade: B-.
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