‘American Idol 15’ review: Did La’Porsha Renae, Lindita, Jordan Sasser make top 24?
Tonight marks the biggest night of “American Idol” this season, mostly because after all of the drama from Hollywood Week is now over, and we’re getting a chance to see (officially) the top 24! We’re not going to focus in this article on those who didn’t make, or some of the filler nonsense that tends to be all over these shows.
Instead, here are the people you’ll be getting to see perform moving into next week!
Stephany Negrete – She’s someone we’ve always thought of as good, but at the same time there’s some work still to be done here when it comes to selling the performance that she gave to the judges. We do think that she will get there, but it will certainly take a lot of time in order to happen.
Shelbie Z. – There wasn’t really any doubt here with her in our mind. She’s got an excellent country-rock sound, and with that, she should be able to go pretty far in the competition … or at least we hope so, given that she finds the right songs to perform.
MacKenzie Bourg – MacKenzie is an interesting guy for this season, mostly in that he’s a very good musician and writer, but not the best singer of the group. Can he overcome those limitations with artistry? Time will tell.
Trent Harmon – If this guy can make it to the top 24 while STILL being sick with mono, he has the potential to go a long way. He’s just gotta get better.
Jenna Renae, James VIII, Kory Wheeler, and Adam Lasher – They didn’t get a ton of screen time, but they all advanced. Some of them have history on the show, so they don’t exactly need the extra publicity.
Jeneve Rose Mitchell – She’s got a quirky story and an interesting voice, so we suppose that’s enough for now. We don’t exactly think that she has figured out her voice just yet, so that’s going to be tough to learn over the competition.
CJ Johnson – He’s the gruff guy this season! We like him, but we’re not sure we’ll remember him in the midst of the sea of other singers.
Amelia Eisenhauer – We really dig Amelia, just because she’s so different and has a unique musical sensibility with her violin. We’re also excited to see what sort of cool stuff she could come up with in the future.
Lee Jean – The guy told the crowd to settle down! He’s decent, but we wouldn’t have put him through based on just that.
Avalon Young – Didn’t love the song choice here, but based on the strength of everything we’ve heard from her so far, we understand why she’s coming through.
Dalton Rapattoni – We’re just not sure what the disconnect here is, but there is just something about his performances at the moment that do not completely vibe for us just yet.
Manny Torres – No shocker here. The guy basically had “top 24” written all over him from the time that he went on stage to perform at the showcase. Really great from start to finish.
Thomas Stringfellow – He’s got talent, but we worry about his long-term potential since he’s got something affected about his voice that needs to be worked on. We heard it often in this One Direction cover.
Sonika Vaid – Probably the darkhorse of the entire top 24 for us at the moment. Everything that she’s done has shown potential that she could be a big star down the road this season.
Olivia Rox – Is it fair to say that … she rocked? Yeah it’s cheesy, but she’s been so good at times this season.
Emily Brooke – Really good, but predictability-wise she was the female Manny Torres of the ground.
Gianna Isabella – She performing “I Still Believe” in front of her famous mom Brenda K. Starr, and while there’s a serious momager situation going on here in some ways, we’re glad that this was still great. She’s got talent, but she needs to step more into her own lane.
Tristan McIntosh – Probably her best vocal we’ve heard, and for her, it came at the right time. We didn’t have her in our top 24 before this.
Jenn Blosil – She’s a little like Joey Cook in that you either love her or you don’t. Luckily, we do, and we think the show needs her brand of quirkiness moving forward.
Jordan Sasser – This was controlled and solid more than anything we’ve heard from him so far. Like Tristan, it’s coming at the right time.
La’Porsha Renae – We’re super-thrilled that she is there, given that she’s got the biggest and most powerful voice of the women left. With that being said, why didn’t Lindita also get in? If we were producers, both of them would’ve gotten in almost over ANYONE else. Seriously.
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