‘America’s Got Talent’: Ranking Calysta Bevier, Jon Dorenbos, Julia Scotti, more from audition show #4
Earlier this week, “America’s Got Talent” brought us its fourth audition show of the season, so now that we’ve had a little bit of time to think about the acts that tried out, why not take a little bit of a closer look? Sometimes in the moment we can get caught up in the edit packages and the timing of every given act, so let’s take a deep breath now and view them all from the big-picture standpoint.
Below, you can check out a ranking of many of the acts who made it through to the next round — or at least the ones who got enough attention from the show that we saw most of their audition. We’re basing this on a combination of things: Performance quality, projected popularity, and overall originality.
Want videos? We’ve also included those in the event you haven’t seen them already.
10. The Baron – We love freakshow acts; we just didn’t really love this since there wasn’t really enough engagement with the crowd. You have to find a way to at least make people laugh or ease them into the crazy stuff they are going to do, and we saw that better a little bit earlier in the season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ1UTZZvPHs
9. Ronee – The second song was great; the first song wasn’t. There’s not really enough consistency here clearly to make us think that she has a huge chance of blowing us away as we get a little bit further into the season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvlSBgUj3tY
8. Vello – These acts are one of the reasons why we love this show. He’s quirky, weird, but a blast to watch. We also feel like he’s been doing this long enough that he’ll come up with something new — even though America probably won’t vote for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2KcvV77iY8
7. Sos and Victoria – The first time you see this, it’s totally cool; our issue is that we’ve already seen this before with Quick Change so many years ago, even complete with the big glitter-bomb at the end of the audition. They really have to think of a way to take this to another level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFnycBlOIRA
6. Elias and Zion – The funny thing about these kids is that we actually liked them as personalities more than their audition. We think they’ve got a future as a comedy / music performing duo, but they may not be there quite yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQJ3Q2p6Cw
5. Jayna Brown – She did a really nice job with her audition, and we always applaud young singers who are able to come out on stage and handle the sort of pressure that comes with it. Really, her only issue is that there are a ton of good singers this time. It’s like with “American Idol” over many newbie vocalists realized they have to look elsewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PVv2TZ3lqU
4. Deadly Games – In retrospect, probably our favorite audition of the night just because these two did something so much better than what was done before. We’ve never seen knife-throwing that was this dangerous, or done with as much personality or passion as we saw here. Our only concern is that these sort of acts rarely make the final, let alone win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1k46VZh4mk
3. Julia Scotti – Hilarious audition. She’s legitimately funny, and we do love that the main focus for her here was on her comedy. We do think the background and the story is important, but for a comedian in particular you don’t want that to overshadow the act. She’s set up well to be a contender in the later rounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HxkZNX9r_0
2. Jon Dorenbos – We don’t necessarily think there is anything Jon did in his opening trick that was that revolutionary, but he had a great stage presence, and the story about him being an NFL player for the Eagles makes him memorable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCyXy4GH-O8
1. Calysta Bevier – Sure, it’s a little bit predictable to put Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer act #1, but when you look at everything from her popularity online to the quality of her “Fight Song” performance, it’s hard to dispute it. Her big challenge from here is going to be establishing herself as a true artist to go along with someone with a wonderful voice and inspirational story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9msiUy0JN64
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