‘American Idol XIII’ review: Are MK Nobillette, Emily Piriz, Malaya Watson in top 10 girls?

“American Idol” was both very good and very cruel tonight, at least in that they had fifteen singers, but only ten of them were allowed to actually perform. A very evil elimination stripped us of Jillian Jensen, Brandy Neelly, and many other singers who we felt were going to be a part of the top 10. Instead, we had some in here who really shouldn’t have made it any further than Randy Jackson’s doorstep before the Dawg shut them out. (Hooray for Adam Lambert and Chris Daughtry, though!)

We’re going to focus more on the singers who did perform tonight in this review, and like we are going to do all season long, we’ve got our full rankings below of all of the numbers on the night, from worst to first.

10. Marrialle Sellars, “Roar” – We blame this almost entirely on the show for hyping her up to astronomic levels. It’s almost like the show created a monster in Marrialle. She’s no longer this sort of sweet singer with artistry and something different. She really did try to be just like the PG-rated Miley Cyrus singing Katy Perry tonight. Almost everything that was cool about her was gone, and the vocal was pretty awful.

9. Emily Piriz, “Paris (Ooh La La)” – We otherwise know this now as that song that Harry Connick Jr. doesn’t like young people to sing. His whole entire debate with her about it after the fact proves that … and she had to know that this was coming. It was a decent vocal, but WAY TOO MUCH SMILING. This song should be aggressive and playful, but not so much like a fun little romp through the tulips.

8. Bria Anai, “Wrong Side” – Bria needs to take the focus off of the lips for a minute or two, and then remind everyone that she actually has a good voice to go with that. She seems to be a little too caught up in being a star and being famous, and not so much the whole notion of performing awesome music.

7. Jessica Meuse, “Drink a Beer” – It was an interesting choice of song for Jessica, and this could have been really amazing. It just feels like she was a little too caught up in the emotion of the moment, and her connection came across like she didn’t really get what this song is about. We know that she probably does know that, so it was a little tricky.

6. Kristen O’Connor, “Turning Tables” – Nobody really remembered Kristen from before this performance, and they probably won’t remember her that much now. She sounds a little like a very good performer that you’d bring in with an orchestra, but not a solo artist. She’s missing the fire.

5. Jena Irene Ascuitto, “Paint It Black” – A very risky song choice for please-don’t-mispronounce-my-name, but Jena earned her stripes here for the most part. A little shaky, but for the first performance on the show, we’re okay with it. She’s got the potential to grow.

4. Briana Oakley, “Warrior” – Hooray for a Demi Lovato song choice that was not another rendition of “Skyscraper.” This was a performance that was pretty strong still, even though there were a few little bumps in the road.

3. Malaya Watson, “Hard Times” – Malaya got off to a great start with this performance, but the thing that we really hope she really remembers moving forward to the rest of the season is that her personality and her range cannot be enough. She needs to make sure that there are not too many runs.

2. MK Nobillette, “All of Me” – There is something that is so simple and fantastic about what MK does. We were concerned going into this show that she was going to become more about what her social significance that her voice would be lost, but that didn’t happen. By far, one of the most moving performance on the night.

1. Majesty Rose, “Happy” – Majesty made us happy! What more is there to really say about it! She had one of the better performances of her run, and that’s great given that she’s had a heck of a run so far.

Over all a pretty good show, but not one of the best we’ve ever seen. Episode grade: B-

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Photo: Fox