‘Rising Star’ review: Jesse Kinch, Megan Tibbits among standouts in duels

The first night of the duels on “Rising Star” was Sunday night, and there’s a little bit of irony in it. If we were still using the same criteria that we had during the auditions, only two of the singers tonight would’ve technically been good enough to advance to the next round.

The other thing that was notable about this episode? It’s feeling more and more like we have a favorite for this season so far in front, the finale may not even be that close unless some other people start to step up to the plate.

Alice J. Lee vs. Lisa Punch – Neither one of these performances was necessarily stellar. Alice has more potential, but also a heck of a lot more pitch problems that she needs to work on. We’re fine that she made it through, but only because Lisa was fairly unremarkable and there is not that much of an upside there. Winner: Alice.

Megan Tibbits vs. Sarah Darling – The only real problem that Sarah ran into tonight is the simple issue of song choice. This was almost a reflection of the first round, at least in that Megan took more of a risk, even though she was more vocally all over the place. America, at least for now, seems more interested in those who take chances. Winner: Megan.

Jesse Kinch vs. Will Roth – Sorry to Will, but this wasn’t even close. Jesse makes this stage look like its own, which is difficult given that this is just a cheesy reality show. Jesse is going to make the finale for this show and maybe win. He’s got it all going on. Winner: Jesse.

Who was your favorite on this “Rising Star” episode? Let us know below, and head over here to get some more news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: ABC