‘American Idol XIV’ video: Is Jax about to score place in top 24?

This week on “American Idol XIV,” we are going to see the final performances before the top 24 are revealed! We’ve got the field narrowed down to the best and the brightest contestants, and they are about to perform in front of a live audience at the House of Blues. From here, the judges will figure out who is ready for the big-time on the live shows.

We have to say here that we like the presence of the audience very much at this stage, mostly because it serves as somewhat of a bridge between auditions, Hollywood Week, and the live shows. You are not getting thrown to the wolves so much in this instance. The video below focuses on Jax, who we’ve felt from almost the first week was a favorite to win the entire competition. Since Hollywood Anderson completely let us down repeatedly in Hollywood, she’s probably now our #1 pick. She’s more than just a good vocalist with a name reminiscent of Charlie Hunnam. She also is a bold performer who takes chances on stage. Adding a big-time dramatic pause during her performance of “You and I” is one such risk.

After giving what we feel is a pretty strong performance, though, the preview still makes it look like she does not have the approval of Jennifer Lopez. J. Lo tells her in this video that she feels like she didn’t “gauge the audience” enough when taking some of her risks. This is nebulous criticism if we’ve ever heard it. Have we heard more vocally flawless performances from Jax? Sure, but this is a different environment with a different song.

Is Jax a lock for the top 24 in your book? Let us know right now, and click here to see some other recent “American Idol” highlights!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGRT10k_Jjo