‘American Idol XIV’ review: Quentin Alexander, Adanna Duru, joey Cook, Jax perform party songs
For the first time this season, we had a two-hour performance show on “American Idol XIV.” This meant a chance to actually see the contestants with a little bit of time to breathe! This is more of the sort of show we’re going to have all season, and Party Songs were the name of the game.
Was this episode one big party? This was more or less a mixed bag. Some contestants surprised us during the show, while some others showed that they still have a little bit more work to do before they come back next week (if they come back, that is). Take a look at the contestants below, which will be updated live as the show goes on.
Rayvon Owen, “Burn” – Probably not the start of the show that Rayvon was hurting for. His voice cracked, and this was probably the worst overall vocal he has had on the season so far.
Maddie Walker, “She’s Country” – One of Maddie’s better vocals. We do think that she will improve, and she probably needs to stick around here longer than most others to get the most out of Scott Borchetta. She’s the only real country star left, and this is what he’s known for!
Joey Cook, “Fancy” – This is the Postmodern Jukebox version of the song, which makes sense given it would be hard to do the original version with the rapping. Awesome performance. Joey is starting to really come into her own this season.
Clark Beckham, “Takin’ It to the Streets” – Clark is a great singer, and we know that he could handle this sort of song very well. The problem here is that this was a very safe performance. Clark really needs to push it with the song choice!
Jax, “Blank Space” – Probably the weakest vocal from her this whole season. It was a little too much like the original, and her pitch was completely all over the place. The good news is that she has some devoted fans out there who will likely help her out.
Qaasim Middleton, “Jet” – Standing in place exposed some of Qaasim’s weaknesses, and that is not exactly the best thing for him at this stage. Still, he’s entertaining! That should count for something.
Adanna Duru, “Runaway Baby” – Admittedly, we had very little expectation that this song, which is covered all the time, would be great. It was! She kept up well with the pace of it, and delivered all the notes precisely how we hoped she would.
Tyanna Jones, “Tightrope” – Love the song. Really dug this performance too. We wonder if Tyanna at times has too much energy for her own good, but it works here.
Daniel Seavey, “Happy” – We’re not too happy (ahem) about the way in which the judges continue to over-praise Daniel, especially since this was a mediocre-at-best performance of a pretty easy song to sing compared to some others tonight.
Quentin Alexander, “Rolling in the Deep” – A pleasant surprise. Moody, atmospheric, and for the most part different than every other song that is being performed on the show right now.
Nick Fradiani, “Wake Me Up” – Yes, Nick is a very solid singer, but the truth here is that due to the way in which this show was structured tonight, we were so distracted by the inevitable that we were angry.
Sarina Joi-Crowe, “Neon Lights” – When you look up at the sky, it just laughs at you because there is no justice in the world. We’re really too upset about this elimination to comprehend the performance. How does she go home before Daniel?
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