America’s Got Talent review: Courtney Hadwin, Shin Lim, We Three, & live show #1!
For those wondering, we are going to be also listing the acts tonight in order from worst to best. You can also check out the video below for more thoughts; be sure to subscribe for more updates and discussion.
12. PAC Dance Team – The confusion over the theme was a big part of the problem tonight. The story wasn’t as strong as it was in the first few rounds and, to go along with that, the song choice and the costumes didn’t quite work. It was hard to honestly see some of the dance moves that were happening. Unfortunately, this was just another dance routine that we’ve seen on the AGT live shows before.
11. Human Fountains – This was gross — incredibly gross. Yet, they are actually really good at what they do. It’s almost like they are incredibly talented at something that nobody ever wants to be talented at. There’s no way they move on, but the part where they basically spit out a hot dog as a collaborative effort was impressive in its own way.
10. Vicki Barbolak – We love her as a person, but this felt a little bit like her entire act tonight was based mostly on her character and not on any real jokes. It was almost like she was pitching a sitcom, like Howie joked during the critique, and not actually something that felt like a typical standup comedy routine.
9. Angel City Chorale – What they do is so different and joyous than you see from most other choirs — yet, we liked them doing the theme from Civilization IV at Judge Cuts much more than this, mostly because we couldn’t really understand the words most of the time. It also just didn’t feel as unique as what we saw beforehand.
8. We Three – We’re torn on them versus Angel City Chorale, given that we think that trio gave a better performance tonight. Yet, we do think that Angel City Chorale is more interesting in terms of their talent and originality — We Three is a good band with a good story, but are they really different from anyone else that we’ve seen over time?
7. Flau’jae – We love that she did an upbeat song and really tried her best in order to continue to show her versatility as a rapper and a performer. Her stage presence is on another level. The major issue we had here is that she started to lose her breath midway through the performance so the second half was nowhere equal the first.
6. Junior New System – These guys are SO energetic. One thing that we do like is that they did something a little big different tonight in focusing not just on the high heels — they showed versatility, energy, and athleticism. We still don’t think it’s easy for dance crews on this show, but this is about as good of a live-show performance as you’re going to get from one.
5. Amanda Mena – This was both a risky song choice and arrangement for Amanda, who was previously a Golden Buzzer recipient. Yet, she sang it extremely well, and we like the fact that she didn’t just go out there and perform a slow ballad like so many people do at this point. Killer higher big note. We do wish that she moved about the stage a little bit more, since the stage did feel a little bit empty for some of the performance.
4. Lord Nil – This was so much better than the judges give it credit for, and really, Mel B did a HUGE disservice to the act by buzzing midway through it just because she doesn’t like that they are in danger. That is THE POINT OF THE ACT. We don’t want to watch a parade of singers and dancers. This was actually super entertaining and dramatic from start to finish, even if it was a muted slightly by the judges’ critique.
3. Mochi – He is a diabolo artist, which isn’t an easy thing to be in America given that the majority of Americans have no idea what a diabolo is. Yet, what he did here was visually stunning and super cool. Not only did he have to execute his movements, but he also had to time them with the interactive environment behind it. This isn’t going to win the show, but it’s still super-cool and really darn impressive. Bonus points for the part with the fireworks at the end.
2. Shin Lim – He’s outstanding. There’s no other way to describe him. He is the best close-up magician that the series has ever seen and Simon Cowell is out of his mind for trying to convince him to do something different than what he’s done for date. This is what he’s a master at! We could watch him slowly do card tricks almost every single second of our day.
1. Courtney Hadwin – In between the singing, the dancing, and the style, Courtney is completely original. She’s an exceptional singer but beyond that, we actually think that she can be a star beyond this show. We do think that the Janis Joplin comparisons are there, but why not also go with Bruno Mars, too? She’s THAT good.
Who was your favorite act from this week’s America’s Got Talent? Be sure to share in the comments!
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