‘Rising Star’ episode 2 review: Adam Jaymes, Will Roth, Austin French, and more

If nothing else, at least “Rising Star” did not waste a whole lot of time getting going when it came to the auditions. We didn’t have to be reminded how to vote, and we appreciated that. While the talent has been questionable (as has some of the judging), at least the second episode gave you a whole lot more singers, and also significantly less when it comes to filler.

We’ve included the results from the show so far below. Be sure to check back soon, since we are going to have some more updates as the night progresses. Also, cheers for Josh Groban for being awesome tonight.

Shameia Crawford, “We Are Young” – Anytime you see a background singer on a competition show, they are generally pretty good. The thing they are missing is that extra “oomph” that it can take in order to make someone a true superstar.

Is anyone in America actually voting? Maybe everyone else stopped watching, since this was actually better than about 75% of the acts who worked through last week. Maybe she is the poster child for the West Coast voters out there to actually cast a vote that matters.

April Lockhart, “Say You’ll Be There” – Funny story here. She wasn’t anywhere near as good as Shameia Crawford was in the opening, but she not only got the wall raised, but it really was not even that close. She does have an inspirational story and is rather quirky, and maybe that helped. (We’re also laughing at Kesha saying that she is better at guitar than she is.)

Austin French, “Georgia on My Mind” – Saying that you are a worship leader is a smart move, given that the majority of the American public is religious and will get you behind that for this alone. He had a very nice voice to go along with it; he remind us of an old doo-wop singer mixed with a little bit of country. Of course he made it through!

Trinitti, “Problem” – The face that one person made during this audition was priceless. Seriously, it needs to be a meme. This show is terrible for groups, probably because it is so hard to have a story that is compelling, and also vocals that are tight and consistent throughout. They were far from the lowest score we’ve seen, but they didn’t even receive half of the votes needed to advance. To quote the song, this was a problem, indeed.

Alice J. Lee, “You and I” – A pretty decent voice, but you can tell just from the way that she makes her facial expressions that she has performed a ton of theater. We feel like this could hold her back from some votes, and Ludacris was right with his criticism. She did use some of that adversity to her benefit, and turned in something that could make her a contender moving forward.

Rye Davis, “When You Say Nothing At All” – Too many pitch problems kept him from really being as fantastic as he could be. We feel like we would have loved him so much more had the packaged focused more on the fact that he was from Pig, Kentucky.

Sonnet Simmons, “Wicked Game” – We love the name, and for the most part we enjoyed the performance. It was a little aloof at times, but we can tell that there is a little bit of talent here. We just need to hear what else she can do.

Deedra Ervin, “Anything Can Happen” – Strategically, a smart move to perform while wearing her uniform. This was the saddest story of the entire episode, given that her house literally just burned down. Here’s the truth: She wasn’t very good, and America doesn’t bit on just sad stories alone. We feel like if this was another show, she probably would’ve advanced just on the backstory. Not here.

Will Roth, “Sweater Weather” – America loves beards, right? Nobody wants to really grow them other than a select few, but we certainly like to see other people rock them. At first, we were nervous because the votes weren’t rising nearly as fast as they should be. The song may not be that well-known by many, but he still pulled out 83%. He was one of our favorites, so we’re happy to see him go on.

Egypt Dixon, “Fancy” – Big mistake singing this song. She wasn’t necessarily horrible, but most viewers of singing shows do not listen to rap and they won’t vote for it. Also, her rapping was significantly better than her singing, and she felt out of breath when she got to the important parts. She’s not moving on.

Adam Jaymes, “I Won’t Give Up” – A very strong performance at the end of the night, and one of our favorites thanks mostly to its tone and also his complete vulnerability. We haven’t always liked Brad Paisley as a judge, but he was totally right on with this.

Megan Tibbits, “All of Me” – Proving that this is live television, Megan closed the show, and it was very late on the night and we wondered if we would run over. She has a harp! We love the harp! One of the more mixed performances on “Rising Star” so far; her voice isn’t perfect, but the personality and style was there. Also, a very good choice to pick something so current. We thought at first she was going to advance for sure, but she botched those notes at the end and that’s probably what cost her. She could still advance with the West Coast, though, given that she was at 68%.

Overall, this to us was a much better night on the show than what we had the first time around. It’s still not perfect, but the talent was far superior, and the judges and host felt much more comfortable. Call this a move in the right direction. Grade: B-.

Who was your favorite through “Rising Star” so far, and did you find episode 2 to be a substantial improvement? Let us know below, and click here to get some other updates worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: ABC