‘American Idol XIV’ video: Erica Washington auditions in New Orleans

We have one simple hope for the new episode of “American Idol” airing tonight on Fox: Please be better than what we had last night in Minneapolis. That may be one of the worst overall audition shows that we’ve ever seen. There were not necessarily a lot of horrible singers, but we had something just as bad: A bunch of okay and very boring ones.

Will Erica Washington help to change that in New Orleans? After watching her audition many times over, we feel very encouraged. First and foremost, we love her voice. It’s powerful when it needs to be, but she has a little light and shade in it. We wish that she did a different song than Beyonce’s “Halo,” mostly because that song is so sappy and overplayed. It makes her feel like more of a contestant and less like an artist.

After watching this, though, we have zero doubt that we’re going to be seeing more of Erica at least in Hollywood Week, though her placement beyond that is still to be seen. The reality here is that we’ve got a ton of super-talented people who are in the soul / R&B genre this season, and you really have to bring it to stand out. This is at least a nice foundation.

Also, it’s nice to hear that there is a personal connection between her and Harry Connick Jr., at least in that she is from Mobile, a hometown of the older Harry Connick.

We’ll be back tonight with a full review of this episode, but for now, be sure to head over here to get our full review of the aforementioned Minnesota episode! Also, be sure to sign up right now to get some further TV news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter right away. (Photo: Fox.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMkLL2tyHNA