American Idol season 17 review: Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon, Madison VanDenburg, & Queen
With that in mind, be sure to refresh this article throughout for some more on our quick takes on everyone! We also have a video at the bottom of this article with more of our thoughts — if you enjoy this, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for some more updates and check out our American Idol playlist to make sure that you’re constantly in the know.
Walker Burroughs, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” – This was, surprisingly, quite great. Walker brought a crooner style and swagger to the classic, and we really loved the lower register that he threw into this. It felt a little bit like a nerdy guy who was magically granted swag before the performance, and we kinda liked how it turned! Who thought this song could feel new in 2019? A-.
Madison VanDenburg, “The Show Must Go On” – We all know Madison’s pipes at this point — she’s a great singer and was able to nail a lot of this song. Vocally, this was outstanding save for maybe one or two notes that teetered a little on the sharp side. Did it have some of the anger that we like from this song? Probably not, but it’s another performance that should remind you how dangerous she is this season. B+.
Laci Kaye Booth and Laine Hardy, “Jackson” – Great song choice, especially since they can do some of that Johnny Cash – June Carter music. They sounded nice and seemed to have good chemistry, but in a way, it almost felt like the voices were at the same octave and there wasn’t enough difference from one person to the next. B.
Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon, “Who Wants to Live Forever” – This is beautiful. Stirring. Powerful. It’s hard to know how else to describe this. It’s one of his strongest performances that we’ve had a chance to see from him … and we don’t say that lightly. We love this song and he did it all of the justice in the world. A.
Alejandro Aranda, “Under Pressure” – This was a tough performance for Alejandro, mostly because it feels like someone is forcing him to use the band when it really should just be him. He gets swallowed up by it too much and even though his voice is great, you can’t really hear it and nothing really matched up. C+.
Wade Cota and Alyssa Raghu, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” – There was really no chemistry here between the two — they were at too much of a distance for most of the performance. But, they actually sounded a little bit better together than we thought that they would on the surface. Grade: B.
Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon and Madison VanDenburg, “A Million Dreams” – No shock that someone is doing a song from The Greatest Showman. This was powerful to say the least, but also perfectly theatrical. They both understand how to work the stage, and above all else, there were good harmonies here! Nice all around. Grade: B+.
Laine Hardy, “Fat Bottomed Girls” – We still don’t like the song choice and really would be just fine if we never heard it again. Yet, none of this changes that this was probably the best performance that we’ve had a chance to see from him in the live shows. He brought a lot of energy and a sense of fun to it throughout, which is all we could really ask for. B+.
Laci Kaye Booth, “Love of My Life” – This was the best performance of Laci’s in a couple of weeks, at least. We don’t actually know this song that well compared to all of the others, but there was just so much creativity and vulnerability here. It could’ve been strictly a Laci song, one that she inhabited and one she brought great power to. A-.
Walker Burroughs and Alejandro Aranda, “Mrs. Robinson” – This didn’t really work, despite it sounding in theory like it could. There just wasn’t a lot of energy here and their vocals weren’t meshing together properly. This has probably been Alejandro’s weakest episode and it while this was pleasant, it was also very soft. B-.
Wade Cota, “We Are the Champions” – Not a good song for Wade. He didn’t bring anything to it and he couldn’t quite hit a lot of the high notes. To be fair, forcing Wade to do Queen probably wasn’t really giving him much of a chance to shine in the first place — he’s got a more limited range and his gravely voice doesn’t work for the purity in Freddy Mercury’s. C.
Alyssa Raghu, “Somebody to Love” – while it’s clear that Alyssa still needs to work on growing and improving as an artist, no doubt was this another strong vocal from her. She’s shown herself to be a great singer; she just has to figure out everything else now. B.
What did you think about tonight’s American Idol 17 episode? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: ABC.)