One of my favorite parts of American Idol is Hollywood Week. Through its fourteen season run, the arduous week of auditions, which include a solo round, a group number, and two follow up solo auditions, narrows the 300 something contestants into an eensy Top 24. Agree or disagree on whether or not each singer deserves their spot as much as you like, but we can all agree how wonderfully dramatic all of it is. Taking advantage of how staged the process is, and AI’s usually goofy editing, Hollywood Week is always the best reality TV money can buy.
For Season XIV, it’s been a bit different. With fewer spills, fewer breakdowns, but many more talented contestants, there’s been less of a focus on the crazy stuff. It’s better for everyone that way anyway. Let’s go over the highlights of the last two weeks of this, uh, single week.
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Hollywood Week Part 1 (2/4/15)
Last season, the first part of Hollywood Week had the most interesting change yet. The folks who didn’t get three yeses during the city auditions had to audition once more in some abandoned airline hangar somewhere all Mad Max style. It was incredibly nerve wracking as you could see contestants crumble over the shake up. Then the coolest part of all of that was the idols to be were placed on two different buses, one going to Hollywood and one to the airport to take them back home. I was hoping for a huge shake up to follow during this season, but was unfortunately given none of that. Instead we got a consequence free (as no one was sent home despite wonky performances) day of performances from the auditioners who stood out the most.
But it wasn’t all bad. Jax was the highlight (I’m rooting for you, girl) and one girl fell under the pressure because she felt she need to get her parents “out of the hood.” That’s way too much pressure for a child to bear, but luckily she’s pulled it together long enough to perform.
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Hollywood Week Part 2 (2/5/15)
So this is where all the good stuff started. The group rounds have always led to the juiciest edits as the round naturally creates villains and in-fighting among team members. Some team members go to sleep before others, people blame each other for faulty performances, and so on. But this year we didn’t get any of that. The only drama we got was when one girl, Alexis Granville, couldn’t find a group, joins a group full of folks I don’t like (and Jax) and almost passes out due to panic attacks. This also meant the episode ended on a cliffhanger for some reason. The problem was I didn’t care about this girl. They haven’t shown any of her auditions in full, and her singing voice is nowhere near the level of the others.
One thing has bothered me since Simon (and to a lesser extent, Nikki Minaj) left that ties in to all this: the constant “kid gloves.” In years past, if a contestant forgot the lyrics or broke down under pressure, they’d be sent home instantly. It showed how little experience they had and how they’d fare during the live shows. We shouldn’t be getting situations like this anymore. We all know Alexis Grendel won’t make the cut, so why make a big deal?
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Hollywood Week Part 3 (2/11/15)
Surprisingly, Alexis makes the cut. She still made it to the next solo round for some reason while arguably more deserving contestants like Rocky, who called and told his mom their life was going to change before getting cut. Ugh, it was heartbreaking. But at least there were some good group auditions. Blvd. (which was comprised of my early faves Cody Fry and Rayvon Owen) was fantastic and Ladies Keep Your Clothes On (formed with precocious youngsters that’re all probably going to make the Top 24). All in all, nothing big happened here.
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Hollywood Week Part 4 (2/12/15)
After the group rounds, the remaining 100 something contestants go through one more solo round before getting cut to the Top 48. Here’s were it got particularly frustrating as lots of great folks went home for stupid reasons. Jess Lamb (who I pointed out in my first article for the season for her piano audition), and Adam Lasher (Carlos Santana’s nephew) who both delivered great Hollywood week performances. It all seems strange when a contestant like Joey Cook, great as she is, can forget her lines twice and still make it through or Nick Fradiani is praised as “experienced” at age 28 when Jess Lamb was more “beaten down” at age 29.
But it wasn’t all bad news. One standout solo in particular was Quentin Alexander, the extremely cool and stylish contestant would be missed if he didn’t make the final cut. There’s no way he’s not making the Top 24. Also, Alexis Granville was finally sent home after she broke down again and failed to sing on key. No more free passes, so yay!
That’s it for this catch up! This week takes the Top 48 to the House of Blues where they’ll perform once last time before the Top 24 is officially revealed. Rumor has it something big went down during the performance so I can’t wait to see what comes next.