RECAP: American Idol’s Top 8 Perform Grammy Hits

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This week on American Idol contestants will be singing Grammy hits. We will also say goodbye to two contestants. Because Idol is now on only once a week, eliminations and performances will take place on the same night. Host Ryan Seacrest will call out contestants that were voted through last week by America to perform one at a time- meaning they’re safe. Yes, the bottom three will have to sit through the entire show to think about their performance and how to wow the judges. Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr, and Keith Urban will then decide to save just one. No pressure. America then gets to do it all over again and vote for their favorite.

Because this format is ridiculous and the bottom three should perform first, that’s how I’m writing this recap. The bottom three this week consisted of Gianna Isabella, Olivia Rox, and Avalon Young. I’m amazed that we will have to say goodbye to one of these ladies, but Lee Jean and Tristan McIntosh are still somehow in the competition.

Avalon Young did an okay rendition of The Weeknd’s “Earned It.” I’ve never been a huge fan of Avalon’s voice, but the judges apparently loved it. Olivia Rox made an incredible attempt to continue her journey on Idol with Pink’s “Trouble.” She sounded amazing, but as the story goes with many contestants, she needed to perfect her performance ability. Gianna Isabella was really ambitious with “If I Ain’t Got You.” She was pitchy and bland throughout, and the judges noticed. The trio decided to save Avalon.

With that out of the way, here’s our ranking of the Top 8 performance, from worst to best:

Lee Jean switched things up and sang “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon instead of an Ed Sheeran track. He sounded pleasant enough, but there was an umph missing. He needed to dig into his voice a bit, or as J.Lo put it, he needed “more voice” in him. He needs to begin pushing his voice to its limits to see where he can take it.

Avalon performed “Earned It,” and knew she was singing for her life. As I’ve been saying, Avalon is very much a singer that you either hate or love. I’m not a fan of her nasally tone, but in terms of performance, this was probably one of her best. She sounded great, but did I enjoy it? Not really.

Last week, Dalton Rapattoni underwhelmed with “Hey There Delilah.” This week he continued that downward spiral with “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. Dalton normally has an energy and confidence on stage that no other contestant really has. But tonight, that vanished in every way. His vocals, movements, facials, everything was so bland. Was it just me or were the background singers louder than him throughout the song? Harry finally said what everyone has been thinking and compared Dalton to Billie Joe Armstrong. J.Lo warned him not to get in his head, which is exactly what happened. Snap out of it, Dalton! But I’m sure his fan army will vote him through.

Tristan McIntosh had a good night with “Go Rest High On That Mountain.” She stripped the song down and finally had an amazing vocal. Tristan’s problem is still connection. While she sounded beautiful and seemed to be showing some sort of emotion, it didn’t seem quite enough. It could be that she’s only 15, but still, pick songs you can relate to.

Sonika Vaid is slowly creeping up on my list of favorites. This week she continued her “I’m breaking out of my shell” storyline and showed some more growth in her stage presence with Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone.” Her voice is incredible, there’s no doubt about it, but she needs to keep pushing in her performance ability. She’s showing growth, but she needs to starting wowing if she wants to win. I’m hoping the judges were harsher on Sonika than other contestants (looking at you Lee) because they know she can push herself more.

MacKenzie Bourg transformed Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” into a lovely mid tempo singer-songwriter jam. I don’t know how any times I have to reiterate how much I love MacKenzie’s tone, and that’s never changing. But Jennifer is completely right when she says that MacKenzie needs to dig deeper in his voice. The judges mostly loved it, and Harry was one hundred percent correct when he said that he should have committed to his choices more fully. Regardless, he knows how to melt everyone’s heart with that voice of his.

Trent Harmon is making a come back y’all. Trent took on “When A Man Loves A Woman,” and absolutely killed it. Apparently Scott Borchetta also noticed the face pulling and made Trent work on fixing it. Keith made a point that it seemed like ht was thinking too much about fixing this, and it took away a bit from the performance, but it still didn’t compromise the voice. Trent is improving ten fold, and Jennifer was so right in predicting a La’Porsha and Trent finale.

La’Porsha Renae performed Beyonce’s “Halo,” and it was amazing. But, it just didn’t compare to “Diamonds,” last week. She still blows the competition out of the water, but she made some poor melodic choices this week. Jennifer said she’s the one to beat, and that is so accurate. La’Porsha just needs to keep up with herself at this point to make sure her fans don’t leave her for say, Trenton.

So who will be going home next week? I see the bottom three being Lee, Avalon and Tristan, with Lee and Avalon being the ones we say goodbye to.

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