The second week of America Idol's newest season commenced last week with auditions taking place in Milwaukee and Nashville. For those of you who may be getting tired of the audition rounds already, you only have a couple of more weeks in which to suffer. According to the schedule, the Hollywood week shows begin airing on February 16. Actually, I find myself to be enjoying the audition shows this season more than ever. So far, there have been far less mind-numbingly bad singers featured and more of the quality singers shown. So that is a big plus for me. Still, some 50 plus singers made it out of the Milwaukee auditions and how many actually made it on screen, probably less than that? Surely Idol producers could've been able to squeeze in a few more of those hopefuls in. Although one of the intriguing factors to seeing the awful contestants that couldn't sing was to hear the insults Simon would retort at them. Obviously that's missing and nobody on the panel really fills those shoes, although Randy does seem to be stepping up and being harsher in his criticism of some of those contestants. However, this may be one of the reasons why fewer of the bad singers are being featured, because the interaction between the current panel and these contestants just doesn't make for as good TV as it once did. Still, no matter how you slice it, those contestants who can't sing will still get treated the way that they deserve to be treated, regardless of who is sitting at the judge's table. It's just the way the game is played.
As for the better singers who made it out of the Milwaukee auditions with a Golden Ticket, here are a few of them who caught my eye. Scott McCreery is the 16-year old with the freakishly-low country singing voice. Clearly the show has not had a country-sounding male contestant with the talent that Scott has and he could go far. Naima Adedapo is the 25-year old working at the Milwaukee Summerfest Amphitheater, helping to support her family. It has the potential to be a real nice rages to riches kind of story for her. I really liked her soulful sound. Thia Megia is one of the 15-year olds featured on the show with a strong, confident voice. She was also on America's Got Talent a few seasons ago. Molly DeWolf Swenson is the 22-year old White House Intern, currently working for the Obama administration. She really surprised me with her vocal talent and I look forward to seeing what more she can do in this competition. Steven Begun is the 27-year old CPA and another one that surprised me with his voice. I thought he was going to be one of those awful singers but was anything but. Scott Dangerfield is the unassuming 22-year old that wowed the judges. I don't know if he has me entirely sold yet, but he definitely had a good audition. And last but not least, Chris Medina, the contestant who's fiance was involved in a car accident that resulted in her having a brain injury. It was a touching and heartfelt story to end the night, but I am hoping this doesn't turn into another Danny Gokey situation.
Now, for the contestants featured on Thursday's Nashville audition episode that caught my eye include: Chelsee Oaks and Rob Bolin - a pair of contestants who were once involved with each other but whom are now separated. They both sang well together and individually and both deserved a shot to move forward. Adrienne Beasley, the 22-year old African-American girl who was adopted by white parents at the age of two. She had a wonderful country-sounding vibe to her voice and could go far. Jackie Wilson is the 28-year old contestant who had a stunningly-strong audition that had the judges clapping after she was done. Paul McDonald didn't have as long of an audition as some of the others, but he's another one to watch with his smoky vocals. And last but not least, Lauren Alaina, the 15-year old contestant that sure didn't look or sound 15 years old to me. She sounded way beyond her years and has already been chosen as "the one" by Steven Tyler. Sure, her audition may have been out of this league, but let's wait until she has to sing live before we get way ahead of ourselves here.
So yes, there are definitely a few hopefuls in the midst of all those auditioning for this season's American Idol. We look to have a good crop of singers and it'll be interesting to see how things get whittled down as we head towards Hollywood Week and the live voting rounds. I honestly don't know what will make up the semi-final rounds, whether viewers will be voting or not or how many contestants will make up that particular round. All of that appears to be a surprise for the viewers that we'll just have to wait out until it comes. In the meantime, be sure and enjoy the audition episodes this coming week! Let's see who steps forward as front-runners in these upcoming episodes.
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