Hey everyone we are down to the LAST audition show. That means next week we get Vegas week and then we finally start with the live shows. Is it just me or do the auditions episodes seem to have lasted even longer this season? Anyway on with the show....
Tonight's auditions start out in LA, and we get our usual judges' intro. Boo I thought they got rid of this last week. Oh well- that's what DVR is for.
The first act is Breaksk8, a group of friends trying to turn their hobby of skating into a career. They grew up in a rough neighborhood and will do anything to get out of there. Like their name suggests they do dancing while on skates. They show great coordination (this coming from someone who can barely skate on skates, let alone dance on them), but the act gets boring kind of quickly. One guy does a cool spin on two wheels at the end, but the rest of the choreography was kind of slow compared to other break dancing acts I've seen. Yes I know they are on skates, but that doesn't mean the routine can't be a bit faster. They are good enough to go to the next round though, which they do.
Good act montage: Mosaic is an a Capella group that is very good. I wish we could have seen more of them. The Lollipop Girls are a burlesque act we don't see much of but they are very sexy. Recycled Percussion plays drums on paint cans and ladders. That's cool, but I've seen that kind of thing a lot before. Jeffrey Ou is an insanely good 18-year-old piano player, though I can't listen to piano for more than a few minutes without getting bored. SQ Entertainment is a dancing group much better than Breaksk8 who flip over each other and give a high energy performance. We then get images of other people who get through but we don't see what the acts are.
Koshka Raenelle has a very good voice, though there are other singers I like better in this competition.
After the break we meet Ciana Pelekai, an 8-year-old singer. NO NOT ANOTHER KAITLIN MAHER!!! We already have that other precocious girl who got through who can't sing but hopefully this one is semi-decent. She started singing to copy her older sister- aw. She tries to imitate Beyonce- hopefully not the sexy side of her! She says if she won the million dollars she would buy her family a new house. Holy crap she's actually good. I'm amazed. She's not the best singer ever but she is way better than any of the other kid singers I've heard on this show. If Kaitlin can make the top 10 this year this girl certainly can too- she's just as cute and way more talented. Piers says she should start looking for a new house for her parents, and says he has never heard an eight-year-old with a voice like that, and neither have I. Sharon calls it amazing. David says there is nowhere to go but up. She is off to Vegas and really has a shot to do well in this competition.
Up next is Joseph "JoJo" James, a choir director from California who has been singing his whole life. He wants to use his God-given talent to satisfy God's will. I have a feeling this guy is going to suck. He sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and as I figured it is horrible. He basically shrieks the entire song at an obnoxiously high pitch. Luckily the judges put the audience out of their misery quickly. David says it sounds like air being let out of a balloon. Joseph still insists he has a "gift" but the judges disagree and send him home.
Bad act montage: Brian and Anthony Lockard play the same piano at the same time, and not very well. Inara Darko sings decently until she shrieks the high note at the end. And why did she have a guitar accompanying her? Scott Renkes and Darren Kessner just crawl around on stage and on top of each other. Franklin Ruehl, PhD sticks straws in a potato. Seriously. I think it's supposed to be science but I don't get the scientific or the entertaining part of that act.
The last act before the Susan Boyle extravaganza is the Beale Street Flippers. They are a group of four friends who do backflips on the street for tips. Of course they have a sob story, coming from the projects where most people become thieves. Their act is basically doing flips across the stage while one guy stands in front and moonwalks/dances. They are very good at what they do but lose my interest pretty quickly. They end with one guy backflipping over the other three, which I have to admit is pretty cool. Sharon says they are young and fabulous. David says they are the best flippers ever on the show, which is true, but I still can't sit through that type of act without being bored. Piers says "flipping incredible" and they are the last act of the season off to Vegas.
Before the Boyle madness we get a recap of the best auditions. With an American flag and other US landmarks as the backdrop- that's a bit much, you think? Luckily that is short-lived, and we move on to the actual talent. Kevin Skinner! The Eriam Sisters (for two seconds)! Viva the dancing dog! And there aer some bad auditions thrown in to boot. The David Hasselhoff song guy!!! Wait I liked him- why is he with the bad auditions?? Oh wait they are back to good ones again, including the cleft lip singer, Kelli Glover!!!!!, more Kevin Skinner, that precocious kid singer from a few weeks ago who pales in comparison to Ciana, the 60-year old female dancer!!!!, Barbara Padilla (the opera singer), Arcadian, and Voices of Glory and the bass singer getting more screen time than they deserve in this montage.
So that leaves about 15 minutes of Susan Boyle phenomena. We get an intro from Meredith Vieira that treats this interview like it is being shown for the first time, even though I think it was shown on the Today Show the same morning this episode aired. Oh well. The intro gives us some background on Susan's life before she became a Youtube phenomenon. She apparently has mild brain damage from being starved of oxygen at birth. That actually explains a lot.
Susan has a shorter haircut and is wearing makeup, and actually looks pretty in her purple dress. Piers talks about how she does not look like a typical pop star. Well duh. They replay Susan's audition clip with the judges acting shocked, which will always be my favorite part of the clip. Piers claims to have gotten texts from around the world right after that performance aired. The video has been viewed 300 million times (wow!).
Susan claims she does not want this journey to end. Meredith asks Susan when she knew she was gifted, and Susan claims she is not- she is just lucky. There is some truth to that though- people really need luck some to get to the finals of these reality shows. Just getting passed the preliminary rounds is often a matter of chance- what the producers like and don't like.
Susan's mother always encouraged her to sing, and when she died Susan gave up on singing. But then she decided to honor her mom's memory by going for her dream. That is a cool story. She was nervous going to the audition, but wanted to prove to herself and her mother that she could do it.
Then comes her downfall. She had a shaky performance in the second round of the show, and at the same time was dealing with articles claiming she attacked journalists. And, as we all know, she lost out to Diversity, a dance group who I actually think did better than Susan on that night (I watched their audition, and they were good not great, but really stepped it up in the finale and deserved to win). Susan was gracious in defeat, but was rushed to a hospital for exhaustion after the finale. She claims she just needed to get away for a few days. She just couldn't handle the sudden fame, which is understandable.
On the live tour for the show Susan has still been getting standing ovations. Meredith then pulls out a doll that supposedly looks like Susan but just looks like a dark-haired, pale woman wearing a tiara.
Meanwhile Susan is in the studio recording an album that will come out in the fall. Susan won't reveal many details, but Meredith has heard it is not all showtunes, which somewhat surprises me.
Apparently Prince William from England, the lead singer of Rascal Flatts (don't know his name), and Jon Bon Jovi have all given shout-outs to Susan over the past few months. But apparently one of Susan's biggest idols was Donny Osmond. So of course Donny sends Susan a video message wishing her good luck on the album. He even says they can do a record together, redoing "Puppy Love" as "Susan Love". Okay that was sweet at first but got corny really fast. He then promises to do a "Donny and Susan Show" instead of "Donny and Marie".
But as we know Susan's biggest idol is Elaine Paige, whom she referenced in that famous audition video. I've actually heard of Elaine Page but watching a clip of her their voices are very similar. Apparently she is the first lady of British musical theater, which may be why I've never heard of her. And of course Meredith then surprises Susan by saying Elaine is backstage waiting to meet her. Susan's reaction was a bit anticlimactic- she kind of just sat there in awe of the presence in front of her. Elaine says Susan has a "glorious" voice. To wrap up the interview Susan does a duet of "I Dreamed a Dream" with Meredith and let's just say Meredith should stick to her day job.
So what are your thoughts on this week's show? Were you as impressed with young Ciana as I was? Who are your early favorites to make the finals? And what did you think of Susan Boyle? Post your comments below.
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