The staff at Idolwire.com is taking a second look at some of our favorites thus far. First up is 17 year-old student Sanjaya Malakar who wowed us with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by his inspiration Stevie Wonder. The first note is perfect and we knew we were in for a treat the rest of the song. It was beautifully sung with such a beautiful tone. Prior to starting his song Malakar was asked if he was a better singer than his sister Shyamali Malakar and he said “I don’t think so.” Immediately after his song was finished Simon Cowell said “A lot better than your sister…I think you’ve got the better voice.” Randy Jackson agreed “Yeah, I thought so too. Wow. Crazy.” Check out Sanjaya Malakar’s audition and see for yourself. It also appears that his Myspace page has been updated: Sanjaya Malakar’s Myspace Page.
There has been a lot of media buzz about Sanjaya Malakar and his sister Shyamali Malakar as they are the first Desis to advance in American Idol. What is a Desi you might ask? A quick trip to wikipedia.org tells us it “literally means local or indigenous” when referring to people of South Asian origin. Of course the net is filled with rumors but one that keeps cropping up is that Sanjaya Malakar makes the top 24. Sadly those rumors don’t hold true for Shyamali Malakar. Personally, I think Sanjaya can sing the pants off of Shyamali – although we wouldn’t want him too. The Hollywood rounds start on February 13 and we’ll get to hear more from this 17 year-old Washington resident
Having toured with Christina Aguilera as a backup vocalist and working with big names such as Patti LaBelle and Justin Timberlake, Brandon Rogers has decided that its time to focus on growing his career. When asked why he wanted to venture out on his own Rogers said “If the music belongs to someone else artistically, you can only find so much to connect to. I’m really big on being connected to the music.” What better way to venture out on your own than to audition for American Idol?
Rogers’ song of choice was “Always On My Mind” and he proved why he was able to get up on stage with those other noted performers, he has a very sultry and smooth voice. I actually hear a little Al Green in him. Both Olivia Newton John and Paula Abdul were very taken by his voice with John sighing as he finished his song. “I think out of everyone we’ve seen today, this is by far the best audition” says Simon Cowell who goes on to predict that Rogers will make the finals and Olivia Newton John agreed. With that he received four yes votes and his ticket to the Hollywood round.
You can check out Brandon Rogers Myspace Page for more information about this extremely talented artist.
I didn’t want to rush to judgment about contestant Katie Bernard so waited until today and watched her audition again (I love my DVR) and decided that my first impression from last night was right. What exactly were the judges thinking giving her a ticket to Hollywood? I still don’t understand what she was saying before she sang. I got the part about her having a little kid voice but I think that is an understatement, the woman mumbles worse than my 3 year-old. She has a decent singing voice; if she went around singing everything then she’d be easier to understand. So its obvious that her very unusual voice is not a result of some sort of oral-motor issue but something else; I think she needs to figure it out or her adult life is going to be riddled with confused conversationalists.
Randy Jackson just had to say “I would give this girl another shot.” Ugh, that planted the seed in Paula Abdul’s mind. Simon Cowell, the obvious voice of reason during this audition, quickly gave his negative vote. Abdul invited Bernard’s husband in to help convince her but Mr. Bernard didn’t talk much – we were blessed with more mumble speak from Katie herself. Just to spite Cowell, Abdul gave a big yes vote and Katie Bernard is off to Hollywood. I’m going to file her away with BFFs Antonella Barba and Amanda Coluccio in the “enjoy your trip because it’s going to be short” file.
While browsing You Tube looking for her audition video I found a few other clips of her other performances. The first one is at Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL and the second is at Dimples in Burbank, CA. Her singing voice is a bit better in these clips than her audition but I still don’t get a “The American Idol” vibe from her.
American Idol took their auditions to Birmingham for the first time. Home to Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, and Ruben Studdard; AI knew that Birmingham would have the talent they were looking for. Sadly it didn’t start out very well and in the end only twenty contestants received a ticket to Hollywood.
Chris Sligh, a 28 year old from Greenville, SC, was the shining star of the Birmingham auditions. When he entered the room Simon Cowell immediately said “It’s Justin Guarini!” – Obviously referencing Sligh’s head of curly locks. Randy Jackson asked Sligh why he was there and he quipped “I really want to make David Hasselhoff cry.” Jackson immediately started laughing but Cowell had to be reminded of the cut to Hasselhoff last season after Taylor Hick’s was announced as the winner; Hasselhoff had tears in his eyes. With that Cowell and Paula Abdul both joined in with laughter.
Sligh’s song choice for the evening was perfect; “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal. The song is a difficult one to sing and Sligh killed it, he even had Abdul doing a little girly dance in her seat. When he finished she jumped up and gave him a standing ovation “I like you very much, and you have a good sense of humor, and you’re different.” With affirmative reactions from Cowell and Jackson, Sligh was sent through to Hollywood. A little web-searching and I found Chris Sligh’s Myspace page which linked to his blog where he goes by ChrisSligh. I think we need to keep an eye on him; he has the potential to do quite well.
The other golden ticket contestants showcased were Jamie Lynn Ward, a 17 year old from Reidsville, NC who is already being compared to Kellie Pickler, Bernard Williams, Tatiana McConnico, and Katie Bernard.
The staff at Reality TV Magazine has been super-sleuthing to help determine who might make it to the top 40 in Hollywood. They first announced that Sanjaya Malakar, Shyamali Malakar, and Anna Kearns had domain name registrations that coordinated with the Hollywood cuts. Since then they have come up with the following contestants as advancing further in the Hollywood rounds; Jason “Sundance” Head, Amanda Coluccio, Antonella Barba, Jenry Bejarano, Porcelana Patino, and Rachel Zevita. If this is the case then I’m going to have to eat my words as I predicted that both Barba and Coluccio would have short stays in Hollywood. I will be the first to admit I’m wrong; the Hollywood rounds start on February 13.
Right now I’d have to say that the front-runners, in my non-professional opinion, are Jenry Bejarano and Jason “Sundance” Head. If I was a betting woman, okay well I am a betting woman, I’d put my money on a male winner of American Idol season six as of this point in time. We still have auditions in Birmingham, AL, San Antonio, TX, and Los Angeles, CA so I reserve the right to change my mind.
Jenry Bejarano wasn’t the only handsome guy with a nice voice during the New York City stop of American Idol’s season six auditions. Chris Richardson, a 22 year-old from Chesapeake, VA, sang a Leon Russell tune and quickly impressed the judges. Randy Jackson jumps in first, “Dude, you know what? I like your voice man.” Jackson then continues on to compare Richardson’s looks and voice to that of Justin Timberlake. This has got to make Richardson feel good, Timberlake is huge in the entertainment industry.
Paul Abdul thought Richardson was “very special” and said “it’s going to be very interesting to see how you do in this competition.” Simon Cowell was also impressed by Richardson saying “you could possibly surprise us in the next round.” Well I’m going to have to agree with Cowell on this one, I think Chris Richardson is going to do well in Hollywood.
Another great male voice from New York City was seasoned Idol veteran Nicholas Pedro. American Idol fans may remember Pedro from last season’s Hollywood round where he had difficulties remembering the words to the songs and chose to respectfully bow out of the competition. Evidently he had second thoughts from that moment onward so decided to try out again. He sang “Fly Me To The Moon” and was very warmly welcomed back to Hollywood. If Nicholas Pedro can keep his composure this season I think the sky might just be the limit!
As Jenry Bejarano stepped into the audition room Paula Abdul’s face took on a serene look, perhaps Bejarano is to Abdul as Perla Meneses was to Simon Cowell. One look and her mind was made up, thankfully Bejarano backed up his refined features with an equally refined voice. In his pre-audition interview he explains that he was adopted by a Bolivian family when he was one year-old and his mother is his biggest supporter; she was there with him giving him last minute tips before he entered the audition room.
The 16 year-old from Rotterdam, NY chose Gerald LeVert’s song “I’ll Give Anything to Fall In Love.” He captivated the judges with his very smooth voice. Upon completion of the number Abdul said “mmmmm” then went on to say she was “pleasantly surprised” and he was “easy on the eyes.” Psst, Paula, he’s only 16! However I’m going to have to agree with her. Definitely easy on the eyes and ears.
Guest judge Carol Bayer Sager commented “You’ve got something really charismatic about you” and Randy Jackson said “I like you man.” With that Jenry Bejarano had four yes votes and was sent out to greet his mother and family. Nothing warms my heart like seeing a 16 year-old still accept a big hug from his momma!
The American Idol New York City auditions really left me speechless, which is not an easy thing to do. This isn’t necessarily because of all the amazing talent that was there, quite the opposite really. I am truly surprised by some of the questionable singers that were put through to Hollywood. Seriously, I am wondering if Paula Abdul shared some of her spiked Coca-Cola with the other judges.
BFFs (Best Friends Forever for the uncool) Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba came across as your typical Jersey girls. Now I’m not saying being a Jersey girl is a bad thing, but even before it was announced where they were from I knew. They tried a little duo and quite frankly they tanked it. When they each did their solo auditions they were better but I don’t see them making the next cut. Enjoy your trip to Hollywood ladies, its gonna be a short one!
I was also surprised that Porcelana Patino and Rachel Zevita got the nod from all four of the judges. Patino had some nice characteristics to her voice but in my opinion if you’re going to sing a Mary J. Blige song you better SING it. Perhaps a different song choice would change my opinion of her. Zevita, Zevita, Zevita. Quirky and unique, good words to describe her. I liked her personality but thought her voice was wretched. The only time it sounded nice was when she sang the little opera piece. I think the judges were really sipping on the “special” Coca-Cola before this performance.
Now the night wasn’t completely bad, 35 people made it through to Hollywood. The standouts included Kia Thornton, Jory Steinberg, Jenry Bejarano, Christopher Richardson, and Nicholas Pedro who also made it to Hollywood last year. Next week the cast and crew will be in Birmingham, I’m anxious to see what the South has in store.
A somewhat shy Melinda Doolittle, a 28 year-old hailing from Brentwood, TN, stepped onto the American Idol audition floor in Memphis jittery with nerves. She’s used to being on stage but not in the limelight. She has been performing backup vocals for years for many well-known gospel acts including the talented CeCe Winans. A quote from Melinda Doolittle’s MySpace page gives us a little insight into her personality, “I think you have to have an amazing sense of humor to be in this wonderful and ever changing music business or you’re in for a rude awakening.” Once she started in with Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life” the judges were in her front pocket. Her voice was absolutely powerful unlike anything I’ve seen on Idols past. Some reviewers are going so far as to compare her to Jennifer Hudson. Now Hudson wasn’t an AI winner but she has won in much bigger ways.
When her performance was finished Simon Cowell said “…you are a brilliant singer,” but went on to show concern for her lack of confidence. Paula Abdul said “You’re really good, you gotta believe.” “Sensational, one of the best auditions ever vocally” chimed in Randy Jackson. With a “one million percent yes” vote from Cowell and two very quick yes votes from Abdul and Jackson, Doolittle was given her ticket to Hollywood. Doolittle definitely needs to get herself a boost of confidence; with the right amount of bravado and stage-presence I really think she is going to be unstoppable.
The show is over and now I can weigh in on the rest of the performances. I was so moved by Sundance Head’s performance that I just had to pause the show and do a write-up right then. He’s definitely my first pick for top twelve. Head wasn’t the only star to shine in Memphis as more than twenty contestants received their passes to Hollywood. In addition to Head, four others were spotlighted; Danielle McCulloch, Sean Michel, Melinda Doolittle, and new father Phil Stacy.
As is the case with every audition show there were some standouts on the opposite side of the spectrum – yup, those that can’t sing. Two of the many featured ‘no vote’ contestants stood out – 20 year-old Janita Burks from Memphis, TN and 21 year-old Robert Lee Holmes also of Memphis, TN. Janita was up first and well let’s just say we’re lucky the show didn’t end up with an R-rating from too much bounce. She was wearing a very low-cut number and wasn’t secured safely inside, if you know what I mean. She chose to sing “Disco Inferno” and snapped her fingers rather loudly throughout the entire song. I wanted to tape her fingers together, seriously. After the judges weighed in with criticism she wanted a second chance and couldn’t even get three words out without the judges cutting her off and sending her on her way without a ticket. Thankfully her ‘girls’ managed to stay in during the entire performance.
When asked about his voice, Holmes went on to say “I sound just like Elvis. I can sing one rock-n-roll song, that’s Burning Love by Elvis Presley” and with that he showed us his version of Burning Love. We have yet another finger snapper. What is it with the loud snapping, it’s really quite distracting from the vocals. Granted it was nice to be distracted from the vocals in this case, but that is really beside the point. This show had quite a few loud, distracting finger-snappers. Folks, you want your voice to shine, not the snapping of your nerve-induced sweaty fingers.
Now I usually try to highlight the good performances of the night but I really couldn’t pass on these two snappy folks.