On yesterday’s show, the Idol hopefuls made it past the judges with their solo performances. But will they survive Group Day? The contestants are responsible for finding a group to be a part of (which could be a serious test of their social skills), coming up with a group name, figuring out a song to perform once they’re in that group and coming up with choreography for the performance. All of these decisions are very critical for the contestants since the wrong group choices, choreography choices and song choices could end their hopes of ever making it into the Top 24! This segment of the show brings out some of the crazy, out of control egos of some of the contestants. They’re all trying to out sing each other; they all think they sound better than each other; they’re all having power struggles within their own groups. I’m tellin’ ya…egos out of control! And the thing about groups is…you ever notice that a lot of groups tend to break up eventually? Why? Because of egos! I mean, think about it…most people go into singing because they want to sing. But when you’re in a group, there’s always bound to be one member who stands out from the crowd and gets more attention from the fans. That group member gets more singing time, more attention from the media and it tends to create tension and jealousy in the group. And even when there’s no tension and jealousy, the most popular group member inevitably wants to break out and go solo….leaving the other members to wonder about the fate of the group. That’s why when I used to sing and perform, I NEVER wanted to be part of a group. I didn’t want to deal with all those ego issues. I wanted to sing, so I sang alone…solo! So this group thing on Idol always lends itself to ego drama. Anyway, time for the groups to perform in front of Simon, Randy, Kara & Ellen…
Group 1: Faith, which consists of 3 members Michelle Delamor, Charity Vance and Ashley Rodriguez. They sang Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable.” They sound pretty good. The performance wasn’t exciting, but these girls all did extremely well during their initial individual auditions at the beginning of the season. The judges were impressed because Ellen let them know that they all made it through! Just to remind you, I’ve got my eye on Ashley Rodriguez as one of the ones who could actually be the next American Idol. I’ve felt that since her audition in Boston.
Group 2: Team Awesome, which consists of 4 group members Michael “Big Mike” Lynche, Seth Rollins, Tim Urban and Michael Castro (younger brother of Idol alum Jason Castro). First of all, this is a wiggity whack group name, lol. But that’s neither here nor there. They sang “Get Ready” by The Temptations. Oddly enough, they didn’t show Michael Castro singing, which leads me to believe that he won’t make it through to the next round. My other thought was that although Tim Urban did a great job yesterday during solo performances, he didn’t sound so good singing this particular song with the group. He sounded kinda weak. But they sent Urban through to the next round with Big Mike! This is a good news day all around for Big Mike since his wife just gave birth to their daughter right before this performance! Unfortunately, Seth and Michael are going home.
Group 3: Neopolitan, which consists of 4 group members Liz Rooney, Thaddeus Johnson, Jessica Cunningham and an unnamed contestant. They sang “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. I thought that some group members stood out more than others, but that none of them sounded amazing and none of them sounded terrible. The judges sent them all through to the next round!
Group 4: Destiny’s Wild, which consists of 4 group members Todrick Hall, Theri, Jareb Liewer and Siobhan Magnus. And as we saw during rehearsals, they also performed Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” I have to start out by saying that this group has no right to think that Neopolitan stole their idea to also sing this song acapella. I mean, it’s not like they created acapella singing or anything! And yes, they all practiced in the same area, but each group chose to sing this song without knowing that the other was gonna sing it until they all started rehearsing. And Todrick’s ego is so much bigger than it seemed during his initial performance during Audition Week. He was endearing back then…but now he just seems like a jerk. That said though, Destiny’s Wild sounds pretty good. So far to me, their choreography has been more thought out than the rest of the groups. Theri’s voice wasn’t that strong with the group, but she’s got the most polished look of any contestant on the show to far. Her hair is bangin’, her clothes are bangin’ and she looks fabulous. After the performance though, Ellen told them that it was weird and that their outfits looked like they were performing for Cirque du Soleil, lol! Wow. That said, they all made it through to the next round…inflated egos and all!
Group 5: The Mighty Rangers, which consists of 5 group members Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose, Mark Labriola, Kimberly Kerbow and Danny Jones They sang Neyo’s “Closer.” Tori and Maddie did well, but Mark & Kimberly forgot the lyrics…and that’s a pet peeve of Simon’s at this point in the competition. And they didn’t even show Danny singing at all. In the end, the judges sent Danny, Kimberly and Mark home. Tori and Maddie are through to the next round!
Group 6: Phoenix, which did consist of 5 members, but now only consists of 4 since one of them flaked out and left the show entirely! Wow. I can’t believe that she made it all the way to Hollywood Week, then left! Sometimes you just don’t get these opportunities twice. But it goes to show, if you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t succeed. Anyway, the group consists of Ben Honeycutt, Jeff Goldford, Moorea Masa and Jermaine Sellers. They sang “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas. It’s odd because Moorea also made it all the way to Group Day last season, but she was the most nervous in this particular group this season…she even forgot the lyrics. You would think that she’d be more confident since she’s been here before. She also sounded very week. Jermaine was the strongest vocally. I mean, I didn’t know where that note was going at first, but he pulled it out in the end. He’s got a great voice and I’m still impressed with his Audition Week story of how he’s a church boy and takes care of his Mother. In all, the group did well considering one of their members left them just before their performance. Kudos to them. In the end, the judges sent Moorea and Ben home, but Jeff and Jermaine made it through.
Group 7: Big Dreams, which consists of 4 members Matt Lawrence, Amanda Shechtman and a couple of others that they didn’t let us see sing. It really didn’t matter though because none of this group made it through. Waste of our time. But I guess they were trying to prove the point that most of the groups who attempted to sing Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape” failed miserably.
Group 8: Middle C, which consists of 3 members Janell Wheeler, Jermaine Purifory and Casey James. They also sang Neyo’s “Closer.” This group was destined to make it through to the next round because from what we’ve seen of them this week and during Audition Week, the members are all exceedingly talented. It’s a no brainer!
Group 9: Three Men & A Baby, which consist of 4 members Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, J.B. Ahfua and another guy who’s name we didn’t learn, nor did we get to hear him sing. They sang “No One” by Alicia Keys. All of the members that we heard from sounded good and the entire group is going through to the next round. Btw, the group’s name is really corny…but I get it. Lol. And finally…
Group 10: The Dreamers, which consists of 5 members Mary Powers, Hope Johnson, Margo May, Alex Lambert and another unnamed contestant. Initially, this group seemed destined for failure because they couldn’t figure out who was gonna be in the group when groups were forming; there was infighting; Mary was extremely annoying and pushy and they just overall didn’t seem to have their ish together! Lol. They sang, appropriately enough, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac…One of my fav songs ever. (Sidebar…I got the chance to interview the legendary Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac last summer! It was a complete honor. To watch that interview and some of my other celebrity interviews, head over to The Shelley Wade Treatment section of this site by CLICKING HERE!) Anyway, this Idol group butchered this song! As bossy as Mary was to the rest of the group members, you would think that she would do a great job, but she started off sketchy and seemed to have forgotten a little of the lyrics. Margo sounded just terrible and off key. Alex forgot some of the words, but he actually sounded really good. Kara commented that “the dream” died somewhere on that stage, lol! Randy thought that the background vocals sounded painful. In the end, Mary, Hope and Alex made it through to the next round.
Alright, that does it for Idol this week. Next episode…Tuesday, February 16th! Be sure to bookmark this blog and check back with me daily. Light and love…muah!
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