St. Louis Auditions - 2/2/12

Yippee our audition process has finally ended as next week takes us to the Hollywood rounds.



all. Before we can get to Hollywood we are now in our last stop on the audition road which is St. Louis. Loved how the song "Louie, Louie" was playing in the background when they showed the huge crowd who had come to audition. Before this scenes were shown of season 4 winner Carrie Underwood. We saw her at home, her trip to St. Louis to audition and finally the success she has come to know as the American Idol. Will this new crop of contestants hold the next American Idol, well time will tell.

Along the way of this time in St. Louis we meet Walter who does not like the congestion that is caused by the American Idol auditions. He is shown a couple of times during this fast-paced hour. Now for the auditions:

THE GOOD

Cute John Keyser is 22 years old and a student from Florida. His song choice is "A Change Is Gonna Come" by the legendary Sam Cook. This boy can really sing and I loved his soulful sound. I also liked how he was able to stay on pitch as the judges stopped and started his singing. He is one of my hopefuls for the new season.

Country singer Rochelle is 26 years old and currently going through a divorce. She opts to bring in her daughter Maddie for her audition. I guess for moral support however she gives a good audition to the song "Find Somebody New" by Faith Hill. I am not big into country music but Rochelle did a nice job on the song.

Reis K. (sorry I could not get the spelling of his last name fast enough) evidently was small for his age and endured alot of pushing and being bullied by his peers at school. In his senior year he got into a choir and finally attained the confidence he needed to handle it all. His take on "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers was fairly good but I think he needs help with his breath control as he seemed to gasp between each of the lyrics. However the judges liked him and he got the gold.

Ethan Jones dropped out of school to be in a band with his dad. Sadly the dad had to go to re-hab because of his alcohol and drug problems. Now Ethan is trying to make a new start. Even though most of his prior band's music was country, Ethan shows a soulful voice to the song "I'll Be" by Evan McCain. He is one of my potentials. By the way need to mention that Steven Tyler gave the group a pep talk before this audition which gave Ethan a chance to calm his nerves.

Our last contestant of the day is southern rocker Lauren Gray who is 22 years old and does singing with her dad at night. Her other job is helping run the family business which is a wedding shop. She sings "One and Only" by Adele and the judges really dig her. I thought she was pretty good but not sure she can make the grade in Hollywood as her voice did crack at one point during this audition.

THE BAD

Lots of bad singers were shown throughout the hour and their names were not given out.

David Coleman was shown but his entire time on the screen was done in silence with critiques shown by the judges in writing rather than actually speaking.

Oliver McCrary was also shown but frankly not sure what he was trying to sing.

Most of the bad time was shown by Mark Ingram who actually works at the hotel where the auditions are being held. He is a hotel auditor. Bringing several of his co-workers with him into the audition room he attempts to sing two Stevie Wonder songs with one of them being "Overjoyed". Throughout he shows us alot of sharp notes and fails to impress the judges as well as myself. Better luck next time Mark.



As mentioned next week finds us in Hollywood. During one of the breaks we got a small sample of Madonna's newest release which is called "Give Me All Your Luvin" featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. Madonna is looking good but truly I think she may have had a face lift as her features seem a little different. Her body is still youthful-looking but I understand she works out with a trainer everyday. As for the song, well in my book it is just okay but nothing to rave about overall.

Okay, need to wrap this up so enjoy your week ahead and take care all (especially you Deni with your eye surgery).

Just when I was thinking of giving up hope on a good season with some contestants I could connect with.....here comes St Louis. WOW! I think I may have found some favorites out of this group. Next week is Hollywood week. So we shall see how well they do under pressure.
My favorites from the St Louis auditions:
Lauren Gray
John Keyser
Rochelle
Ethan Jones.

So excited to watch Hollywood week. See y'all then.

Hey Deni, how did your surgery go? Hope all is well.

I have to agree St. Louis did show us some good ones. I actually like about 10 from all the auditions we saw. However Hollywood is the real test so I am still keeping an open mind as we only saw a handful of those that got the gold. Now that the auditions are over, really looking forward to Hollywood and the top 36 if that is how they are going to do it.

You take care!

Thank you! Surgery went well as I posted in another thread. Looking forward to getting the other eye "fixed" so I can see better. :)

I agree, I think I have about 7 or 8 on my list. Like you I'm keeping an open mind and seeing what happens during Hollywood week and beyond.

Talk to you soon.