If ever there were a confusing episode to try to summarize, Group Day during Hollywood Week is it. Ryan Seacrest called it “Hell Week”…for me too, Ryan. For me too. I had to compare notes with Liz’s live blog, Cait’s recap, and Brian Mansfield’s entire blog just to make sure I had everything down right. But if a stellar writer like Brian Mansfield can feel a bit jumbled, then hey. I don’t feel so bad.
The 96 remaining hopefuls have split into groups, with a cache of popular songs to make their own using their vocal styling and creative dance moves. A few opt for going a capella, while the others utilize the professional musicians hired by Idol. As usual, tension mounts, and as sleep becomes optional, some contestants crack. One hopeful even decided to just pack it up and go home while her dignity was still intact (her words, not mine). We see the usual tears and breakdowns, as well as a few power struggles among those who feel they are natural leaders (but are mostly just bossy and aren’t team players). We see people, who have been practicing for hours and have to sing an abbreviated version of a song, forget their lines. This latter truth has always baffled me. I understand nerves getting the best of you, but at this stage in the game, being nervous should be a thing of the past. It’s much easier to hide in a group than it is to be put on the spot in front of a ton of people. I guess I count myself lucky though, as I can remember an entire song generally the first time I hear it.
The first group was called Fate and looked like a picture-perfect version of a cookie cutter girl group. Three attractive girls: a blonde, a Hispanic, and an African-American girl. Their version of “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce was average to me, but in all fairness, the song isn’t so great and The Spice Girls never could sing that well, either. Michelle Delamore, Charity Vance, and Ashley Rodriguez all make it through to the next round.
Team Awesome is comprised of four guys and I see a few familiar faces: Michael “Big Mike” Lynch of the Beefy Arm Clan; Seth Rollins, the guy with the adorable autistic son; Michael Castro, strange-looking brother to Jason Castro; and Tim Urban. They sing The Temptations’ “Get Ready”, and they’re not too bad. Meanwhile, Big Mike is in the process of becoming a father for the first time. Big Mike and Tim Urban sail through to the next round, but Michael and Seth are sent packing.
Two groups sing Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” back-to-back, and the latter group is irked that the first group stole their idea of doing it a capella. Drama rama, etc….but can I just stop for a moment and say how much I hate this song? It is on the radio every other song it seems, and it is so frustrating trying to complete tasks at work with that “Ra ra ah ah ah” crap invading my ears! I used to love “Just Dance”, and The Boyfriend and I were playing that on a loop during our bi-monthly let’s-stay-up-and-get-drunk-and-listen-to-electronica extravaganzas and telling our friends about it a good year before it landed in heavy rotation in Radio Land, but now, thanks to “Bad Romance”, I just want to stab Lady Gaga in the eye. It would probably just look like part of her costume, anyway. So, where was I? Neapolitan takes on the awful song first, and they animate the crowd. The whole group, including Liz Rooney, Thaddeus Johnson, and Jessica Cunningham, all make it through to the next round. Next is Destiny’s Wild, whose version is a bit more energetic, complete with a back flip by Todrick Hall. Destiny’s Wild, which includes Hall, Jareb Liewer, and Siobhan Magnus, also all survive the round.
Two groups sing Ne-Yo’s “Closer”, a song I actually like. But then again, I have a soft spot for Ne-Yo. One group is called The Mighty Rangers, featuring Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose, Mark Labriola (who I thought was Andrew Garcia), Danny Jones, and Kimberly Kerbow. The vocals are not up-to-par, and some of them forget the lines (which I would think would be hard to do—it’s not like there are a lot of words to that song). Tori and Maddie are the only two to survive the cut, and the Andrew Garcia-look-alike leaves, tearfully. The other group, Middle C, absolutely nailed this song. I wasn’t surprised, since this group was comprised of three of my favorite people: Janelle Wheeler, Jermaine Purifoy, and Casey James. They were all through to the next round.
A tie for my favorite group of the night was Three Men and a Lady, which also contained an Andrew Garcia-look-alike, Andrew Garcia himself. Katie Stevens and J.B. Ahufa were also in this group. They sang “No One” by Alicia Keys, which is a really fun song to sing. They had great solos and merged well together. They all got through.
Other groups weren’t so lucky. Phoenix, my favorite group name of the night (mainly because I really like the band with the same name), saw a few bumps in the road during their version of Kansas’ “Carry On, My Wayward Son”. This was the first time we got to hear rumored Top 24 contender and almost next-door-neighbor to me, Ben Honeycutt, perform. And (shocker!) he choked on the lyrics and was cut! So, I guess the new close-to-home contestant I will be rooting for will have to be Jermaine Purifoy, from Cleveland, TN, which is only about 40 minutes away from me. It’s so nice to see people from here make it on TV for things other than being a wife-killing cop or a dead-body-dumping crematory owner. So, Ben was Honey-cutt, and his teammates, Moorea Masa, Jeff Goldford, and Jermaine Sellers, weren’t much better.
I would imagine “The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani would be the hardest song of the day to sing, and it proved challenging, to say the least. Decent singers like Matt Lawrence choked on the song and got the axe.
The last group of the day was The Dreamers, aka bossy Mary Powers’ group. I’m pretty sure her gang was ready to bid her adieu when it was over! She proved insufferable throughout the entire episode, and I was truly hoping she would go away after they sang Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”, But as these things go, Mary sticks around, as does Alex Lambert, and Hope Johnson.
Overall, very sporadic and heart-racing episode. Hopefully next week runs more smoothly! I can’t wait to see more from John Park, Didi Benami, Casey James, and Andrew Garcia. Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day! (And if you’d like to read my take on the holiday, check out my blog.)
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