It was actually a very strange hour -- you can argue that the ol’ general should have gone to Hollywood, too, with the 181 other selectees. The judges liked:
Amanda Shechtman, the first contestant to ever show a talent for ventriloquism. She was on shaky ground with the judges -- too actressy, they worried. Normally Simon would describe this as being “too cabaret.” But she got her ticket anyway.
Aaron Kelly. An Idol heart-tugger -- he was plucked from a difficult family situation when he was adopted by an aunt and uncle -- he seemed somewhat awkward but sang smoothly. It was Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.” If he won, he speculated, “I might even be a role model someday.” He was among a batch of 16-year-olds going to Hollywood. Rachel Hubbard may have been the best of this lot -- the clips were too truncated to tell.
Lacey Brown, who was briefly a contestant last season. She started her second journey to Hollywood -- or, one might say, resumed her first -- singing a rather willowy “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”
Hope Johnson. Extremely pretty and fawn-like, she closed out the night with the one audition that matched Ryan’s hype. Like Aaron Kelly, she comes with a background saga: she grew up in a large, money-pinched family (she’d bring her cafeteria lunch home from school to feed her hungry brother). Randy loved her tone, and faulted her only for not singing phrases all the way through. Kara singled out her "innocence," and that may be her selling point.
Strangest of the night: Adrian Chandtchi, a 6’8,” androgynous 17-year-old who described himself as “a beautiful man-flower.” He sang “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in a wholly unexpected falsetto. Randy laughed or, more accurately, guffawed. “There’s like a small schoolboy trapped inside you,” Kara said. Simon joked: “Either that or you’ve eaten one.”
What a lot of cheap potshots!
There was one quick flashback clip of Paula Abdul. I reached out and touched the screen. Next week starts the Age of Ellen. --Tom Gliatto
Tell us: Who will you be rooting for next week when the show goes to Hollywood? What do you think of this season so far?Kevin Winter/Getty
