I was off in my predictions last week... oops. But honestly, the performances didn't really surprise me. So, with that.
Top 12 13: Songs from the Movies!
Arin Ray
Britney's Teens - "American Boy" by... hell if I know.
MUCH better than last week, but still many of the same issues remain. The vocals were much, much better in places, but the chorus often fell a bit flat, a bit thin. Much better, though.
Paige Thomas
Demi's Young Adults - "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (from Top Gun)
Yeah, I didn't quite get this performance. Like Arin, the vocals were much better than last week, but overal, many of the same issues from last week remain... but Paige doesn't quite have the charisma for a song performance like Demi seems to want from her. Unfortunately, though, her vocals aren't quite strong enough to overcome that.
Vino Alan
LA's Over 25s - "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge (from... well I'm sure it's in some movie sometime)
What type of music is Vino trying to do? Because this was a COMPLETELY different type of song than last week... and neither really sit too well for me. Perhaps its the way that Vino barrels through his performances... who knows. Not really a fan.
Emblem3
Simon's Groups - A bizarre mashup of songs including "My Girl", "California Girls" and "What Makes You Beautiful" ("My Girl" is from My Girl, so it totally counts)
Simon has been harping on music production tonight, so I'll say it... what the hell was that? That mashup kind of worked, kind of failed, and came off like they were trying way too hard. Also, hate to harp, but the way these guys come off sometimes... too abrasive.
Beatrice Miller
Team Britney - "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls (from City of Angels)
I know they played vocal issues leading up to this performance, which is too bad... but it's really not a surprise, as Beatrice didn't really sing this song. Perhaps it's because of the issues, or maybe the cause of it, but way too screamy. A lower key would have been a smart choice.
Jannel Garcia
Team Demi - "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett (I don't know what this is from... but didn't Britney sing it in Crossroads? Hey, that's more feasible than "California Girls"!)
My first thought was "what a song choice!", but the first verse was mostly a sound-alike, disappointment. I was a bit nervous. Then the second verse came around, and Jannel did her thing, and completely rocked it. Fantastic. I do kind of understand what Simon and LA discussed (this was a clear Joan Jett cover), but for my money, Jannel made it work. Next week may be a good time for something totally original and unexpected... but in the meantime, Jannel rocks.
Tate Stevens
Team LA - "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi (from... Rock of Ages?)
I won't lie, I dug that. I love that song, as cheesy as it is, and I do love it with a little country injected into it. I still don't think he belongs on this particular show, but that was good stuff.
Lyric 145
Team Simon - "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (...from Mary Poppins. For reals.)
Well. THAT was something. I'm not sure if it was a trainwreck of a something or something completely and utterly awesome, but I was most certainly entertained.
Diamond White
Team Britney - "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston (from The Bodyguard and every season of every singing show ever)
I'm SO glad Diamond was brought back to sing Whitney in front of a screen full of diamonds! Because none of that was expected at all. Unfortunately though, Diamond was almost painfully flat in all the money parts of the song, and it came across very screechy as a result. A 13 year-old girl should not be singing this song, as it's a song most female singers would never dream of attempting. Ugh.
CeCe Frey
#teamdemi - "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (from Rocky)
After CeCe said in her intro video that she was doing this song, I prepared my thoughts, typing "Apparently Demi didn't learn from last week's drastically different CeCe performances"... but you know what? This was MUCH better than last week's terrible song choice. But it was still pretty bad. The vocals from CeCe were still a bit inconsistent, but were definitely on the mark more often than not, more often than they were last week. So, yay improvement. But where was CeCe standing still, doing Whitney? I love me some Demi, but Simon is right: Demi is pushing her the wrong way.
Carly Rose Sonenclar
#teambritbrit - "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars (from crappy vampire crap)
I hated the arrangement of this song... but THAT was a performance. I liked her last week, but that was a major bounce-back performance. I think some sort of old school movie musical song would have suited Carly Rose better, but I do understand why something much more modern was chosen. Good stuff either way.
Jason Brock
#teamLA - "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly (from Space Jam, which needs a sequel ASAP)
Without Jason's half-shirtless dancers and glitter all over the place, this performance was like watching paint dry. Which, actually, is what I've come to expect from this song on performance shows like this. Nothing special here, but aside from the crack at the end, I enjoyed Jason's vocals here. More dancers and glitter next week, please and thank you. Also, LA, PLEASE heed Britney's suggestion. Jason Brock needs to do "something urban". MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
Fifth Harmony (formerly 1432) (formerly LYLAS)
#teamsimon - "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri (from crappy vampire crap)
To me, the beauty of this song is it's simplicity. So, in a way, adding all the vocal masturbation to this song completely destroys this song... but damn, those harmonies. Fantastic. Also, line of the night from LA Reid: "I really can't say anything about the name, because America picked the name for you, right? Womp womp."
Predictions
Hit or miss show tonight, really. Not really sure how things are going to go, since it's the first night of voting. Also, I don't know how they are doing eliminations. So, I'll give a winner and a bottom 2, if you will...
Winner of the Night
Honestly, I don't think there is one specific winner from tonight. Nobody really gave a performance that was far and away the best... Jannel, Lyric 145 and Carly Rose were probably the best for me, but since I'm making a point to name just one... I'll again go with my girl Jannel Garcia.
Watch Out
Again, I preface this with the fact that this is the first week of voting, so how backstories come into play isn't really known yet. If I had to nominate a bottom two, though, I'd go with Jason Brock and Diamond White. Brock seems more and more like the joke contestant of the show, and Diamond is way out of her league here. But Diamond has the backstory factor. So we shall certainly see.
