In New Orleans in American Idol Season 10 Episode 2, we met Jacquelyn Dupree, Jacee Badeaux, and Paris Tassin. Tonight we head to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the cheese state. They don’t have an accent there, don’tcha know? This marks episode 3 of inappropriate comments and weird noises from Steven Tyler.
Scotty McCreery is 16, but you wouldn’t know it by his deep country singing voice. Great way to start off the night. Jennifer says they discovered him, with the right songs. Randy’s glad to hear some Travis Tritt, who, by the way, Randy has worked with.
Joe Repka wants to be a DJ, so he takes this opportunity to get lessons from Ryan Seacrest. Good luck with that, dude. I sure hope his DJing ability is better than his singing because he’s tone deaf. Regardless, he promises to try again.
Emma Henry is another of this year’s 15 year olds. Having just gotten her permit, she drove most of the 16 hours there, with a bunch of back seat drivers. She sings True Colors. I’m not sure what to make of this, but it’s enough to get 2 yes votes by the skin of her teeth.
Naima Adedapo says people ask her a lot why she’s crying. Then she starts crying. She sings Donny Hathaway’s For All You Know. Jennifer calls her one of the best they’ve seen. During this exchange, we learn that if you call Steven Tyler by the name Steve, you will be corrected.
Jerome Bell sings at bar mitzvahs and weddings. With his rendition of Let’s Get It on, he proves he’s got talent, and the judges love him. Steven has forgotten his name two minutes later, but Jennifer tells him he should remember it.
Thia Megia is another person taking advantage of the age limit decrease. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because we have seen her before, on America’s Got Talent, coming just shy of the top 20. It doesn’t matter because we know she’s going through regardless, but she sings Chasing Pavements by Adele.
Nathaniel Jones doesn’t realize that the 19th century is over, so he comes dressed up in his Civil War clothes. Oh, and his dad doesn’t do anyone, not since his mom left. I doubt the lion will get much sleep tonight, not with this guy singing.
At Randy’s suggestion, Mason Wilkinson turns around to compose himself. It is not clear whether he will turn and face the judges again. Unfortunately, he does.
Molly DeWolf Swensen is a Harvard graduate and White House intern (I’ve heard that one before). Before she starts singing Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, she tells the story of how Randy accidentally punched her earlier this morning. Next stop: Hollywood.
Haley Reinhart says she was told to come back last season. This over the top performance is nonetheless good enough to advance. Also from Chicago, Tiwan Strong will be going to Hollywood as well.
Steve Beghun is a CPA. I’m not sure he’ll get very far, but he’s got a decent voice.
Vernika Patterson sings Loving You. I just hope they don’t let her hit that high note. No such luck. Not one to take rejection well, she says the judges have a problem with her because she’s not skinny. With that said, she walks out of the room, without waiting for them to tell her no. She doesn’t want to talk to Seacrest either.
Albert Rogers III does a Barack Obama impression, or so we’re told. Randy thought his singing was terrible and a joke. And people call Simon harsh.
After the judges get done giving him a hard time about his lips, Scott Dangerfield sings Dreamin’ by Amos Lee. Jennifer says he may be her favorite so far.
Megan Frazier was brainwashed from an early age into loving the Green Bay Packers… or else. She sings Baby by Justin Bieber… as an opera song. As she leaves, she warns the judges the Packers will win the Super Bowl. Well, she’s got a 50/50 shot of being right.
Alyson Jados cried when she saw Steven Tyler walk out. Weird. Come Together, which Aerosmith covered, is her song choice. She follows that with Dream On, but she can’t do the end. Steven Tyler has obviously been watching Idol the last 9 seasons, as he’s learned to use the word pitchy. Randy says no, perhaps for the sake of creating drama of making her idol have the deciding vote, but the other two say yes.
The final contestant of the night is Chris Medina. He’s engaged and promised to get married within 2 years of the engagement, but his fiancee got into an accident that resulted in brain damage. After a month and a half, she woke up, in spite of the doctors saying she wasn’t going to make it. He sings Break Even by The Script. To go along with his story, he’s got a great voice.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol Season 10 Episode 4, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.