American Idol 9: Hollywood Solo Performances

Hollywood’s final solo performances are the last chance for the remaining American Idol 9 contestants, a huge field which was narrowed down to the seventy-one at the start of Tuesday’s episode. The show began with the final deliberations, beginning near the end of the process which will give us 24 Top singers who will compete to be our Idol.

Per formula, the contestants were put into three different rooms. Angela Martin was in Room 3 with Hollywood standout Jessica Furney. Martin’s entertaining performance was only passable vocally, though Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson both seemed to enjoy it.

Casey James was in Room 1, while his Hollywood Group member Jermaine Purifoy waited in Room 2. Both their solo performances were incredibly enjoyable and vocally strong, though extremely different from each other.

Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens and Jermaine Sellers also waited in Room 1. Earlier in the day, Sellers made the bold choice to sing “Man in the Mirror,” and some of the notes seemed to escape him. His rather rigid performance might not have won over the judges, but Sellers definitely has a great voice.

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American Idol 9: Orlando Auditions

Orlando was the host city, so American Idol 9 started Wednesday’s audition episode with footage of an actual rocket launch. How many careers will the show launch - or even end - this year? That knowledge is many months away, so for now let’s just focus on a bunch of bad singers…and, a few great ones.

Ten thousand turned up to sing for the judges in Florida, but the men of Idol (Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson) were more than two hundred miles away in Miami. Meanwhile, Kara DioGuardi and guest judge Kristen Chenoweth arrived in the sunny audition city.

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