Tonight’s show was a hodgepodge of auditions from the various audition sites this year. As a gimmicky side thing, they gave six tips for auditioning. The tips were:

1. The Look

They reviewed the weird outfits that people wear. Some people, of course, get in simply because they look crazy. Tami Gosnell was their example of someone who didn’t need a weird get up. She had a “terrific voice”, according to Simon. Her reaction to getting through to Hollywood was very mellow. I’ll be interested to see how she does next week.

2. Seek Inspiration

They showcased people who were inspired by previous Idol winners, pop stars– and people who were inspired by Paula Abdul. Most of these fell in the “worst” category. Paul Kim was inspired by William Hung. This was, in my opinion, not a hopeful start to his audition. BUT he was inspired by William Hung because, as an Asian-American, he wanted to show that there are good Asian performers. He received a much warmer reception than William and a golden ticket to Hollywood.

3. Never Give Up

This year there have been above average numbers of return performers. Some who have auditioned a lot but never made it through. And several who have actually made the trip to Hollywood, only to end their hopes there. Gina Glockson was back tonight for her third American Idol audition. It turns out it will be her second trip to Hollywood. Hopefully she’ll have a better trip this year than last year.

4. Audition on Your Own

The group auditions often turn out badly for at least one of the group members. I’m not sure if it’s easier or harder if you audition with a group of your friends and some of you make it and some of you don’t. Heather Rennie could tell you, though. She auditioned with two fellow car hops from a restaurant called Frisco’s. The three girls were dressed in car hop attire– skates and all. Heather went first and was by no means horrible, but really wasn’t anything memorable. Ashley Cleland was next. I didn’t think she was significantly better than Heather– perhaps a tiny bit. And finally there was Ebony Jointer. She blew the other two out of the water. In the end, she and Ashley both received invitations to Hollywood.

5. Shake Your Moneymaker

Lots of bad dancing.

6. Clarity

There were plenty of clips of singers who sang songs that were totally incomprehensible. Then there was the final audition of the night– Lakisha Jones. She came in with a lot of attitude (in a good way) and great singing to go along with it. She was fabulous. All the judges loved her– especially Simon.

So, that’s it for the preliminary auditions. Next week starts the Hollywood rounds. 172 singers made it through the preliminaries. As you can imagine, that means that Hollywood will be fairly brutal as they have to narrow 172 down to 24. I guess that means we shouldn’t get too attached to anyone because anyone can go.

No tags