American Idol 3, February 2: You’re Going to Hollywood! But…

Ryan welcomes us to The Road to Hollywood! He tells us we are down to 117 semi-finalists, and before we get on to the business of narrowing that 117 down to 32, the purpose of today is to take a look at some contenders we haven’t met yet! Some our simply amazing, others will have to prove themselves a bit more, but are worth giving the opportunity.

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Elizabeth Le Tendre - brimming with confidence, Elizabeth tackles Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” an ambitious choice, which she does fairly well – not spectacularly, but fairly well. Randy isn’t impressed, Paula is and Simon says Randy has lost weight and his sense of hearing, She’s moving on! She says she knew it all along.

Briana Garcia - has look that is... er, shall we say, butch? But, she has a sweet, lyrical voice that the judges seem to like. But, they are clearly uncertain about advancing her. Simon asks her to sing something else. Briana performs a less convincing “At Last.” The judges give her some odd advice like, “don’t be afraid to celebrate your uniqueness,” but she is going on.

Micah Reed - says he can sing better than anyone in the last competition, and belts an impressively rocking “Old Time Rock and Roll.” Simon continues his ridiculous criticism that rockers will have to sell out to win this competition. Micah has no problem with that. They ask him to sing “A Whole New World,” and it too is significantly less convincing. Judges seem to be concerned with how he’ll fare (like Patrick Lake last year) but they advance him anyway.

Charley Lowry - performs “Proud Mary” (this one will have to be on the banned list next year) with workman precision, just not spectacularly. Simon says as much, but she is going through. Paula says she likes Charley’s voice, singing and speaking, but she is not sure what will happen after this.

Ryan cautions against comparing yourself to previous contestants (of course, David Bloomberg and I warned against this eons ago, and you’ll soon see it again when we post our advice to AI3 finalists), and we revisit Colin Leahy, also known as Clay Fakin’, as an example of what not to do. But then we meet...

Eric Yoder - he’s had some hard luck, car stolen, broken into, he’s been shot. Cripes! What’s more, he sings “Somewhere Out There” in a voice that is scarily similar to Clay Aiken’s, but with, as Randy says, “that cool falsetto.” He’s got the sound, but he will definitely need a Clay Aiken-style makeover before the Hollywood round. He’s going to Hollywood, but he needs to spend some serious time in the mall! It will interesting to see what happens with Eric. Is it his fault he sounds so much like Clay? Can he stamp out his own identity well enough to make the comparison moot? Will Clay fans resent him? (I'm already hearing people say they didn't think he sounded like Clay at all. Of course, these are people who don't know a belltone from a Bell Phone, and his belltones were very reminiscent of Clay's!) Hard stuff, but I’m gonna make him a Pick to Click.

Jennifer Hudson - a lovely girl with a whole lotta hair on her head, announces she’s going to sing Aretha Franklin’s “Share Your Love With Me” and she flat knocks the thing out of the park. Jennifer has a rich, gospel-inspired voice (which made Aretha a brilliant choice for a song) that gave me a little Frenchie Davis flashback! The judges can’t send her to Hollywood fast enough, and she is a Pick To Click.

Ryan tells us some contestants take the rejection hard enough to never want to come back, while others keep coming, and coming... and coming. Like Elias Guardo (season one - Zorro, season two - Sharon Stone?), or Lee Dominguez (season one - Tarzan, season two - Tarzan meets Lorenzo Lamas). And, the unforgettably hideous Edgar Nova. They “spare us” Edgar’s performance, but I wanted to see it!