American Idol 4: Episode 1
The D.C. Auditions, 42 Make The Show
By Jillian Kuras
January 19, 2005
The night we have all been waiting for has finally arrived! It has been seven long months since Fantasia and Diana battled it out for the AI title, and fans across the country have been counting down the days for the start of season four. I celebrated today's joyous occasion by wearing my Kelly Clarkson t-shirt. I hope you were all as excited for today as I was. I should quickly mention that the audition episodes are my least favorite of the whole series. I'm probably one of the few people who absolutely hate how FOX shows tons and tons of bad auditions and not many good ones. Then when it's time to vote in the semi-finals there are many people who we have never seen before.
Tonight's show begins in Washington D.C. The guest judge tonight is Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. He will of course be joined by Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.
Ryan Seacrest asks us all to please rise for the singing of the National Anthem. We are now introduced to Leandra Jackson. As Leandra begins singing the National Anthem, the only thing I can think is why oh why aren't the judges stopping her? They allow to her to sing the entire song, and it was extremely painful. Welcome back to AI America!
Instead of watching Leandra though, I'm checking out the background where the singers stand to audition. It's mostly red, with the American Idol symbol also written in red. On the very left is a picture of Kelly. The picture is from her performance of Without You from season one, which was by far one of her best of the series. Fantasia's picture is in the middle, and even though we can't see it right now, Ruben's is all the way on the left. The same collage is behind the judges, except in blue. This is new, usually we have an outside view of the city that the judges are in behind them. After the camera cuts to a bored looking Simon, the AI intro begins. This has been tweaked slightly each year. The music has stayed pretty much the same except that the "Oh Whoa-oh-oh's" were only used in Season One's opener. This year's however is very different! We once again see pictures of Kelly, Ruben and Fantasia. The graphics are completely different, and instead of the usual blue, there is some green splashed in as well! Nice touch!
After the intro, we see a recap of last year's showdown between Fantasia and Diana. We then learn that according to Billboard, American Idol contestants have earned twenty three number one hits, placing them among the top selling artists in the world. Ryan then tells us that since the age was raised to 28, that the contestants should be more sophisticated. Next we are shown a montage of singers in ridiculous outfits and costumes including a cow, a tomato, and a lady wearing a weird blue leotard with a huge mask. We next get a quick recap of the judges and their usual comments and attitudes. After a little more nonsense, it's finally time to get on with the auditions!
The first official contestant we meet is twenty seven year old Sean McNeil. I immediately hope that Sean does well because he is from my home state of Massachusetts! Woo hoo! Finally! The only other Massachusetts contest we've had over the past three seasons has been Elizabeth Letendre. Sean enters with a big smile on his face and tells us he is a youth director at his local church in Texas. What?! Texas!? Why would he ever want to leave the beautiful state of Massachusetts? Anyways, on to his audition. Sean sings Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder. Sean has a nice voice; it's very pure and smooth. Even though his voice doesn't wow me, I definitely think he is good enough to make it to Hollywood. He gets good remarks from the judges, except Simon who tells him that he is very nice and likeable, but safe. Simon also commented that he was too smiley (much like he told Matt Rogers last year). Sean does make it through to Hollywood.
After a short montage of bad singers, we are introduced to twenty year old Jesse Grazella from Philadelphia. Jesse tells us that he will be singing You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban. This is my best friend Alyssa's favorite song and I know that if this guy sings it well, she will automatically love him. I cross my fingers for Jesse. Jesse sings the first line, "You raise me up…." and stops. The judges encourage him and urge him to go on, but Jesse can't remember the words. Simon tells him to go out and ask for help. He gets the help he needs, and comes back in. He remembers the lyrics this time, but vocally he misses big time. After getting a few bad looks from the judges, Jesse breaks down in tears and walks out before the judges can even comment. Sorry Alyssa, Jesse just killed your favorite song.
After a montage of singers who forget the lyrics, we meet twenty five year old Anwar Robertson, a music teacher from Newark, New Jersey. Somehow, AI producers have a video of Anwar teaching back home in NJ. It seems a little odd to me that they already have profile pieces on some of the contestants. Anwar sings You Are the Sunshine of my Life. Anwar has a decent voice, and does a good job performing the song. I liked the dynamics and the way he arranged the song. Mark comments that Anwar (complete with long dreadlocks) looks like Milli and Vanilli. The other comments from the judges are all very positive and he gets four yes's from the judges and is on his way to Hollywood.
Next up is Melissa Considine who tells us that you don't have to have a lot of money to dress nice and look classy. She thinks she looks very nice tonight, however Simon and I disagree. She goes on to sing How Do I Live in a very high pitched, cartoon sounding voice. After the first few lines, she asks if she can sing America the Beautiful instead. This song is even more terrible than the first, and the judges all give Melissa a no vote. After she leaves the audition room, she tells the camera's that she actually can sing and that she's not like the stupid idiots who come here. She says she's one of the good ones that the judges wrongfully cut.
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