Welcome to Maroon Mondays' weekly review of Rising Star, the newest reality singing competition show in America (of many). Well, I wanted to do this to--well, because there's nothing else to do on a Sunday night. Also, this is not a review by a professional columnist; just from a guy who created this blog because he was bored with his life. These are my opinions, and I stand by them. And they're much more subtle (and much less brutal) than the reviews on the TV show websites.
Hey everyone. Welcome back!
So Episode One was in the bag, and did pretty well for itself with 5.2 million viewers, and would’ve done a little better if NBC threw America’s Got Talent into the Sunday schedule.
(Damn you, Peacock!!)
But that’s in the past! We’re now looking to this week and the future, and this week was...well…
Okay, look. I’m still on the fence on whether the talent has gotten better or worse, although I’m sliding towards worse. The talent this week increased from 10 to 12, but was much less better than last week. There were some very more-than-mediocre acts this time around, so I wasn’t sure what to say without losing the straight talk, so I’m going to the point.
Almost all of them were terrible. And I mean really terrible; super-duper terrible. They make actual karaoke singers look like Grammy winners. I’m sorry (notsorry) but that is what I’m CN--I mean saying.
But first some Random Thoughts from what I saw from this week’s show:
--Josh kept saying “Singing Live for your Votes”, which annoyed me to hell and back. Josh, we know it’s live, we know they’re singing, and we know we have to vote. It’s been that way since the show was announced. Stop saying that every time, on every show.
--Plus when he says “ABC” before the cut to commercial break, it kinda scares me. You’re getting better, dude. Don’t turn into Ryan Seacrest with fuzzy hair.
--And, no matter how matter how many times Ludacris tapped “No”, it still makes more sense than the many times Kesha taps “Yes”. His opinions are straight, To-the-Point and barely subtle and Kesha’s is sweetly, minescule and just plain boring.
(which makes me think. Is Kesha high)
--Near the beginning, Josh complimented the Belt buckle Brad was wearing. I didn’t see it, but that’s enough to increase my thought that those to have a nice little bromance going on.
During Expert Chat, Josh talked about the App (again) when Brad interrupted him, saying that if the word is uttered, everyone at home drinks alcohol. Then, Kesha said “Unicorn Tears”, giving me the thought of giving her a nickname. From now on, Brad will (partially) be known as “Venison Jerky” and Kesha is (partially) Unicorn Tears.
(Here's the whole show; I'll ad individual auditions later.)
First up, it’s Shamia Crawford from Atlanta. She sang “We Are Young” by fun.. Here, her voice is very so-so, but things got better when the audition progressed. It’s really good, but her breath control was off at parts, and her belting. (you know, when she reaches high notes and scream?) Surprisingly, despite her best and Experts giving their Up-votes, it actually still wasn’t enough to Raise the Wall. She reached 69%, just one % from the next round!! My God, it was so close! Those last seconds to vote were a painful nail-biter. Fortunately, West Coast viewers saved her at last by giving her just two more percent (just 71%) to give her the Raise to the next round.
April Lockhart from Warren, NJ, was next, singing “Say You’ll Be There” by
In her backstory, she reveals that she was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, and she lost her left hand at birth, where her umbilical cord severed it when it was wrapped around it. I felt so sorry for her to lose one hand and live life with just the other. But I won’t let that change my perception of her (Sorry.)
Anyway, she did a wonderful job with this song. Her voice was raw and sexy, yet smooth and sweet. And her guitar skills with her “Thing (aka Birdie)” are surprisingly fantastic. At 85% and a Raise, I love this one so much That April’s performance is my Favorite Performance of the Week.
Austin French from Tifton, GA, hit the stage later and sang pretty much Ray Charles' love letter to the state “Georgia on My Mind”. He has a pretty good mix-up of pop and country like Hunter Hayes.
Luda was a little biased in choosing “Yes”, saying that because he’s from Atlanta, he loved it. I loved it too. His performance was just great; “87% percent” great, that is.
Three-girl group Trinitii sang Ariana Grande’s “Problem”. And their voices and melodies were a problem. I didn’t love them at all. Luda and Brad didn’t either. And Kesha compared them to Destiny’s Child. NNNNOOOOOOO!!! Destiny’s Child doesn’t need to be compared to anyone after them unless they’re really good, especially these three. Thank God they didn’t go to the next round.
Alice Lee from Chicago sang Lady Gaga’s “You(diphthong) and I”. She has a great voice, perfect enough for this show. She started off Brad and Luda thought her voice sounded like Broadway, which I noticed after they said that, and that made sense. So loud and unique, not very perfect for a show like Rising Star. But she was great, nonetheless. All but Venison Jerkey tapped “Yes” and she got through with 73%, and at that point, she made the biggest smile I ever saw on a live TV show. I like that a lot.
Rye Davis came from Pig, KY (Yep, a city with that name) and sang “When You Say Nothing at All”. I liked his voice a little, but the Experts didn’t. Brad said it was too pitchy. Unicorn Tears agreed, but wanted to cuddle him. She just continues to act like Paula Abdul, doesn’t she?
Sonnet Simmons, from LA (by way of Greece), sings “Wicked Game“ by Chris Issac. She has a soothing, calm, but amazing voice. All Experts tapped “Yes” and just in time, too. Or else we would’ve gotten a repeat of what happened at the beginning of the show! She is absolutely perfect with a voice to match, and deserves to go to the next round.
Because of this, I also name Sonnet’s audition Favorite Performance of the Week.
Deedra Levin sang “Anything Could Happen” by Ellie Goulding. I wanted to think she has a voice similar to Ellie, but I felt she was so pitchy a lot in this audition. The 3 Experts didn’t like what they saw. So she ended up with 20%. I feel so sorry for her that she lost her and her parent’s house to a fire, but it was great for Josh to help get their lives back together.
Will Roth from Watauga, TX, sang “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood. He has a really nice voice as if he was already in a band, moreover an Alternative band. It’s so rich, raw and scratchy (in a really good way). I loved it, and so did the Experts, who all tapped “Yes”. And this was the third time America almost didn’t get him through, but the Experts chipped in close to the end and he got in just in time.
Egypt Dixon from Texarkana, TX did what we all thought anyone wouldn’t do. She sang a rap song. Which is “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX.
First off, “Fancy” isn’t a song to sing. It’s a RAPPING song. You don’t do a rap song on a singing competition show. So if makes no sense AT. ALL.
Second, even when she sings, it’s not that good. I like her energy, like Nicole Scherzinger-style, but her voice isn’t that good. Unicorn Tears tapped ”Yes”, but said in her criticism that it is the wrong song choice, Luda agreed and said she could have a better life as a singer. I agree on the song choice; not so much on the singing.
Adam Jaymes sang “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz. It was a perfect audition.
Venison Whiskey thought he saw a little of Justin Timberlake in him, and Unicorn Tears definitely agreed with him. Also, after they booed him again (because he didn’t like it)), Luda told the Audience to Shut the Hell Up. I laughed like hell. I love this dude.
Megan Tibbits sang John Legend’s “All of Me”. Her voice was as angelic as her harp. Luda tapped “No”, while Venison and Unicorn tapped “Yes”. If Luda Tapped Yes”, she would’ve made it through. This is the only time I disagreed fully with Luda and hated the choice he made. She reached 69%!
So sadly we begin AND end with auditions that didn’t quite make the cut, as the Wall didn’t rise.
I want to apologize to my readers for something. I didn’t mention the West Coast votes for last week’s review. So I’ll update them quickly after this review. But the short version is that the votes were the same.
WEST COAST RESULTS:
Shameia Crawford--71% (she made it on the nose!)
April Lockhart--85% (SAME)
Austin French--85%/-2%
Trinitii--35%
Alice J. Lee--74%/+1%
Rye Davis--43%/-3%
Sonnet Simmons--80%/-%1
Deedra Ervin--29%/+3%
Will Roth--82%/-1%
Egypt Dixon--45%/+1%
Adam Jaymes--88%/+1%
Megan Tibbits--70%/+2% (just barely made it!!)
Best: April Lockhart “Say You’ll Be There” and Sonnett Simmons--”Wicked Game”
Worst: TIE--Trinitii--”Problem” & Egypt--”Fancy”
(The top two songs (as of posting this) in America being destroyed by these 4 badmouths)
Thanks again for joining me, guys!! See you guys next Tuesday for Review #3.
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