“I thought this was a country debate” was the line of the night by none other than Nicki Minaj on the airing of Wednesday night's showing of “American Idol,” but we'll get back to what that was all about later.
The show opened up by catching viewers' attentions with Ryan Seacrest speeding around none other than the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The judges sat in one of the most unique places ever done for auditions, the infield of the speedway. This reminded me of when they thought it would be a good idea to do them on an airplane runway last season which made me worry if this was going to be a disaster like that episode. The place ended up being as shockingly amazing as the talent that poured through over the night.
However, the producers decided to center the episode not around the talent but none other than the drama that you may have heard about back in the fall when the media got a hold of a small amount of the details.
The drama began as Summer Cunningham finished the song "Lean on Me” and judge Keith Urban asked her what her genre of choice was. She made a mistake by saying “I've tried the country thing.” This sparked his fuse, making things escalate between judges Mariah Carey and Randy Jackson. They started going on about how that girl “should sing country” and she “has a yodel.” This constant talk of country music and choosing a genre this early in the game made Minaj’s eyes roll.
Minaj proceeded to make her argument that it didn't matter what she wanted to sing this early in the game. However, the judges defensively talked over each other, making Minaj realize that they
weren't listening to her. They paused the drama long enough to tell Summer she had enough talent to win her golden ticket. The show continued with Minaj becoming angrier after Jackson made a demeaning comment about her not being in the music industry for very long, making Minaj say, “I can't judge these contestants. F*** this,” as she walked off.
Minaj returned as if to say the show must go on. Summer was only one of the many talents that showed up that day.
Thursday’s Idol returned in Randy Jackson's hometown, Baton Rouge, La. Jackson was eager to find talent in his hometown, so he encouraged contestants to give their all when they entered the judging room; first contestant Megan Miller did just that.
Miller had something special about her. She was a trooper with a gleam to her. Being that she had just been in a wreck only days before, she was on her way to surgery as soon as she finished her song. Miller wowed the judges by singing “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” and instead of using her crutches as an excuse for going to Hollywood, she was high-spirited about it and even used her crutches as a fake microphone.
Miller was just the start of the females that took over the day. The judges even commented that the “Ladies of Louisiana kicked butt,” giving me hopes for a female winner. Even though it was majority females, the men did receive golden tickets as well, one being Dr. Calvin Peters.
Peters is a singing physician who’s shared his talent to all his staff and patients. For his audition, he sang “Whenever, Wherever, Whatever” by Maxell giving him the compliments of “I like your vibe, and you are a brave man taking on a Maxell song,” by Urban and “I think you have a lot more technique than a lot of the people that we've already sent through,” by Minaj.
While the talent is pleasant sometimes, all you need is personality, and that's what candidate Christopher Barthel had loads of. Within moments of being on stage, he had made friends with the judges; Minaj even nicknames him mushroom and Urban cracked a joke about “Mushroom” being a fun guy. The judges even enjoyed his off-key rendition of Adam Lambert’s “If I Had You” for he accompanied his voice with his dramatic Lambert-style dancing.
Thursday night ended with the judges speaking of the over-pouring talent that they had found over the past two days. Jackson even commented that they thought they had found the top three prospects as well as maybe even a winner.
