American Idol – Season 3, Night Six

By starrymag | March 22, 2020

By: Dustin Bradley

 

 

The first round of Hollywood Week kicked off last monday and this year “American Idol”l is doing something different! It opted to begin night one with a Genre Challenge. The judges split all 167 contestants up into three different groups: Singer-Songwriter, Pop, Country and R&B. Let’s break this down genre by genre discussing the folks that went through to the next round. We will only be mentioning the folks that the series chose to show with a list after each genre indicating whoever else if available.

 

Singer-Songwriter

 

Julia Gargano- 21; Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke”; After impressing the judges with an original tune she decided to sing a song from a popular artist in this genre. To me, personally, it worked because she continued to showcase her amazing voice and her great stage presence. I wish she performed an original.

 

Arthur Gunn- 22; Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle”; This Nepal native is continuing to be a frontrunner. His performance is so good the judges want to hear more than his allotted time. He’s so talented and humble it’s a joy to watch!

 

 

Francisco Martin- 18; James Bay’s “Hold Back the River”; Fransico is my favorite contestant this season and it’s not just because he’s beautiful! His talent is beyond! He’s the complete package you want in an American Idol – talent, humble and charming! He seems to be slowly getting a hold of his nerves. I wish he too was able to sing an original!

 

 

Jonny West- 23; Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved”; Margie’s man was very nervous for this performance. And yet he killed it! I also wish he was able to perform an original.

 

Dillon James- 26; Billy Joel’s “Vienna”; WOW! I need his cover of this song like now. He’s gonna go so far!!

 

 

Also going through includes returning contestant Genavieve Linkowski and newcomers Sofia Schuster and Adam Curry who we got glimpses of tonight but have not previously seen before.

 

Notable goodbyes were Marna Michelle and Danny La Rota. 

 

Pop

 

Margie Mays- 26; Julianne Hough cover of Christina Aguilera’s “The Voice Within”; Returning to Hollywood Week for the second year in a row, Margie has definitely improved in her craft and I am really hoping she can make it further in this competition.

 

Kimmy Gabriela- 17; A Great Big World “Say Something”; Katy thinks she’s a star and that she’s TOP 10 material. She brought her A-game and delivered a performance that almost had Katy leave the room cause she liked it that much.

 

Amber Fiedler- 23; Andra Day’s “Rise Up”; Three weeks after the birth of her baby that she has given up for adoption she’s here to make her mark. Her voice is pretty darn good. Let’s see how far she will make it. 

 

Sophia Wackerman- 20; The Beatles’ “Let It Be.”; Such a soulful rendition of this classic tune. Sophia really should take Katy’s advice and adopt her mother’s last name, Star, because she’s a STAR!

 

Bilaal Avaz- 19; Demi Lavato’s “Stone Cold”; Where was this guys audition?! He’s so talented! Let’s hope he goes far!

 

Lauren Spencer-Smith- 16; Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You”; I cannot believe the talent this kid holds. She sings a song of “American Idol” royalty to perfection!

 

Also making it through are Louis Knight, Jovin Webb, Shannon Gibbons, Demi Rae, Geena, Robert Taylor, Nick Merico, Ren Wilson, DeWayne Crocker Jr. and others that we don’t know the names of yet.

 

Notable goodbyes were Kay Genyse, Meghan Fitten, Gilberto and Doug Kiker.

 

R&B

 

Just Sam- 21; Arlissa’s “Hearts Ain’t Gonna Lie”; Just Sam brought her “Lucky Box” that she uses to busk with on the train to help her feel comfortable and not only did her performance go wonderfully well but she made a whopping $60 from the judges!

 

 

Makayla Phillips- 17; Dreamgirls’ “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”; Luke calls her the next “Ariana Grande” and this girl holds up to that name because she’s fantastic!

 

 

Cyniah Elise- 17; Adele’s “All I Ask”; Why she decided to sing a pop song for her genre is confusing, but it worked out cause she made it through!

 

Also making it through were once again people we don’t know the names of yet or I couldn’t recognize.

 

Country

 

Hannah Prestridge- 24; Miranda Lambert’s “Over You”; Hannah is such a strong country artist and I’m so excited to see how far she goes!

 

Lauren Mascitti- 27; Crystal Gayle’s “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”; The fiancé of a famous country songwriter, Lauren is proving that she can get through this journey all by herself and boy does she!

 

Also going through are Grace Leer, Alex “Space Cowboy” Garcia and others whose names we haven’t learned yet.