American Idol – Season 3, Night Ten

By: Dustin Bradley

“American Idol” narrowed down the rest of its Top 40 last week to the final batch of contestants moving on to the live rounds whenever or however they get held. As a reminder, ABC and Idol have decided to air a two part special on April 12th and 19th to help fill the gap while this pandemic is still going on and we will receive news sometime after that as to what the plan is. But until then let’s recap the final judgments in Hawaii down below!

Dillon James, who of course performed on last week’s show, moved on into the Top 20! There was no denying that he was gonna make it through and, man, was he emotional! I’m so amazed with his talent and can’t wait to see how far he goes. 

Genavieve Linkowski-  20; Goodrich, MI; “Say” by Lauren Daigle; Genavieve made a safe decision and sang a song that has been sung more times on this show this season than I care to count. She did a good job, but it wasn’t enough to advance. 

Franklin Boone- 27; Durham, N.C.; “Daughters” by John Mayer; Franklin dedicates this song to his daughter and wife and it was adorable. As soon as he started playing and singing Katy lost it. He’s definitely in the Top 20!

Julia Gargano- 21; Staten Island, N.Y.; “Glitter in the Air” by Pink; This girls voice is so fantastic! Julia had a little bit of an issue towards the end of her performance with her voice getting a bit nervous and tired, but lucky for her she did enough to move onto the Top 20!

Aliana Jester- 19; Tampa, FL; “This Is Me” by Keala Settle from The Greatest Showman; This anxious teen is missing her family but (of course) they surprise her in Hawaii! She sings the hit song and she hasn’t sounded better. She’s in the Top 20!

Sophia Wackerman- 20; Long Beach, CA; “Levels” by Nick Jonas; I still think Sophia needs to go by the last name Star cause she is a complete star!! The energy was there and the vocals were great so obviously she’s in the Top 20!

Robert Taylor- 27; Donaldsonville, LA; “Take Me To the Pilot” by Elton John; Robert is trying to redeem himself after his practical riff-off with his duet partner in Hollywood, but it seems he can’t focus on the music and his voice without showing off some “vocal gymnastics” as the judges call them. He doesn’t make it through. And, after a small meltdown, in-house mentor Bobby Bones has to take a break from his day off to comfort Robert and make sure he doesn’t give up on his end goal.

Kimmy Gabriela- 17; Lakeland, FL; “You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore” by Demi Lovato; Kimmy is slowly fulfilling the judges prophecy that she would make it to the top because she’s in the Top 20! Her only advice now is that she has to perform a little bit more and not just rely on her voice. 

Shannon Gibbons- 20; Bellport, N.Y.;  “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” by Adele; Shannon does a wonderful job with her performance. Her vocals are on point and she’s a very talented performer, but sadly the competition is so stiff that the judges can’t advance her at this point so she won’t be continuing on. I personally feel like the judges made a bit of a mistake.

Cyniah Elise (18, Atlanta, Ga.) does “Lady Marmalade”, Makayla Phillips (17, Temecula, Calif.), sings “Sorry, Not Sorry” by Demi Lovato and Lauren Spencer-Smith (16, Vancouver Island, Canada), performs Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” All of these teens make it into the Top 20! And it’s hard for me to critique or tell you more about their performance and judgement because the editing wasn’t very clear on what was meant for who.

Olivia Ximines- 17; Menifee, CA; “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner; Last week DeWayne has his cowboy hat for “Old Town Road” and this week Olivia has her trench coat and her yellow flapper dress. From the moment she stepped on stage Luke knew there was gonna be a reveal and that the coat was just a prop. Olivia wanted to bring some dancing to the stage, show that she’s a versatile performer and that she has what it takes to perform in physical concerts. The dancing was a great element, especially for this song, and her vocals didn’t suffer too much from the movements. Olivia is moving in to the Top 20!

Arthur Gunn- 21; Wichita, KA; “Is This Love” by Bob Marley and the Wailers; Arthur. Arthur. Arthur. Many of the fan designated front runners. Was it any surprise he sang a Bob Marley song? His future music, whether he wins or not, will be super chill. His performance was perfect! Namaste Arthur! He’s in the Top 20!

Demi Rae- 26; San Jose, CA; “Lonely” by Noah Cyrus; Demi was one of the last contestants to receive her final judgement and with only one spot left we all knew she wasn’t gonna move forward. She is so incredibly talented that it’s a shame to see her go. Hopefully, she can come back next year better than ever!

Now for that twist that they have been teasing…

Grace Leer (28; Nashville, TN) performs “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin and Lauren Mascitti (28; Nashville, TN) sings “Two More Bottles of Wine” by Emmylou Harris. Both of these ladies are similar artists as both sing classic female country. They both did so wonderful that the judges decide that they can’t choose so they put it in America’s hands. So, for now it’s a Top 21!