American Idol 9 Contestants to Watch from Los Angeles

We began American Idol auditions this week in Los Angeles. There are so many struggling entertainers here, so we should see a huge number of great auditions, right? Right?! Yeah, okay, that was me being way too optimistic.

But we still got to see several auditioners who made it through to Hollywood from, er, Hollywood. For those of you who are new to this column, in this column, I review the contestants who we see make it through to the next round and predict how far they will go (or if they will go) from there. I have not read any spoiler material that might be out there, so all of my predictions are solely based on what I see and hear on the TV.

Jim Ranger took a big risk by auditioning with an original song, but he definitely pulled it off. As the judges said, Jim has a good voice. However, his look undoubtedly needs improvement. We have seen how well those involved in being a pastor can do on this show under the right circumstances – I just don’t think these are those circumstances because I just don’t foresee him making it past Hollywood.

Mary Powers did a just-okay job with Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield.” I didn’t like her voice as much as the judges did, though Simon was right in saying it’s a hard song to sing (Pat Benatar is almost always underrated as far as difficulty). Her look was also, as noted by the judges, rather cliché. I just don’t see her making it past Hollywood.

Only two golden tickets in the first half hour of the show? And neither of them was great, as far as I’m concerned. That’s pathetic. C’mon, Idol, you could have shown us more.

Andrew Garcia broke us out of the doldrums with his golden tones. Definitely a keeper here! Despite all the teary eyes in his pre-audition piece, he only has a so-so back story of being the father of a young child who grew up poor and in a gang. But I think his talent will overcome that (as it should) and he’ll make it at least to the semi-finals and quite possibly to the finals!

Tasha Layton had a good, pure tone to her voice, she’s pretty, and she showed a good personality. Add to that the fact that she’s also a minister (must be a lot of praying needed in L.A.) and we have a potential semi-finalist. She’ll need to do something to really stand out to progress past that phase, though.

Hey, how did Justin Guarini get back on the show? Oh, wait, that was Chris Golightly, who has somewhat tighter curls than the original runner-up. Seriously, though, Kara hit the nail on the head with him having the right amount of talent and back story, though the singing definitely needs to improve a bit. He needs to make it past Hollywood for the story to matter, though, and Simon only gave him a “small y” in his “yes.” I’m doubtful he’ll make it to the semi-finals.

So that was it? Five measly Hollywood-bound contestants from Los Angeles?! Not much to go on. Hopefully, I made some decent predictions about those we did see.

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