My rating:
Candace - I got goosebumps from her. It’s her pure musicality, her modest confidence, her subtlety and control.
Kree - she’s got a great voice, and seems so fun and real. She also has intelligence and subtlety in her voice.
Amber - I love the combo of her sweet looks and sweet voice. She can be pitchy but I enjoy her.
Janelle - not my style but I really like how she has grown in this competition. She is coming into her own and I think she will be successful.
Angie - I do not like her. I recognize her skills but her phony demeanor turns me off.
Ra Ra Ra Ra Ricky - for him I have pa pa pa pity. He’s over his head, embroiled in jokesters’ drive to take over Nigel’s li’l train wreck. What can he even do? Nigel has seen this before. On So You Think You Can Dance, they pushed an untrained b bop street dancer along with hyped praise at the start of the competition, then he found himself trapped there because for a few weeks, there were injuries, meaning the injured went home and no one needed to be voted off. It was so obvious he was way out of his league and the choreographers had to dumb down the routines for him since he could do almost nothing but break dance. If they did the same for Lazaro, he’d be singing La Bamba every week. It was embarrassing.
I pretty much agree with your ratings. Looking over the thread, it seems like people didn’t like the judges response to Candace last night and while it was a bit over the top, I do agree with Randy that it was one of the most memorable performances in AI history. I know it’s corny, but I cried. It was on par or slightly better then the Adele version and I love Adele.
I think Kree slightly edged Amber out last night, but it was only because of song choice. Kree picked an absolutely perfect song for her and Amber was not quite as perfect. BUT Amber has come a long way from the first few weeks when I kept saying, “Who is Amber?” every time they announced her name.
Janelle, well, she’s still better then the boys, but her second song was very wobbly. I don’t dislike Angie, but I agree that she has a bit of an affected demeanor. Someone said to me once that for people to know you, they have to see you. I feel like she’s performing songs instead feeling them. Instead of putting the feelings of sadness or heartbreak into her voice, she’s thinking, “Okay, this is the part where I should act sad/heartbroken, etc.” We are not seeing Angie. But she is young so hopefully that will come in time. Otherwise, there’s always community theater.
Little Ricky- Just stop. Stop singing, stop stuffing your pants, stop trying to be sexy. Just stop.