It’s another exciting night of American Idol on ABC tonight with an all-new Sunday, March 14, 2021, season 19 episode 5 called “Auditions” and we have your weekly American Idol recap below. On tonight’s American Idol season 18 episode 16 as per the ABC synopsis, “The final auditions in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ojai, Calif.”
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In tonight’s American Idol episode, it’s not everyday a person gets to live their dream. For many, “American Idol” is their dream and everyone who auditioned over the past few weeks were blessed. They were given a rare opportunity to launch their music career.
Madison Watkins was up first. She was originally from Arkansas and now she lives in Los Angeles. Her nickname is “Moo Moo”. It was a secret nickname with family and her father had accidentally given it to the show when Madison’s back was turned. It was very sneaky of him. She could have been embarrassed by it. She instead chose to own it and she gave it to the judges when she went in front of them. Madison loved her father. She wrote a song in his honor and she performed it in front of the judges who loved it. They also loved her. Madison was a hit and she was the first to be sent to Hollywood tonight.
The next couple of contestants were super fans of Katy Perry. Ava August and Liv Grace were both teenagers and they both had the singer/songwriter vibe going for them. One of them performed “I Kiss A Girl”. She rearranged the song and turned a pop song into some bluesy/folk. She sounded amazing. The other girl performed an original song. Both girls showed raw talent and both were given the Golden Ticket. Liv’s mother was so excited to see how her daughter was doing that she came in before the ticket was handed out and she just embarrassed her daughter. In a cute way. She did her mom dance and her daughter gently shoved her out of the room. Parents can be so embarrassing. They often don’t even have to do much and they’re embarrassing.
Deshawn didn’t have to worry about his parents. The nineteen-year-old came to the studio with his mother and he spoke to his father via facetime. Deshawn has been through some things. His mom had him when she was thirteen and his father was just a little older at the time. They were kids themselves. Kids having kids. Deshawn could have easily gone down the wrong path and thankfully he didn’t because his father inspired him to push himself. He graduated at the top of his class. He received a full scholarship to Jackson State and he was taking time from college to audition. He auditioned with the song that was so beautiful that it moved the judges. They said he had the voice of an angel and that voice won him a ticket to Hollywood.
Alana auditioned next. She was an athlete turned singer and she wasn’t the only one. Cameron Allen was taking time from baseball to audition as well. Both Alana and Cameron had great voices. They each received a Golden Ticket and their story easily led to Trysdin telling his own. Trysdin Grubbs was a kid who grew up in a sports family. He has three brothers and a sister and they each played a sport. It was baseball, football, and basketball on his own. Trysdin was the only one who didn’t play sports. He grew up wanting to sing. He was even bullied by people in his small town because people there were either sportsmen or they were nothing and so his classmates tried to make Trysdin feel like he was nothing. They even told him to kill himself.
Trysdin was lucky to still be standing. He never gave up his dream of wanting to sing and so he had been nervous at his audition. He wanted to impress the judges so bad that he psyched himself out a bit. He came in with a song ready and he started performing it, but he was just so nervous that he was messing up and so Luke stopped him. Luke asked him to try another song. He also reminded Trysdin to breathe and so his second performance was much better than the first. The judges enjoyed his second try. They gave him a ticket to Hollywood and they offered some words of advice. They told him he needed to get a handle on his nerves. He couldn’t let it stop him from going further on the show and so hopefully he takes the judges’ advice.
Next up was Andrea Valles. She performed “Landslide” for the judges and she even accompanied herself on the guitar however the judges weren’t feeling it. Katy said she transported during the song. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing and so Andrea offered to perform a second song. She then pulled off the second song. She showed that she was hungry for this and that she was prepared to work for it and so the judges gave her a Golden Ticket. Kiko performed next. He was a nurse from Las Vegas, Nevada and he grew up singing. His father created a family band. Kiko grew up singing with his siblings and his father. His brother was there with him today. They performed together and unfortunately, it was a “no” from the judges. His nerves had ruined his performance and there was no second chance for him.
Zachary went next. He was on the show once before and that time he had performed Sinatra. This time he performed the Beatles. He performed “Golden Slumbers”. It didn’t really wow or move the judges and so they asked him for more. Zachary then brought out his girlfriend. She played the guitar and he sang another song. It was cute because the couple was cute with each other. His girlfriend was so nervous about messing this up for him that she made several mistakes. Yet, that too was adorable. Zachary and Catie were great together and it won him a Golden Ticket. He was going to Hollywood. He still had some times before he does and so he and his girlfriend later grabbed some Chinese takeout. And they happened to make Ryan jealous while doing so.
The next few contestants all had a “schtick” going for them. They didn’t just want to come out and perform. They wanted to impress judges with their dancing, their fan game, and even a sock puppet. The puppet girl had actually sounded great. She just took away from her own performance by performing a duet with a sock puppet and so it was no for her as well as the cursing guy and the fan dancer. Thankfully, Brianna didn’t have a shtick. She has cystic fibrosis which usually affects the lung and the vocal cords and so Brianna was called a miracle by her family because she defeated the odds. She became a singer. She was a great singer and it was just amazing that everything lined up for her to be there.
Brianna’s sister made a video of her. Brianna told her sister that if the video went viral she would audition for “American Idol” and it did. Then the audition was moved to a different day so that Brianna could have surgery and so everything did line up for her. Brianna performed “Scars to the Beautiful”. It was an inspirational song and it was a great fit for her. She needed to do some work on her voice before it could become truly ready, but the judges liked what they saw and they gave her the Golden Ticket. Brianna was going to Hollywood. Only she will not be joined by Danny Falco. Falco was in a Boy Band when he was nineteen and they were successful. The band eventually broke up. Falco changed styles and now he’s doing rock.
But Falco’s voice switched from boy band to rock during his song tonight. It was an assault on the ears and the judges had hated it. They all gave him a “no”. Falco didn’t make it while his friend Colin Jamieson did. Jamieson had also been in the same boy band and his current style leaned towards pop. He performed a Billie Eilish song. He sounded breathy during parts of it and he got better as he sang the chorus. He got lucky that the judges were willing to overlook the breathy parts. They gave Jamieson the Golden Ticket and so at least one member of the defunct boy band was going through to the next round. Up next was Vahhley. Vahhley was a single mother living in a homeless shelter with her toddler son and she was hoping that the show could help change her life.
Vahhley wanted something better for her son. She performed “One Moment in Time” for the judges and her voice sounded beautiful. She was a belter. She can reach those high notes as no one else can and the judges even got to meet her son. The little boy was proving too much to handle for his grandfather. His grandfather was trying to get him to stand still and all he wanted to do was go run off to explore. He was running around in the background when his mother received the Golden Ticket. She and her father both understood how huge that was and then there was this little boy who wasn’t fazed by it the slightest. And after Vahhley, there was Steven Paul who performed a country song and somehow made it hokey.
Country music is not hokey. It’s about the pain and the happiness that the original performers were feeling and so Steven didn’t get it. The judges had to explain to him where he went wrong. Then it was onto the next one. Wyatt Pike went next and he performed an original song. He wrote this song for his sister. She had a dark past and Wyatt wanted to reassure her of his life and so the song came from the heart. Wyatt was a great storyteller. He won universal approval with his song and he won himself a ticket to Hollywood. Next up was Jackson Snelling. He was eighteen years old and he was from Austin, Indiana. Jackson was on the spectrum. Both he and his brother were autistic albeit in different ways and so Jackson often had to explain things to his brother.
Jackson’s father died when he was seven. His brother couldn’t understand their father’s passing and both Jackson and his mother constantly have to explain to him that their father died. Jackson even wrote a song about it. He performed this song for the judges and, while they liked it, they thought his voice needed practice. They told Jackson to continue playing at clubs. They said he could back when he’s a little more ready and so the door is open for him. Althea Grace went next. She was able to bond with Katy because she was a mother herself. She was a mother to Lennon, named for John Lennon. Lennon went into liver failure when she was a few months old and it wasn’t expected that she would survive, but by some miracle, she received a liver transplant mere days after her diagnosis.
Althea is now performing a song she wrote in those days. The song was about taking advantage of the little things and it was a great song, but her voice lacked confidence and so she got lucky that the judges were willing to overlook it this time because they felt she was truly talented. Althea received a Golden Ticket. Her daughter later played with it and it was such a sweet moment between mother and daughter.
THE END!
