It’s another exciting night of American Idol on ABC tonight with an all-new Sunday, March 22, 2021, season 19 episode 7 called “Hollywood Duets Challenge” and we have your weekly American Idol recap below. On tonight’s American Idol season 19 episode 7 as per the ABC synopsis, “The hopefuls encounter surprises as they continue to compete with the Hollywood duets challenge.”
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In tonight’s episode of American Idol, Hollywood Week is just one more level of the gauntlet that is “American Idol”. The contestants have so far survived auditions and round one of Hollywood Week. However, tonight was round two. The contestants now have to perform in a pairing and unfortunately, they no longer get to choose who they pair with. The judges decided to change things up this season. The judges now matched contestants with other contestants and the changes didn’t stop there. The judges now went into the rehearsals. They watched the contestants rehearse together and they stepped whenever they spotted room for improvement. Katy advised Liahona when she saw how depressed the young girl was. She hasn’t been the same since her brother was cut and now the duet is maxing her out.
Liahona had never performed with anyone outside of her family. She also missed her brother and so she hurt herself. She didn’t give her performance her everything. She let down her side and that hurt her partner. Her partner was Laila. Laila didn’t choose to perform with her. She got stuck with her and she tried to make the best of it, but Liahona didn’t care anymore. She sunk herself and her partner. She was being incredibly selfish. She should have known if she could do this on her own and if she couldn’t then she shouldn’t be there. She shouldn’t be taking a spot from someone else. The judges later called Liahona selfish. Her performance with Laila had been a disappointment and so they tried to speak to Liahona and again she just didn’t care.
Liahona was that depressed. Only the judges remembered her raw talent and they decided to give her another chance. Liahona went into the next round. Her partner was going into the next round and so the duet wasn’t as bad as it could have been. They had at least chosen the right song. Many of the duets made the mistake of choosing the wrong song and at one point the judges had gotten so tired of one song that tried to ban the song “Watermelon Sugar”. It turns out the song was so complicated that it sunk many a team. Bobby Bones hadn’t known this tidbit when he went in one rehearsal and he convinced a pairing to drop their original song and to choose a different song. They were going to perform “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”.
They later changed it to “Watermelon Sugar”. The judges had complained when they found out what song the two guys were going to perform only the guys manage to rock it out and so both of them were going into the next round. Deshawn and Madison were the next pairings. The two hadn’t met before they were matched together and they soon became fast friends. They even thanked the judges for matching them together. They went on to perform “Stay” and it must have been good enough for the judges because both of them were going into the next round. Deshawn and Madison had been one of the luckier ones. The next pairing had Claudia Conway and another teenager named Hannah. Hannah took one look at Claudia and she judged her.
Hannah hadn’t liked that Claudia was famous on TikTok. She felt embarrassed having to perform with her and so she ran off. Hannah completely ditched her partner. Claudia hadn’t known what was going on. She was walking around and calling Hannah’s name and she was being completely ignored. Claudia eventually found her. She had to tell her that they needed to practice and so Hannah agreed to go rehearse with her. Hannah ran off like she did because she said she needed a minute to herself. She doesn’t usually get along with kids her age. She wanted to be paired with someone older and that’s why she needed the minute. After she had that, she and Claudia chose a song together and then had needed Katy’s help because they kept overshadowing each other.
Katy tried to warn them. Only they didn’t listen and they didn’t a lot of harmonies that they shouldn’t have. They hadn’t carved out enough time to shine on their own. The judges had been disappointed with both of their performances and yet they kept Hannah and Claudia was cut. Claudia was a big person about it. She still clapped for Hannah and so Hannah later told Claudia how great she truly is. Apparently getting to know someone instead of just judging them can open doors. The next pairing was Alex and EmiSunshine. They performed “I Walk the Line” and they too had been warned. Luke had tried to tell them to pick a different song. He told them that their voices could sound better with a different song and they still went good ole Jonny Cash.
Emi’s voice had carried the performance while her partner just sounded good. He didn’t show another side to himself or showcased any hidden talents. He just gave them what they’ve been seeing. The judges let both Emi and Alex into the next round, but the contestants really have to start taking advice. Murphy and Lizzy were paired together. They were both considered a little odd and so they got along just fine. They also performed rather well together. They chose the song that was perfect for them and Lizzy also brought out such an enthusiastic side to Murphy. He went from quiet and NPR soft-spoken to doing a falsetto and just being purely magical. If nothing else, the judges got that pairing right.
The judges got a lot of the pairings right. They were wise to pair Cassandra and Wyatt. The two went next. They performed “So Close” and it was great. They both were going into the next round because they gave a killer performance. The judges paired people together based on their skill though the contestants have to do their part as well. Take Ronda. She was literally in tears before her performance because she thought she was going to suck and so her partner Funke had to prop her up some. She was a listening ear. She also told Ronda that she was amazingly talented because she has made it this far in the competition and later Ronda leaned on her partner during their performance.
It just wasn’t enough. The judges hadn’t liked their performance and they left it up to Lionel to explain why. He was telling both women where they went wrong when Funke passed out. She went headfirst into the floor. She did not fall gently and so the ambulance had to be called for her. She was being taken away embarrassed as Ronda once again burst into tears. She was so worried for her partner that she couldn’t keep a lid on her emotions anymore and so the judges told her the news. They told her that both she and Funke were going into the next round. The judges decided to give him another chance after their bad performance. And so there was nothing for Funke to be worried about because she was safe.
Hopefully, someone tells her that first thing. The next performance was from Willie and Kya. They were also phenomenal pairing and they gave even better performance and so it was hard for the judges. They saw so many good people. They were supposed to be cutting back to only the essential and time and time again they were seeing great performances. Then came Sloane and Zach. The two were so different. Sloane was a cheerleader and she was optimistic and happy while Zach lacked confidence. Zach refers to himself as nerdy and withdrawn. He said that Sloane was too much for him and so the two gave a very lackluster performance. They were both cut because of it and Zach felt this one personally because this is the second time he’s been rejected by the show.
Zach said he’ll come back for a third chance. It wasn’t going to be right away, though. He needed time after this defeat and thankfully this wasn’t going to be the end of him. Next up was Chayce and Christina. They loved Chayce and they felt this was the end of the road for Christina. One went into the next round while the other did not. The judges broke up many of the pairings this way and some pairings shouldn’t have been put together at all. Camille and Althea were not good partners. Althea missed her baby. She also didn’t feel a click with her partner and so that just made her regret her decision even more because she was saying to herself why did I leave my child for this. And then her baby had gotten sick.
Althea’s daughter was taken to the hospital. She was going to be there for all the way through to the weekend and so Althea did feel guilty for being in Hollywood while her daughter was sick back home. The judges talked to Althea. They asked her about her daughter and luckily her daughter’s condition wasn’t life or death, but this competition could help her fulfill her dreams and they reminded her of that. Althea also later developed a bond with Camille. They couldn’t stand each other at the beginning and so it had taken the time to get on the same footing and Camille became hugely supportive of Althea once she realized what Althea was going through. And both women got lucky because they were both going into the next round.
There was a contestant this year that looked like Ryan Phillipe. He performed with Ava and Luke told them during rehearsal that they needed to reach for the big moment. The two thought they had with their later performance however they had been wrong. They didn’t deliver on that big moment. The judges were willing to overlook that this time because they like both performers and so next time they have to be better. The next pairing was the last one of the night. Grace and Alyssa were both powerhouses. They could easily take down the building with the power of their voices and so Lionel advised them to take it easy. He wanted the full range of their voices. Not just the higher register.
Alyssa and Grace gave one of the greatest performances this season. The judges jumped up to dance along and so there wasn’t any doubt about how the judges were going to rule. Both women were going into the next round.
And if they keep that same momentum, either one could easily win the whole thing.
THE END!
