It’s another exciting night of American Idol on ABC tonight with an all-new Monday, April 11, 2021, season 19 episode 12 called “Top 16” and we have your weekly American Idol recap below. On tonight’s American Idol season 19 episode 11 as per the ABC synopsis, “The top 16 are revealed and perform in hopes of securing America’s vote.”
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In tonight’s American Idol episode, the contestants survived their first auditions. They’ve even survived the grueling demands of Hollywood Week. But can they survive the decisions of America? All was revealed tonight as the Top 16 were named. America voted and the first person to make it into the Top 16 was Alyssa Wray. She performed again tonight. She performed the song “Killing Me Softly With His Song”. She got the crowd on their feet as she carried out the first performance of the night and it served as a reminder for those voting because the voting wasn’t over. The way the selection for the Top 16 was set up is that the first twelve contestants that performed twice last Sunday were going to be called and a certain number of them were going to be continuing into the next round. And some will also be eliminated from the group while the judges get to save two.
It’s going to be like this tomorrow as well. Tomorrow will be for the Wild Card and, so focusing on tonight, the second contestant that made it through to the next round was Graham DeFranco. He performed “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra tonight and he had put his own spin on it. He made it, Sinatra’s music sounds like a folk song. The judges had especially enjoyed it. They wished Graham the best of luck and soon it was onto the next one.
Grace Kintsler was named as the next contestant. She was third to make it to the next round and she chose to perform “Elastic Heart” by Sia tonight. She too put her own rendition on the song. She slowed down the pop song and she turned into the ballad. And two judges gave her a standing ovation.
Katy Perry was the only one who didn’t stand for her. She was back to rocking her dark hair and, while she didn’t stand, she did have some good advice. Katy told Grace that slow and steady wins the race. She was glad that Grace had learned that in her time on the show and the other judges believed she has the potential to win the competition. The next contestant to be called was Alanis Sophia. She performed “The Story” by Brandi Carlile. It was a great choice for her voice because she got to show off some of that range or at least that’s what Katy said and Luke later added that Alanis had to work on the lower register of her voice because of the way she allowed her voice to explode like that could have been handled differently.
Willie Spence was named as the fifth contestant to make it to the next round. He was a big dude with a big voice and he performed “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele tonight. Katy has said he sounded possessed. As if God was working his way through Willie’s voice and Lionel had adored Willie’s performance. He was a favorite amongst the judges as well as with America. Next up was Deshawn Goncalves. He was the sixth contestant to make it to the next round and he chose a little Nina Simone for his performance tonight. He performed “Feeling Good”. He also went for the highest note so far because he went into that falsetto and he nearly shattered glass. The judges had enjoyed his performance tonight.
They had noticed that Deshawn had a cold start. He’s since come out fighting and now he has one of the best voices the judges had ever heard. Up next was Wyatt Pike. He was once called an authentic musician. It, therefore, wasn’t a surprise to find out he made it to the next round and tonight he performed “Use Somebody” by Kings Of Leon. Wyatt seemed to be enjoying his time in the competition and Luke mentioned he had never been happier than the day he too realized that he could sing forever. Now, the next contestant to be called was Cassandra Coleman. She’s dreamed of this moment ever since she was a little kid and so she was excited as she was saved from the cutting block.
Alana, Anilee List, Andrea Valles, and Cecil Ray were all eliminated from the first group of twelve. Cassandra was the last of Group 1 to be voted in and she later performed “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak. She had been a bundle of energy behind the scenes and so the judges were glad she got to express some of that while she could. The next group was Group 2. Of the group, the first contestant to be named was Caleb Kennedy. He was the country kid with the guitar and he can be seen rocking his mullet hairstyle. Caleb performed “Midnight Train to Memphis” by Chris Stapleton. He rocked that out and yet Caleb was stone-faced the moment he finished performing. He just has this composure that no one has managed to shake and the judges wanted to see more of him.
Next up was Colin Jamieson. He started out in a boy band and he too has never lacked in confidence.
Colin performed “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears For Fears tonight. He gave a stellar performance because he knows how to play to the camera and he even deploys some of the breathiness that the judges hadn’t liked at the beginning, but who was loving it now and so Colin has come a long way. The next contestant to be named was Casey Bishop. She was the eleventh person to be joining the Top 16. She was also the last true rocker to be standing because that is her genre and she performed “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. Casey’s voice has always been great. She’s always known what to do with it and so Katy called her “dangerous”.
The next contestant to make it into the Top 16 was Madison Watkins. She came into the competition with such a great attitude and she was just so bubbly. She lit a room with her personality. Madison was also truly talented and she showed that as she performed “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles. Next up was Beane. Beane was called a pocketful of sunshine and the judges once said they would invest in him any day. He performed “Searching For A Feeling” by Thirdstory. He was taking risks with his song selection and it gave the judges a chance to see that he was more than just a modern-day Mr. Rogers. And in other news, Beane’s fans are now known as Beanie Babies, so that’s a thing now.
Next up was Hunter Metts. He was the handsome young man that everyone says he looks like Ryan Phillippe and another thing to remember about him is that the judges never felt he went for the big moment. They believe there’s more to see him from him but they haven’t seen this other side yet and so it’s amazing that America voted him into the next round. They did this in spite of the judges. The voters consider Hunter to be talented and he later performed “Skinny Love” by Birdie for them. Hunter again missed out on holding a high note with this song. Only he did add some angst to it finally and so the judges that were an improvement in the right direction. And the next person to be named Ava August.
Ava was the youngest person in the competition. She was fifteen and now she’s in the Top 16. She performed “2002” by Anne-Marie. It was a cute song and it more matched her age than the other songs she’s performed on the show although Katy told her classic will always beat out cute and so she wasn’t really a fan of tonight’s song selection. And the final spot in the Top 16 went to Chayce Beckham. He was the one with the raspy voice and he breathed a sigh of relief once his name was called.
Chayce later performed “Waiting In Vain” by Bob Marley and his rendition had the judges singing his praises.
THE END!
