The California auditions for American Idol Season 12 occurred on the Queen Mary. Miscellaneous irrelevant information that may or may not interest you: My mother used to work for Cunard back in the 1960’s and she got to tour both the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth ships. All of my life living with her, she proudly displayed the two pictures in our living room. Ignore the little boy (my brother) in the picture and look in the background. The one with the 3 stacks I believe was the Queen Elizabeth and the 2 stacks was the Queen Mary. Or it’s the reverse. I have vague memories of being on the tour with her. She passed away many years ago and I do not know what ever happened to these pictures.
Look past the kid to the ship portraits on the wall.
For at least one of the contestants, Shubha Vedula, Keith Urban and Randy Jackson were the only judges available as Nicki Minaj was rehearsing for the American Music Awards and Mariah Carey was stuck in traffic. They had a little fun with her name. She sang Christina Aguilera’s “Something’s Got A Hold On Me.” She has a really great voice. I think she’ll be in the top 40.
Shubha Vedula
I felt really bad for the next contestant, Brian Martinez. Apparently while in the john, a music producer named “John” told him he should try out for American Idol. Apparently John lied. While I normally don’t feel sorry for individuals like this, it wasn’t so much anger and tears as he looked like his spirit was crushed.
US Veteran Matt Farmer brought her darling daughter into the audition. He had an amazing story about his traumatic brain injury from an incident in combat. He had to take a medication that his doctor said would cause him to be sterile, and 6 months later, his beautiful daughter was conceived. I like his eyes. There is an honesty about them and his aura is just radiant. He did a bang-up job on “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke.
Matt Farmer
Purpled-haired Stephanie Sanson’s version of Adele’s “Set Fire To the Rain” was not exactly what I was expecting. I guess she decided she needed to exorcise her demons. But it did remind me of another song from the movie “XXX” with Vin Disel: “I Will Be Heard” by Hatebreed.
Looks harmless, doesn’t she? Her poor mother must be deaf by now.
When the fire alarm went off during Jesaiah Baer’s audition, I thought, “Demon chick decided to set fire to the rain literally.” But it was a car exhaust under a veranda? She returned and sang Kimbra’s “Settle Down” again and got 4 yeses. She is cute and has a unique voice. I was shocked she was only 16.
Jesaiah Baer
Keith Urban harmonized with Micah Johnson to the song, “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band. You would never be able to tell he had nerve damage from having his tonsils removed. I guess maybe the same theory for people who stutter while speaking can sing also applies in this case–singing uses different muscles.
Micah Johnson
The unnamed 10-year-old who was singing on the ship who thinks she is going to be the next American Idol in 5 years really does not need to wait that long. She only has to be 13 to try out for The X-Factor. What an amazing talent!
What? What do I see? Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey are actually sitting next to each other? WHOA! I like the truce.
Kimberly “Rachel” Hale has a nice voice, but I did not like her eye movements. They were distracting me. One of those performers who I need to listen to with my eyes shut.
Rachel Hale
I think this story is the one they should have ended with because I am so irked about the final contestant…but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Briana Oakley was featured on as Maury’s Most Talented Kids in 2009. She opened for Latoya London. Apparently after that, she went back to her school and instead of becoming the most popular girl in school became bullied. At age 16, however, she is going to get the last laugh because she is going to Vegas–right through Hollywood and right into the top 10. She sang “Up To the Mountain” by Patty Griffin and the hair on my arms was standing at attention. Let me point out, that they never tried to hide the fact that she has been professionally singing since age 4, that she was on Maury, etc.
Briana Oakley
Now MY RANT. Meet the next contestant: Mateus Fernandes, age 21. Very inspiring story. Very positive attitude. He gets into the audition room and is going to sing, “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. I am not the only person on Twitter that appears to have watched “The Glee Project,” Season 1. If they were honest with that, I would not be reacting like this. I don’t know if this was an editing decision or a Mateus’ decision, but he was acting like all of his life no one gave him a break because of his size. I don’t believe any of those tears. Not only did he get vocal coaching from that show, but he got intense choreography and acting lessons. And he came in 8th place out of 40,000 people that auditioned. And he’s saying, “This is crazy, this is crazy?” Let me share. The show’s first season premiered in the US on June 12, 2011 and aired until August of 2011. Perhaps he is suffering short-term memory problems? The auditions for Idol Season 12 likely occurred during the summer of 2012. Could he have forgotten his FIRST big break in just a matter of a year? He said this on the You Tube posting of his Idol audition, “I talked about being in ‘The Glee Project,‘ but they just didn’t wanna show that. And what you saw on this video is indeed the real me, not the “character” that you saw on TGP since that’s the persona they wanted for me on that show. This is me. Apologies if you don’t like it, but that’s alright. I am happy with who I am nowadays. It’s been a long journey thus far. I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
If the producers did indeed cut that out for whatever their reasons, it backfired. People will tolerate being manipulated by an inspiring story only so far. People do not like to be outright deceived.
RANT NOW OVER.
Matheus Fernandes
Next: The journey finally ends in Oklahoma City before Hollywood week.
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