'It is so important that people see this side of my disability': Teamwork makes the dream work on 'American Idol' duets night
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American Idol Season 21’s Hollywood Week continued Monday with the duets challenge — and all the drama that the duets round typically entails, of course. In the course of two hours, we had several personality clashes, precious few hours of actual sleep, one broken guitar, one resignation, one near-resignation, countless tears, and enough forgotten words to fill a thesaurus — and, thankfully, a handful of great performances too.
Interestingly, the best performance of the night was not a duet, but by a trio comprising Adin Boyer, Summer Joy, and Jayna Elise. Adin was diagnosed with autism 20 years ago, at age 2 — right around the time that his artsy parents also realized he had perfect pitch — and as the classically trained musician explained earlier this season, “Music has always been easy for me; it’s the other things in life that aren’t easy.” Monday, when it came time for the contestants to pair up, Noah’s Ark-style, and Adin found himself without a duet partner, it triggered his “serious social anxiety,” and he suffered a meltdown.
“This is terrifying for me,” Adin admitted. “Throughout my life, whenever I’ve tried to [pair up], I’ve always been left out.” As it turned out, Adin was the only sidelined contestant, because there was an odd number of singers in Hollywood Week — something that Idol producers really should’ve figured out before cruelly letting these contestants just fend for themselves in a Hunger Games popularity contest in the middle of the Orpheum Theatre lobby.
“I felt like I was just floating down into a pit of nothingness,” Adin later reflected after he took a much-needed break. “I lost sight of the fact that I was on American Idol.” Still, throughout this ordeal, which would have stressed out just about anyone, Adin remained brave, confident, and self-aware, saying: “It is so important that people see this side of my disability, this sort of thing that I have to go through.”
Eventually the producers realized that Adin, the odd man out, would have to join forces with an existing duo, and that’s when Summer and Jayna immediately volunteered and welcomed Adin with literal open arms, embracing him and making him feeling “absolutely included” and “completely safe.” By the time the three singers got onstage, with Adin playing piano on their slow, somber, gospel-style remake of Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing,” this group that judge Katy Perry dubbed “the holy trinity” had really tapped into the anthem’s resilient spirit. Their performance was a triumph.
“What just happened? That was more confidence than I’ve ever seen in my life,” raved Lionel Richie. “The angels showed up to save the terrified and struggling Adin, and together, it was something that needs to be rewarded.”
“There was a team vibe that you could feel, and that kind of approach, it serves every performance,” said Katy, as she, Lionel, and judge Luke Bryan put all three singers through to the next round.
Speaking of team vibes, if American Idol had a Miss Congeniality award like they have on RuPaul’s Drag Race, it would totally go to “angel” and consummate team player Jayna. When Kaya Stewart (daughter of the Eurythmics’ Dave) tearfully announced onstage that she had to bow out of the competition because she was too sick with fever to perform, it looked like Kaya’s partner, Fire Wilmore, was going to have to go it alone on Adam Lambert’s “Whataya Want From Me.” But when Katy asked if anyone in the Orpheum Theatre could fill in, Jayna happily stepped up and once again saved the day. I do have to say, Jayna actually sang the song better than Fire did — and even without any rehearsals, she knew all the words.
Unfortunately, not all of Monday’s duo performances featured the same team vibe, or the same impressive lyrical recall. For instance, the night’s other “I’m Still Standing” cover, by small-town fry cook Zachariah Smith and Hollywood Blvd. busker Isaac Brown, was an absolute mess; despite these born showmen’s entertainment value and outsized personalities, they did not have a leg to stand on. They did not know any of the lyrics, planning to read the words off their phones like this was some amateur karaoke hour — “You got a call you need to make?” Katy asked sarcastically — and once the judges ordered them to put their phones away and “just sing,” they practically seemed just as unfamiliar with the song’s actual melody. They were scatting, ad-libbing, and basically floundering, and Luke uttered perhaps the biggest understatement in Idol history when he said, “We would have loved better execution and better preparation.” (Um, ya think?) Neither contestant should have still been standing after this travesty, and I have no idea why the judges gave them a pass or why Lionel bafflingly called this “a classic case of teamwork.” Simon Cowell would’ve never stood for this.
Monday was the day when Platinum Ticket holders Tyson Venegas, Kaylin Hedges, Cam Amen, and Elijah McCormick — who sat out Hollywood’s first round in the Orpheum Theater’s Statler & Waldorf-style balcony — rejoined the competition. And while Elijah’s “My Girl” duet with Lucy Love was solid and their rehearsals were blissfully drama-free, when Tyson and Kaylin got together for Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” they seemed like Bronze Ticket recipients at best. They too messed up their words and just started making stuff up on the fly; I started to feel like I was watching that game show Don’t Forget the Lyrics at this point. But the judges advanced them anyway, probably because it would have been pretty embarrassing to eliminate two Platinum Ticket contestants in one fell swoop.
The season’s remaining Platinum child, Cam, made the surprising decision to pick self-described “starving artist” Jay Valerione as his partner (the Platinum Ticket contestants got first dibs) — surprising because Jay’s New Orleans audition didn’t even make it to air, implying that they’re not a Season 21 frontrunner. Jay, who has dealt with homelessness since moving to L.A. to pursue their showbiz dream, seemed thrilled and flattered by the opportunity to work with Cam, saying they hoped Idol would be a “catalyst of change” in their life. But then an overwhelmed Jay started “feeling all over the place,” went missing, and almost became the third Hollywood Week contestant to quit, following Kaya’s departure and Sara Beth’s surprising exit the day before. Jay ended up having a change of heart and returning to rehearsals, but by that point Cam’s confidence and spirit seemed shattered, and the result was another messy performance. Katy called it “a struggle” and “a little rocky,” but the judges decided to reward Cam’s “compassion,” and also noted, “We know you can sing.” And yes, that much was true: Both Cam and Jay delivered solid vocals, even if they didn’t get all their words right.
One lyrical mess-up I was more than willing to overlook and forgive was by poor, sweet Iam Tongi. Iam went viral a few weeks ago when he dedicated his audition of James Blunt’s “Monsters” to his recently departed dad, and he’d made a solemn vow that he would play his father’s guitar, a good-luck charm of sorts, for every Idol performance moving forward. Unfortunately, the guitar’s preamp broke right before he was about to sing the Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” with partner Oliver Steele. Oliver empathized, perhaps more than most, having a tight bond with his own musical dad, a stroke survivor who accompanied him to his own audition. Iam was unable to save his tears, crying as he stood onstage with a last-minute borrowed guitar, but with Oliver’s support, he powered through — even if he had to keep sneaking peeks at a lyric crib sheet taped to the back of his replacement axe. (Isaac and Zachariah probably should have tried that.) This duo’s dulcet, Everlys-style harmonies and what Luke called “innocent soul” more than made up for their performance’s imperfections, and both singers made it through. Talk about a team vibe!
I also appreciated the team efforts by Elise Kristine and Matt Wilson on “You Are the Reason,” Hannah Nicolaisen and Warren Peay on “It’s Your Love,” and buddy act Preston Duffee and Jon Wayne Hatfield on “Buy Dirt” — although in the latter twosome’s case, teamwork did not make the dream work, and the judges decided to “thin down” this season’s large herd of male country contenders and eliminate Jon. But the most dynamic duo of the night had to be Wé Ani and PJAE, who put on a rilly big show with a cabaret tour de force of “Hit ‘Em Up Style” that had style for days. “We’ve never had more fun watching a duet! If this whole American Idol thing doesn’t work out, please just be a duo!” raved Katy.
And finally, on the subject of the whole American Idol thing not working out, the spell was truly broken for Carina DeAngelo when she teamed with Eastern European diva Nutsa for “I Put a Spell on You.” The two clashed over everything, from rehearsal schedules (Carina wanted to work well into the morning’s wee hours; Nutsa wanted a good night’s sleep) to song styling (Carina complained that Nutsa favored an arrangement that obviously played to Nutsa’s strengths and “bells and whistles”). By the time they got onstage, Carina seemed angry and defeated. Lionel “felt the tension,” and Katy sighed, “I just think the energy was broken between the two of you.”
And so, it was the “end of the line” for Carina, but Nutsa somehow got a reprieve, with Lionel assuring her, “I know what you were shooting for; it just didn’t click.” Nutsa insisted, “I swear to God I wanted this to work out” and denied sabotaging Carina, but Katy warned her, “Don’t forget about grace” — so it seemed like Nutsa received what is called in the reality TV business a “villain edit” here. If she doesn’t get cut by the judges before the live shows, I suspect that viewers will swiftly vote her out, instead favoring likable contestants who’ve amassed more karmic points, like Jayne, Adin, Iam, Oliver, and Cam. Watch this space.
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