1) Jena Irene- Suddenly I See
I’m not really OK that Jena is first. It’s never good to be in the first half of the show. It started off a little low for Jena. I thought she performed it well, and it was nice to see Jena do an uptempo. She hasn’t rocked a real uptempo so far, she’s just sped songs up. She’s a strong performer. For me though, this song is “stay in the competition” not “play to win”. I won’t remember this performance in a few weeks. She’s still going to need a few other people to flop tonight if she’s going to avoid the bottom 3.
Going forward, she needs another moment, like her wild card song. If she keeps performing at this pace, she’s a midpack performer.
GRADE: B-
2) Alex Preston- I Don’t Wanna Be
A little oversung song , but I’m digging Alex’s style tonight. Alex chooses to funkify the song a bit. It’s different from the version you’ve heard, that’s for sure. It’s a cool song, but it’s a step backward from last week. Even though he put his own spin on it, I don’t think it’ll work quite like Alex hoped it would. I think he played to win, for sure, but it just didn’t quite pan out the way he wanted. I agree with Harry that Alex needs to keep exploring creatively, and not be disappointed with this.
Going forward, he needs to keep doing songs in his wheelhouse, and not worry so much about “funkifying” the songs so much.
FINAL GRADE: B-
3) Jess Meuse- White Flag
Jess had a strong week last week, so the anticipation is high. The vocals get a little mumbly, and her pitch is a little sharp throughout, but there’s still something about it that I kinda like. Jess has such a unique tone to her voice. I agree also with Keith that she didn’t seem as connected to the song. I think it was definitely a step back from last week, and even though I should rank her lower, there was something about it that I kinda liked… even though there were obvious pitch issues throughout.
Going forward, go back to the rock roots of last week. Rock out like last week. Jess just isn’t the strongest vocalist in the competition, and in more subdued song choices, the audience has a real chance to hear the shaky vocals.
FINAL GRADE: C+