PureAGT Season 8 Vegas Week Rundown – Night #2
Well, the “WTF?” train didn’t leave the station after last night – still more shocking eliminations (and even MORE shocking advances to the live shows) than last night. I’m now convinced that some acts are just going to be there for the sake of variety and to serve as cannon fodder for the REALLY good acts.
First, let’s get the verdicts out of the way…
Acts that made it to the live shows after performing in Vegas:
(acts with a * next to them did not appear in the audition round – Vegas is the first time we’ve seen them)
Collins Key
Leon Etienne & Romy Low
Brad Byers
Slackwire Sam
Alex Magala
Special Head
Brandon & Savannah
Forte
The American Hit Men
Marty Brown
Dave Fenley
Duo Resonance
Timber Brown
Kristef Brothers
Izzy & Aaralyn
Chloe Channell
2Unique
Ciana Pelekai
Taylor Williamson
John Wing*
Hype
Kid the Wiz
D’Angelo & Amanda
Jonas & Ruby
David Ferman
Rong Niu
Deanna Dellacioppa
Jonathan Allen
Cami Bradley (not shown, but advanced according to Wikipedia)
Selena Mykenzie Gordon (not shown, but advanced according to Wikipedia)
Court’s thoughts: Why the HELL are Aaralyn & Izzy still in this competition??? I find nothing about them talented, entertaining, cute, or unique – in fact, it actually disturbs me a bit that they’re being pushed in this direction musically, and that no one appears to be teaching this child proper vocal technique. At this rate, she’ll be lucky if she doesn’t have chronic laryngitis by the time she’s 16! I officially dub Aaralyn & Izzy this year’s “Horse”. Also a little miffed that 2Unique made it through – the DJ is pretty good, but I don’t think the other girl is anything special, nor do I think the act as a whole is worthy of a Vegas show. Also a bit skeptical that Chloe Channell made it through, despite giving a rather lackluster performance in Vegas. Gotta say, I’m surprised they took both D’Angelo & Amanda and Ruby & Jonas – not because one is less talented than the other, but because I thought for sure they were going to pit sibling-against-sibling for a slot in the live shows…guess they figured the sibling vs. sibling storyboarding angle could work for the live shows, too. Beyond the acts that I mentioned, I guess I’m pretty happy with the acts that made it through.
Acts that were cut after performing in Vegas:
Ariann Black*
Naathan Phan
RJ Cantu*
Tavi & Antonio
“Accro” Brandon Rosario*
Travis Pratt
Paul Thomas Mitchell
Lil Demon
Melody Caballeros*
Archbishop Molloy Step Team*
Art Spark*
Skilyr Hicks
Genesis Nava*
Jimmy Failla*
Eric Schwartz*
Megan Piphus
Kennedy Davenport*
Dylan Wilson
Lil Mike & Funny Bone (cut immediately after performing)
Court’s thoughts: First, I feel I must point out the pattern here: most of the acts that weren’t featured from the audition rounds, did not make it to the live shows. Guess that goes to show that if you don’t get a lot of airtime devoted to you, it’s probably because you won’t be sticking around long, anyway. Now, a “WTF?!” moment: why were Travis Pratt & Paul Thomas Mitchell cut??? I think the former’s unique voice would have been an asset in the live shows, and the latter also had a unique voice and some genuine songwriting talent. *sigh* Like Milton Patton, I guess I can only hope that they get called back for the wild card round. Beyond those two, I think I for the most part agree with the acts that were cut – seemed like some of them really blew it in Vegas (notably Megan Piphus and Skilyr Hicks) while others probably never really stood a chance to begin with (Dylan Wilson and Lil Mike & Funny Bone). The rest were acts that we didn’t really see much of, anyway, so it didn’t really affect me much to see them cut.
Acts that performed in Vegas (continued from Night #1)
Kid Musicians:
Aaralyn & Izzy
Chloe Channell
Genesis Nava*
Ciana Pelekai
Court’s thoughts: You already know how I feel about Aaralyn & Izzy….grrr. I thought Chloe Channell actually blew it with her song choice – her performance ended up being kind of blah, and she may have fared better if she had switched songs with Genesis. I think the only one that knocked it out of the park was Ciana – I was skeptical after seeing her in the audition round, but her rendition of “I’d Rather Go Blind” brought the house down.
Magicians:
RJ Cantu*
Naathan Phan
Collins Key
Ariann Black*
Leon Etienne & Romy Low
Court’s thoughts: Only one real standout for me – once again, Collins Key aced his performance. I love that he’s going the route of up-close, more intimate tricks as opposed to these large-scale illusions that so many other acts are going for. Ariann totally blew it – her trick went wrong and she refused to admit it. Thought RJ’s trick would have been far more impressive if he had done it with the lights on – it was so damn dark, you could tell he was trying to hide something. I agree with Howard about Naathan – his magic is good, but his delivery is awkward. I guess Leon & Romy’s trick was kind of cool, but it also struck me as a little boring.
Variety acts:
Special Head
Kennedy Davenport*
Megan Piphus
Lil Mike & Funny Bone
Court’s thoughts: This category was a little bit of a dud for me – nobody really seemed to rise to their full potential. Thought Special Head fared the best, but agreed with the judges that his audition trick was more impressive. If we’ve seen one dancing/lip syncing drag queen, I feel like we’ve seen them all – so I wasn’t terribly impressed by Kennedy Davenport. Megan and Lil Mike & Funny Bone both completely blew their Vegas performances – Megan looked downright amateurish trying to sing “ABC” with her puppet, and I don’t know that Lil Mike & Funny Bone even rehearsed at all, since they both seemed to be forgetting their choreography and just wandering around the stage aimlessly. I think the latter may have wasted their one great song on the audition round and just didn’t have anything else that was equally strong to fall back on…so who knows, maybe they were kind of doomed from the get-go. But they did seem rather lackadaisical about the whole thing, so I guess I agree with the judges eliminating them immediately after they performed.
Male singers:
Dave Fenley
Marty Brown
Paul Thomas Mitchell
Jonathan Allen
Travis Pratt
Court’s thoughts: I love Dave Fenley more and more each time I hear him perform – loved his gravelly acoustic take on “These Arms of Mine”. I agree with the judges that I thought Marty was better in his audition than he was in Vegas – he wasn’t terrible, per se, but I just found myself a bit bored. Seemed like Paul fumbled a bit with “Sunday Morning”, but I still loved his voice and thought for sure he’d be going to the live shows. Jonathan Allen definitely improved from his initial audition – seems like he has a lot better control over his voice now. Poor Travis Pratt – I think he did a commendable job with “Ave Maria”, but the judges just couldn’t seem to get past the fact that he sings like a woman.
So the roster is set for Radio City Music Hall!!! Who are you most excited to see in the live shows? And who are you sad to see eliminated?
I hope Travis Pratt comes back as a wild card choice. I didn`t like Chloe Channell`s song choice-but I like her voice and am glad she went through. Chloe will have to step it up in her next live performance. I loved Megan Piphus` New Orleans AGT audition-but I think her nerves got the best of her in Vegas.
I don’t get Milton Patton being eliminated at all… But they have to eliminate somebody if they are to come back as a wild card. Of all the male singers this year, Milton’s voice gave me goosebumps. I could listen to an entire album of his voice all the way through. However, I checked some of his YouTube vids, and due to equipment used in his vids, his talent didn’t show as well. Why did he not get a second chance to sing in Vegas??? Would like to know that back story. =^..^=
Okay…Court knows my feelings, but I need the rest of the world to know! 😛
Huge WTF to Paul, Milton, and Travis Pratt being cut?? Just…what went through their heads? At first I really liked them as judges, but with some of the acts they sent through and with the ones they cut..I question it their credibility.
Of course, Paul, Milton, and Travis may just be the top candidates for wild cards. And they’ve been plotting that for a long time perhaps. They better bring all three back…or I’m going to riot! LOL
In other news, I’m really happy Red Panda, Anna Christine, and Collins made it.
What happened to 212 Green??? They were sent to Vegas and then never shown or mentioned either one of the two night?
@Matt – I’m working on a post about the acts that were missing in action in Vegas, but yeah – the gist I’ve gotten from some of their tweets is that they were in Vegas, and they did perform…they just didn’t make it through, and they weren’t shown.
Man, what a let down. They were one of my favorites. Thought maybe they had the same kind of situation like ELEW from two years ago where he got picked up to tour with Josh Groban after his initial audition and had to back out of AGT. I’ll keep an eye out for that post, thanks for the update!
I really do not want to get into a racial issue here, as I don’t want to start anything on Internet message boards, and it’s very possible that this was a coincidence. BUT… The 2 most undeniable snubs were both non Caucasian, and you could make a solid case for Megan based off of her audition round. To directly discuss the show, I think I’m not very excited for this year. Too many people with great auditions fell flat on their face in Vegas. Special Head and many of the danger acts, while talented, have already gotten old. And the fact that a judge can say Aaralyn and Izzy are more deserving than Travis with a straight face is so bad I can’t really discuss it without expletives.
“why were Travis Pratt & Paul Thomas Mitchell cut??? I think the former’s unique voice would have been an asset in the live shows”
I do question Paul Thomas Mitchell, but frankly I don’t understand what people see in Travis Pratt. So, he is a man that sings in falsetto, maybe a countertenor. There are many better countertenors out there – compare him to Scholl, Daniels, Cencic, White, Spanos, Lemos, Costanzo, and many others. And before you say how he is an amateur compared to other professionals – he has a voice degree from Manhattan school of music, so you cannot use “amateur” as an excuse. You can also find his channel on youtube where he sings like a tenor – much better.
Yes, he has a nice voice tone, beautiful even. But he also has a huge wobble, his Ave Maria sounded he trilled on every note, you couldn’t even say the right pitch, the voice wavered so much. In O mio babbino caro he was out of breath, breaking up words. They were right – a woman would’ve sung both selections much better (O mio babbino caro is an extremely ridiculous selection for the man, imagine a man singing I feel pretty or I could’ve danced all night). So shall he be put through just because he is a countertenor and people haven’t heard better countertenors?
Shall all voice majors who failed to make it in opera come on AGT and get to finals simply because people and judges have no clue about opera and these voices sound amazing compare to what one is used to today?
Just to add. One thing that actually bugged me in their selection is that the guy who sang Nessun Dorma – essentially mediocre performance by opera standards (and no, he isn’t an amateur either) was put through right away whereas Forte that featured much stronger singers were made to perform in Vegas.
I would’ve put Forte through right away. Their new guy is especially good.
They let Deanna through?! She annoys the crap out of me! They also let the death metal kids thru. Disappointing
@Matt B – I would kindly advise against even touching on racial issues, as it is a very inflammatory topic and in my experience, even good-faith comments on it over the web can be inadvertently misinterpreted as being something more insidious.
That said – now that I’ve had a chance to sleep on it, I do recall another poster here that was well-versed in opera commenting on how terrible Travis Pratt’s breathing technique was in his singing, and I really think that Megan just absolutely blew it with that rendition of “ABC” in Vegas. In their case, I have to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that the judges simply didn’t think they were good enough to advance. I can’t say with a straight face that Megan’s perfomance in Vegas was good enough to get her through to the live show, even when taking into account her initial audition. As for Travis – I think he was unfortunately just stuck in a very competitive category this year. The opera singers were probably the strongest we’ve seen since Jackie Evancho, and I also think it didn’t help that Jonathan Allen improved drastically from his inital audition…while Travis stayed about the same. Seeing the two men perform right after each other probably didn’t help Travis’ case much. I don’t really have any explanation about Milton, other than maybe they cut him for the sake of drama and are already planning on bringing him back for the wild card round. The same thing happened last year with the Bandbaz Brothers – an incredible act cut immediately in Vegas, only to be brough back for the wild card.
And while it still makes my blood boil that Izzy & Aaralyn made it though to the live shows while Travis, Milton, & Paul Thomas Mitchell didn’t – at the same time, I understand that the show probably wants to create the best variety of acts possible in order to please an audience, and so some weaker acts probably get put through simply because they’re unique, while more competitive categories (like opera & country singers) they can afford to be a bit pickier & choosier about. In Travis & Milton’s case, it was a matter of “Do we REALLY want 4 opera acts in the live shows?” and “Can we really afford to have 3 male country singers in the live shows?” If nothing else, I console myself with the fact that acts like Izzy & Aaralyn will probably be cannon fodder – acts that get eliminated easily and serve as a safety net for some of the stronger acts.
I think that Milton’s instant elimination was a ploy to shock viewers. I’m not even sure if he was instantly eliminated. In the shots of all the performers asked to perform again, Milton can clearly be seen standing next to Marty Brown. When he is shown being eliminated moments afterwards, he is wearing different clothing from his audition. All the other acts who recieved their results immediately were in the same clothing as their auditions. I may be mistaken, but I think Milton may have got to perform and been eliminated normally, but it was edited to make it appear he was eliminated immediately and shock the viewers.
Interesting, Raphy. I’ll have to rewatch and see if I can screen cap it when I get home.
Good Catch Raphy. Will watch again. Something just didn’t seem right when Milton was shown being eliminated, like those catch the difference puzzles.
Looking at the line up for next week which includes Aaralyn and Izzy, does look like a quick elimination. Wonder who their parents know that got them this far into the competition to begin with? Hmmmm….
However I disagree with A & I being the next Horse, unless they don’t get eliminated next week. My first thought of Tummy Talk going to Vegas and then going straight through – There’s the next Horse. At least TT isn’t as revolting… but still I would prefer that TT went to Biggest Loser instead. Obesity isn’t healthy. Seriously.
BTW – I put Selena Mykenzie Gordon in the search engine and came up with an AGT Video Interview where she tells how amazed and excited she is to be going on to Radio City Music Hall. I didn’t find a vid for Cami though.
” The opera singers were probably the strongest we’ve seen since Jackie Evancho, and I also think it didn’t help that Jonathan Allen improved drastically from his inital audition…”
Yes. Consider this – the new Forte guy is a real opera singer with a real opera career. He is someone who is good even by opera standards, and someone with a real opera career. He even sang at the Met, though small roles – perfectly normal for a young singer who hasn’t yet made his name, and he sang leading roles in regional theaters and won a few opera competitions. He is seriously good. I don’t think we’ve ever seen on this show a singer with a real existing (not past like Donal Braswell) promising opera career. We did see young people who could become opera singers with training, we’ve seen singers who didn’t make it in opera, we’ve seen amateurs, but never somebody who actually sings in opera now.
Virtually every classical singer we’ve seen this year has a degree in classical voice. The only exception is Jonathan Allen about whom nothing is known (and he is likely to have had some lessons, he also smartly doesn’t choose arias). Branden James sings in Chicago Lyric Opera chorus, Antonio Varela sang roles in regional theaters before switching to crossoer, Josh Page had training and started in opera, but switched to crossover, Travis Pratt has a degree from Manhattan School of Music. So everyone this year has both talent and training and one singer – Sean Panikkar is good even by opera standard where he is on the way to a major career.
One thing I am really wondering about is whether America loves opera a lot more than it realizes. Any classical singer on this show never fails to touch people. This begs a question – why don’t they just go to opera?
Aaralyn and Izzy are still in because they have real talent.
I get that you neither appreciate nor understand what it takes to develop Aaralyn’s singing style, but it *is* a legitimate form and she does it exceedingly well; unbelievably well for 6-year-old girl.
Nothing unique? It’s true there are plenty of 9-year-old boys who play drums and some of them play as well as Izzy, but I can promise you there are fewer than 1000 6-year-old girls on the planet who are merely trying to do what Aaralynn *is* doing. Probably fewer than 100. ON the entire planet.
That one believes child performers must always be “cute” may well be something that feeds into the tragedy so many child performers suffer once they mature into adults. Aaralyn has an understanding of the ironic that many adults following AGT apparently fail to see. Don’t be who you are, or who you want to be: be what we expect you to be. She isn’t conforming to the soul-killing standard that 6-year-old girls are only allowed to be “cute,” and dulcet, and she *gets it*.
As for entertaining, again, I get that you do not accept metal as a legitimate form of art. Fortunately for the world, what determines whether a thing is art or not, what is entertainment or not, is not down to a single person, anywhere.
Just try singing one of her songs as she does, in earnest, and then you’ll begin to grasp the talent and skill she’s packing. It’s a thing of beauty.
TEAM MURP! TO THE TOP!
Well, Elizabeth, I get that you are unable to discern what is fact from what is simply your own opinion – considering that you stated your entire opinion as if it were fact. I’d advise that you figure out the difference between the two and post accordingly, because you’re sounding rather arrogant and authoritative right now – and if it continues, you may find your 6-page theses on Aarlyn & Izzy in the trash.
I’d love to know where you got those scientific figures about how many “6-year-old girls on the planet are merely trying to do what Aaralyn *is* doing”. And honey, I’d suggest you improve your reading comprehension skills, too – because NOWHERE did I say that “child performers must always be cute”. I’d greatly appreciate if you didn’t put words in my mouth, since I was only repeating what had been said about Aaralyn BY THE JUDGES. And the fact that you take it a step further and turn that into a reason for the “tragedy so many child performers suffer once they mature into adults”? Drama queen much? You’re fishing now, honey.
And I agree that “what what determines whether a thing is art or not, what is entertainment or not, is not down to a single person, anywhere” – which is something I think you yourself should heed, since once again you’ve worded your entire post as if your opinion is the only one that matters. I can’t help but laugh.
And I’ll pass on trying to sing like Aaralyn, thanks. Laryngitis? Ain’t nobody got time for that, and I’d rather not have anyone try to perform an exorcism on me.
Team Murp? I hope they flop.
Before judging someone from an Edited television show U should look them up Urself.
http://www.youtube.com/mikebonecrunknativez
facebook.com/mikebonefanz
Read back to some of my earlier posts, MikeBone – I was actually rooting for you guys, and I’m not sure that watching your YouTube channel or visiting your Facebook page would have changed my mind that you guys were kind of a letdown in Vegas. You were both blaming each other for botched choreography, and weren’t even talking backstage after you performed. You’re gonna blame all of that on a bad edit???