American Idol – The Fly, The Flyest Outfit, and A Dark Horse

American Idol now only has 12 hopeful singers competing for our votes and I gotta tell you, if you watched the show you know exactly who the star was. Marty McFly! This random fly got some prime camera time in front of Kaeyra and on Iam. The irony was heavy with both appearances because Kaeyra had one of the flyest outfits, and Iam was singing “Stuck On You.” It’s like the fly got a peak at the set list and said to his fly friends, “Here, watch this.”

This fly was probably just winging it, but definitely added to the element of surprise during the live show. Somehow, I think, it made the audience like Iam even more, not to mention be impressed by Kaeyra’s ability to keep singing without swatting it away like I would’ve done.

In a post yesterday, I made a guess on the eight contestants who would be going home and I was right about five of them. Just for shock value I thought they might send home Haven and Warren. I was wrong about those two, and in fact Haven might be the most complete artist (in spite of her not being the best singer on the show). Plus, now I’m wondering if Colin Stough is the black horse of the entire American Idol season? To compare how it started and how it’s going, here’s his first audition…

Now let’s fast forward to his most recent performance on the live episodes…

Very recognizable voice and on top of that, he sounded great last night. But the highest ratings using my awesome rating system went to Megan, Iam, and Haven. Another of my top three favorites scored high, too… Zachariah Smith. Judge saves went to Nutsa and Lucy Love. Some fans are poo-pooing that decision and I kind of agree.

Nutsa is from Georgia (not the U.S. state) and currently lives in Dubai. That’s all fine and good but imagine if someone living in the U.S. went up to Canada to compete on Canadian Idol. It just doesn’t make sense. Working in Nutsa’s favor, though, is that she has a huge social media following, which is my guess as to why the judges saved her. At the end of the day, the show needs the highest ratings possible and has a built-in audience with Nutsa’s fans. Lucy Love was a judge save, too. I liked her in the first few weeks of the show but her attitude has me a little skeptical about her long term chances. She’s coming across as a little arrogant, not very humble, and it’s a big turn off for me. My guess is that those two will get weeded out in a short amount of time.

Did you watch the elimination episodes this week? Chime in below with your thoughts!

-Out of the Wilderness

Joe Biden is Trans and Wants a Presidential Rerun?

Coming as a surprise to no one (except maybe Joe Biden?), Joe Biden is running for re-election as the first self-proclaimed trans president of the United States. Of course, by “trans,” I’m referring to a comment Biden made in 2020 where he claimed to be a “transitional president,” and everyone knows “running” is a word we use loosely with Biden. His frail, brittle body can barely take another fall going up stairs, much less running or biking.

Early in his presidency I swear Biden said he planned on being a one-term president but that’s ancient history anyway, because in his new propaganda video (with comments not turned off…yet), Biden rattles off what’s wrong with America then follows up with how he can “finish the job.” Nothing he’s ever said has been more accurate! Four more years of Biden’s mess and we’ll be finished, that’s for sure.

As a conservative, I’m mostly unhappy with the things he’s done (except for approving the Willow Project, for instance) but for liberals out there, they can’t be happy with all the promises he hasn’t kept, like that whole student loan forgiveness thing he always talks about. He did keep his word, though, by using race to pick a VP and a Supreme Court judge.

So let me get this straight… a politician wants to keep his power by staying in office? “Color me shocked!” said no one ever. Biden running again is probably the best thing that’s happened to Republicans in many, many years. Of course, Joe still has to get the Democrat nomination but is it really election season until Bernie Sanders announces he’s running for president? When Bernie announces, Hillary will pop up again to do what she does best… take Bernie out! If Joe doesn’t get the Dems endorsement, does that mean someone like Michelle Obama might run, which raises this question: Could a black trans-woman become president of the United States?

On the other side of the aisle, Trump seems to be shoe-in but it’s not guaranteed that he’ll win the nomination. I wouldn’t hate having someone less polarizing as the Republican candidate, someone like Ron DeSantis or Tim Scott. Trump’s personality is just so unappealing. Maybe if he used some of these conservative pick-up lines as his campaign slogan, he’d be more likable. There’s still a lot of time until these dramatic scenarios take shape so anything could happen between now and then and as we know in politics, anything that can happen will happen.

-Out of the Wilderness

Mama Mia! American Idol Goes Long and Young Tom Cruise Goes Short

You could watch the movie Mama Mia! almost twice and still catch the beginning and end of the three-hour episode of American Idol last night. I’ve enjoyed this season, but that was nearly domestic abuse, Idol producers. Some of us like to go to bed at 930, just saying!

Hopefully the closest I’ll ever get to watching Mama Mia! will be listening to Iam Tongi’s performance of the soundtrack song “The Winner Takes It All.” I can think of at least 29 things I’d rather do than watch a musical. If it helps paint a picture of my movie preferences, I’ve seen half of Hamilton and I’d rather watch this horrible Sprite commercial on repeat for the rest of my life than find out how that movie ends.

Iam unalived his performance (did I say that right? Slayed. Shredded. Knocked it out of the park). Like past judges used to say, Iam could sing the phone book and I’d listen. In fact, maybe he should. The biggest hurdle would be… finding a phone book. Do they still make those?

Nineteen other singers also sang. They moved around the stage, or not, they used a mic stand, or not. They played an instrument, or not. However, as we now know, six contestants didn’t sing, move around the stage, or play an instrument because they got sent home. I guess they DID sort of move around the stage, though, as they walked off of it on their way to get their luggage.

I used a new rating system, updated from how I took notes last week. Categories were song choice, wardrobe, stage comfort, and entertainment value, then averaging those for an overall score 1 to 10. Here’s how it shaped up…

Highest total score went to Iam Tongi and Lucy Love (both with 9.625), and a three-way tie between Marybeth Byrd, Megan Danielle, and Colin Stough (9.5). My ratings included 10s in the song choice category for anyone who performed an original song and in regards to the wardrobe category, I had to limit Haven’s score to 10 because she always deserves more like a 20! Always interesting and creative outfits with that one.

My top three survived this round. Megan, Zachariah, and Iam advanced to the top 20 but tonight 8 more singers will be cut. I’ll do a hard thing now and try guessing who the bottom 8 will be on tonight’s episode: Matt Wilson, Kaeyra, Warren Peay, Haven, Michael Williams, Hannah, Paige, and Tyson V.

Michael’s new, short haircut will be the sole reason he goes home sooner rather than later. He no longer looks like a young Tom Cruise, and as I recall, ladies loved a young Tom Cruise. The other bottom 8 are fine singers (all of them are WAY better than I can ever hope to be) but just aren’t the complete package like some in the top 20.

Who will become the next American Idol? Is your favorite still in it to win it?

-Out of the Wilderness

The Best Tweets After Morgan Wallen Show Gets Cancelled

His popularity was sky high even after this, but now Morgan Wallen fans are crying while everyone else is tweeting. Here are a few of the best tweets reacting to Morgan Wallen cancelling his show last minute in Mississippi.

the irony of a song called “Last Night” when Morgan cancelled a show last night

-Out of the Wilderness

Can’t stop listening to this American Idol performance

Ever since last week when a certain contestant performed a certain song, I’ve been listening/watching it over and over on YouTube. I’m talking about Iam Tongi singing “Don’t Let Go.” Iam’s in my top three (along with Zachariah Smith and Megan Danielle) but I haven’t watched any performance nearly as much as this one. It’s just SO GOOD. As my mom says, his voice is like velvet… kind of like my Idol recaps*… 😎

*totally inappropriate grandstanding

I love this performance so much that even after looking up the original by Spawnbreezie (which I’ll include below), I still like Iam’s more (no offense, Mr. Breezie!). Now with that said, I have a theory about original songs vs. cover versions. Check it out in full here and let me know what your thoughts are. I stumbled across another video from Iam, because what do we do when we love someone? We look up all their videos. This one will give you goosebumps so just be ready for that.

We’ll know pretty soon if Iam has enough momentum, and fans, to take him to the top spot on American Idol. I certainly hope he goes a long way and I wouldn’t be upset at all if he wins. One thing is for sure, though. Iam Tongi’s delivery of “Don’t Let Go” is one of the best performances in all of Idol history.

-Out of the Wilderness