Read our recap below!
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Top fifty week is here! Tonight, judges Grammy® award-winning artist Harry Connick Jr.; eight-time ARIA Award-winner Amy Shark and top-rating broadcaster Kyle Sandilands are tasked with cutting down the fifty successful contestants down to twenty four. It’s a big task, but I’m sure they’re up for it. For this round judge and Grammy® award-winning singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor was unable to make the trip down under. Most excitingly, former Australian Idol judge Marcia Hines will be returning to the panel for a limited stint. Her wise words for the contestants: “Keep it real… Sing with your hearts.”
To kick it off, the contestants are spilt into groups (dubbed the chorus line) and given a song to perform. Connick Jr. warns that a third of them will be eliminated from the competition by the end of this first round. In group 1, the contestants are tasked with singing Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. We once again meet Amali Diamond who sings and reminds us of her raspy talent. There’s no doubt she’s making it through, and dare I say, even make it to the top twelve? She plays around with the songs melody and has great stage presence. We’re then shown a montage of contestants singing the track, including my personal favourite Ben Sheehy who I think would make Cyrus proud. Go watch her performing it at Glastonbury in 2018 and you’ll know what I mean. Royston Sagigi-Baira and Emilie Sutter both give great performances too, but unfortunately Finn Burton succumbs to nerves and gives up after making a few mistakes. The judges offer her some comforting words, well all apart from Sandilands who says “sometimes your best is not good enough.” We don’t get to see them all perform, which is disappointing because I would’ve loved to see Lucy Smith’s take on the track. Making it through to the next round is Sheehy, Sutter, Royston Sagigi-Baira, Diamond and Jasey Fox. I’m truly sad to see Smith go, but I’ll be sure to follow her musical journey outside of the show.
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Round 2 sees more memorable talent from the auditions, including Sash Seabourne and Piper Butcher who are giving each other support before entering the auditorium. Sara Houston and Joshua Hannan are also in this round, so it’s another group of heavy-hitting talent. They all perform Fleetwood Mac’s iconic ballad, Landslide. What a song. Houston’s tone is beautiful on the track, she also knows how to move throughout the songs peaks and valleys - Landslide is a hard one to sing. The song sounds like it was made for Hannan, another singer I think will make the top twelve. “You’re only as good as your last performance” Connick Jr. says, telling them their decision is based on todays performance. He’s also proud of them, which is sweet. Butcher, Seabourne, Edwin Fejo and Isabella Vicente all make it through. Honestly, I’m shook. I am shooketh. How did Houston and Hannan not make it through? And then Connick Jr. pulls a shifty and says they’re all through. What a rollercoaster. My emotions are scrambled.
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Brothers Angus and Bobby Holmes are in group three, alongside Kartik Kunasegaran and country singers, Damien Agius and Connor Bulger. Group three have been set AVICII’s Wake Me Up, with all five making it through to the next round. Agius has a bit more confidence on-stage to Bulger, so it will be interesting to see who comes out as the country King. The next group of contestants features Noora H, Maya Weiss and Sharin Attamimi, all memorable contestants from early on in the audition process. This round also includes TikTok star Erica Padilla, Amélie Matthews and more, and the judges set them with Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman. Attamimi has an attitude that sets her apart from the rest, and Noora brings the powerhouse vocals. “If your name isn’t called, don’t take it personal. This is a competition, we’re all so very different. Just know that you’ve done the very best you can” Hines offers as comfort before they give their verdict. Attamimi, Isha Ramji, Weiss and Noora prove victorious and were the names called out by Hines.
The next group of men includes Taigh Wade, Sam Jeacle, Triston Joynt, Chandler Campbell, Tully Wishart, Mitch Cocchiara and more, who sing Shawn Mendes’ Stitches. We don’t get to see each vocalists auditions, but also I don’t think Stitches is the kind of song you’d give a group of hopefuls in an audition. Wade, Jeacle, Joynt and Wishart all gave good performances and won the judges over to make it through. Naomi Gipey, who received a home visit audition from Trainor, is in the next round, joined by Maddison Smith, Bec Voysey, Michaela George, Tahlia Eve Pizzicara, Elysa Villareal, Jazmine Vanua, Montana Lara, Tara and Mariah K. They sing Whitney Houston’s Higher Love, with Lara and Pizzicara standing out from the pack in terms of their overall performance. Many gave great vocals, but as Hines says “We can’t choose everybody”. Lara, Gipey, Voysey and Pizzicara made it through. Sandilands says it wasn’t a unanimous vote, telling Gipey she almost didn’t make it. Connick Jr. asks Hines to flirt with him and can’t handle the heat, he has to jump out of his chair. The next group take on P!NK’s Try, with Jessica Clennett, Angelina Curtis, Kristie Roberts, Kaitlyn Thomas, Gemma Rourke and more getting their shot. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t the strongest round, but Clennett, Thomas, Roberts and Curtis all made it through.
For the final chorus line, self-proclaimed crooner Charlie Chech goes head-to-head with brothers Spencer and Cooper Turnbull, James Vawser, Harry Hayden, Noah Cookson, Ethan Moon, Peter Kara and more. They’re tasked to sing Somebody To Love by Lewis Capaldi, and all-in-all it’s a good round, each contestant gives their own spin. Unfortunately, I don’t think it was the right song for Chech’s jazz background. The brothers have been split, with Cooper joining Kara, Vawser, Hayden and Cookson as the final contestants to make it to the next round. A visibly emotional Chech is still grateful for the opportunity to perform for his own idol Connick Jr., and lists his initial audition as one of the most memorable moments of his life.
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We continue on with group challenges, with the contestants being split into new groups to perform together. “Group challenge is to weed out the would be’s if they could be’s, and the people that are here absolutely to win.” says Sandilands and I loved his delivery of that line. The groups are tasked with choosing their own songs out of a selection of twelve tracks, and it’s first in best dressed. Jasey Fox says his group are compatible astrology-wise and call themselves ‘Honey’, whilst Sam Jeacle suggests ‘Go Rogue’. They choose Respect by Aretha Franklin, and group member Angus Holmes has apparently never heard the song before. They decide to change to Katy Perry’s Roar, as it’s the only song left, in the name of team spirit. Honey scored Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time, a song sought after by a variety of groups. They have the night to nail the songs arrangement and come up with choreography. Everyone is stressed, sleep-deprived and feeling the weight of the competition.
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The following morning, Sandilands arrives on set, reverse parking into his reserved spot and mounts the kerb. Haven’t we all? “Who put that gutter there he quips.”I love these moments. Go Rogue are first up to perform, and whilst some of my favourites are in this group, I’m scared for them due to the last minute song change. What a nice group of people, changing their song for one person who doesn’t know one of the most famous songs of all time. They all sound great, but it’s no doubt Respect would’ve given them the opportunity to better showcase their vocal ability and tones. “I would’ve said, ‘Angus, screw you bro’.” says Connick Jr., and for once I agree with him. Angus should’ve stepped up to learn the song, and instead what we heard was a mish-mash of powerful vocalists trying to find their place within the song. “You guys wouldn’t have been top five in Rock Eisteddfod” Sandilands tells them. Jessica Clennett, Sam Jeacle and Angus Holmes don’t make it to the next round, whilst Kristie Roberts and Ben Sheehy do. Jeacle and Clennett should’ve made it through based on what we know they’re capable of, but that last minute song change proved to be the wrong decision.
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Piper Butcher, Amali Diamond, Angelina Curtis, Jasey Fox and Sash Seabourne made the perfect song choice for their group Honey. The track perfectly suits each vocalists tone and range. Diamond forgets her lyrics momentarily but shakes it off like a pro, Curtis delivers beautiful runs and Seabourne's textural vocals cut through. There were slight off moments, but each vocalist proved their worth on the stage. They listened to one another and perfectly harmonised. Connick Jr. disagrees with Sandilands and Hines (who loved the performance), suggesting they could’ve done more. Hines pulls a sneaky and names Diamond, Seabourne, Butcher and Curtis, leaving out Fox before asking him to step forward and announcing all five contestants will be proceeding in the competition. Can the judges stop being sneaky tonight? It’s too much. The episodes edit then fast-forwards through the next two groups, but all the contestants progress. So that means Cooper Turnbull, James Vawser, Bobby Holmes, Tully Wishart and Joshua Hannan, who performed Ed Sheeran’s Perfect, and Noah Cookson, Bec Voysey, Anya Hynninen, Tahlia Eve Pizzicara and Kartik Kunasegaran.
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The next group sees Connor Bulger, Damien Agius, Emilie Sutter, Isabella Vicente and Kaitlyn Thomas take on Land Down Under, with Bulger, Agius and Thomas making it through and Sutter and Vicente’s Idol journeys coming to an end. We then find Sara Houston, Harry Hayden, Isha Ramji, Noora H and Edwin Fejo, who have chosen to sing Bruno Mars’ Just The Way You Are. They all sound great, but a lot was going on. Ramji is the only vocalist not to make it through, but she did give a good performance.
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‘Five Rings’ are up next, made up of Taigh Wade, Alivia Hollis, Naomi Gipey, Peter Kara and Triston Joynt. They gave a soulful rendition of Joel Corry x MNEK’s Head & Heart, but included a bit too many runs. I think they worked great together but the judges don’t think so. The idol journey ends here for Wade and Hollis, which is a decision I don’t agree with. They were both great, and alongside Kara, stood out to me. I’m a bit surprised they keep giving Gipey and Joynt more chances, I think they need some more training and experience to be able to go far in the competition.
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In the final group of the episode, ‘5 Soul’, Phoebe Stewart, Sharin Attamimi, Montana Lara, Royston Sagigi-Baira and Maya Weiss tackle Jess Glynn’s I’ll Be There, working wonderfully together to deliver a moving performance where each contestants performance felt organic. No one overpowered anyone else, and it was just a wholesome performance to end with. Man, these judges are full of shifty’s tonight. Connick Jr. tells two contestants they’re going through, indicating the three remaining haven’t, only to then put them all through. And with that, we’re down from fifty contestants to thirty two.
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Watch Australian Idol on Channel 7 tomorrow night at 7:30pm AEDT. Stream it on 7 Plus.