'American Idol' Recap - Auditions #5

Hello Minneapolis! What a fine, but bland hour of television you’ve given us. Do you think any of this season’s top three will be found in Minnesota? I have my doubts, but only time will tell.

As usual, here is the top five auditioners of the night in order of appearance:

Shannon Berthiaume
17-year-old Shannon may have started shy but she turned into an untrained beast the moment she started singing “House of the Rising Sun.” It was ferocious and bluesy, yes, but if Shannon wants a longer Idol tenure she’s going to need to reign in that big voice, learn the value of dynamics and clean up some of the messier moments in her runs. But in a night where the talent seemed mediocre on a whole, Shannon stood out.

Vanessa Andrea
Let’s get this out of the way, Vanessa’ admiration for Keith (her ‘marital pass’ according to her pre-audition package) bordered on becoming the basis for a Nightline investigation. But, oh, the singing. Vanessa, a military spouse and stay at home mom, just has music in her veins. From the comfy way she held her guitar to the natural, sweet tone of her voice, Vanessa’s audition was wonderfully genuine and likeable. A quick Google search showed that she writes her own songs too, so (if her legal battles with Keith don’t get in the way – kidding, Vanessa!) she might be one to watch in Hollywood.

Jacob Tolliver
So here’s the thing, Jacob is playing Jerry Lee Lewis in the musical “Million Dollar Quarter” and his first audition song was a straight up Jerry Lee Lewis impression. It as a really, really good Jerry Lee Lewis impression and showed more musical talent that we’ve seen in the last few episodes of auditions, but an impression it still was. I was really hoping that he’s non-JLL follow-up would be great and, well, it was just OK. His “Stay With Me” wasn’t a Sam Smith copy but it was as memorable or vocally interesting as I’d hoped. He has all the raw materials, including killer piano skills, so I’m still holding out for the prospect that Jacob will find his real voice between auditions and Hollywood.

Hannah Mrozak
We need a throwback artist like Hannah nowadays. She has a wholesome, old-fashioned vibe that was much older than her 16 years. She had a couple pitchy moments in her higher register, but overall it was a very pure, brassy vocal.

Mark Andrew
Marcus has the most unique of the Minneapolis auditions. He’s clearly talented and is able to use his unusual vocal tone in many different ways. Plus, after being on
TheVoice, Mark surely knows how to handle reality TV. Only hiccup is that I’m a bit confused who Mark really is. Is he a Cat Stevens-like singer-songwriter in the vain of his first song or a swinging, jazzy soul singer like you’d get from his second? To get fully behind him this year, he needs to figure out his musical identity.

Others who got a golden ticket were:

- Zach Johnson whose bro-tastic attitude was infectious but whose vocals were way too nasally.
- Aaron Bissellb> who has a unique voice but will get swallowed up in the next round.
- Cindy Jo Scholer who has a pure, pretty country tone but over-sung and over-performed a very simple country ditty.
- Morgan Evens, Gabrielle Noe'll & Courtney Guns who I wanted to see more of.