American Idol: This year’s batch better than last year’s?

We saw the best singers. We saw the worst. We saw countless of auditions from the first four cities — Minneapolis, Seattle, Memphis and New York — where American Idol Season 6 (AI6) held its auditions. There were some R ’n B vocalists, a lot of pop, a little bit of jazz here and there, plus a couple of blues and an opera singer. We thought we heard it all before but guess what it seems like American Idol will never be in low supply of talent. And this year’s talent is overwhelming.

Three cities more and the AI6 is off to Hollywood for the next set of auditions. Here, the contestants will be tested further — not just their talent but their spirit, too. As we all know, Hollywood round is not for the weak of heart because they wouldn’t call it the "hell week" for nothing.

But before we get into that, here’s a shortlist of the singers who stood out in the early auditions. If they plan their strategy well and if they prepare their mind, body and spirit for the next level, then we don’t see why they will not make it to the semi-finals or the Top 24. But we’ll see.

Thomas Daniels. Thomas, from the Seattle auditions, told the judges that this was his third time to audition for American Idol.  Thomas claimed that the third time would be the charm, but Randy Jackson joked back "charm or it’s over."  Thomas sang Amos Lee’s Arms of a Woman. Paula Abdul said "very nice."  Simon Cowell thought he sang it very well.  "Nice to hear a non-obvious song again."  While Randy was pleased with the audition saying, "Dude, I loved you, man.  I thought it was really, really nice… beautiful tone, baby, beautiful tone."  Needless to say, Thomas got three yes’s and so finally he’s going to Hollywood.

Sundance Head. Sundance is someone like Taylor Hicks, you wouldn’t have thought he’s good until you heard him sing. Sundance sang Stormy Monday by Bobby Blue Bland and he made a good impression. Paula noted, "Powerful voice, didn’t expect it."  Randy said, "We’re in Memphis, and you come in singing a Blues song, and blew it out.  Man, you sounded great, dude, amazing."  And the very hard to please Simon praised him saying, "Probably one of the best voices we’ve heard on the audition tour this year in every way."  Simon added, "I’m going to be amazed if you don’t make the finals.  I thought it was terrific, well-done."  With those remarks, Sundance made it through to Hollywood.

Sean Michel. Before his audition, Sean said, "Everybody says I look like either Osama Bin Laden or Jesus or Castro or just a homeless bum, but really I think all of us are kind of homeless when it comes down to it.  All of us are really poor inside." 

Sean really caught the judges by surprise when he gave a soulful rendition to Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down. Paula said, "Sean, you have a nice tone to your voice." Simon piped in, "We expected something about a revolution.  We weren’t expecting that." Randy said, "I say 100 percent yes.  It doesn’t matter what you look like, you can blow." And with that, it’s pretty obvious, Sean sailed through to the next round.

Melinda Doolittle. Humility is a virtue and this is something Melinda does have. Just a backgrounder, the girl sings back-up vocals for different artists’ session work and also travels with them. Before she sang, Simon asked Melinda if she hated every single person that she sang backing vocals for.  Simon teased, "Do you think fall off the stage, break your leg and I’ll take your place?" Melinda responded, "Oh, goodness no, for me it’s fun and I’ve kind of always loved being in the background is my comfort zone, so that’s been my fun little place, and I can be there and they can do their thing."  After Melinda sang Stevie Wonder’s For Once in My Life, we heard someone who’s really a professional and polished singer. Simon was impressed. He said, "Melinda, we have a lot of people who come in here with a lot of attitude and a lot of confidence, and they’re not very good.  You walk in with no confidence, no attitude, and yet you are a brilliant singer... a brilliant singer, seriously, you know you are what it’s all about, a great voice." Well, Simon had said it all. Paula and Randy also said yes to Melinda so we’ll see more of her in the next round.

Rachel Zevita. Unlike Melinda, Rachel is one of those contestants full of attitude and confidence. Her story — she goes to an opera school and she said if they found out that she was in American Idol auditions she might get kicked out and lose her scholarship so she doesn’t have another plan but to make it all the way to No. 1. In her audition, Rachel sang three songs, first was Eternal Life by Jeff Buckley which was good but not that amazing, the second song was Get Here which is just okay and the third song was a little opera requested by Randy. Rachel was actually good and she knows that. Simon asked her what she wanted to be and her replied was she could sing anything and she would like to be herself — a singer, songwriter and a rock star. With that talent and confidence, she made it to Hollywood.

Sanjaya and Shyamali Malakar. We’ve read that there are other siblings who made it to Hollywood but the only brother-and-sister tandem who had an early exposure were Shyamali and Sanjaya Malakar. Their father was a classical Indian musician so they were basically raised around music. They are both good. The sister was more confident and has stage presence while the brother, according to Simon, is the better singer. Shyamali sang a jazz rendition of Summertime which was quite good while Sanjaya sang Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered. We’ll see how far these two will make it in the competition and if we’ll see both of them in the semi-finals.

Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba. If there are two brothers-and-sisters who made it in Hollywood, there are also best of friends who made it through. Best friends Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba attended New York auditions together. Amanda is 19 years old and from Holmdel, New Jersey. Antonella is also 19 years old and from Point Pleasant, New Jersey. They were supposed to audition separately but when the judges found out that Amanda, the first one to enter the room, has a best friend who will also audition, the judges told her to bring her best friend in.  Randy asked the two to tell them which one was better, and Antonella said honestly that Amanda was trained, and Amanda said they both had different strengths.  Amanda and Antonella sang a duet, but Simon Cowell called it "a bit of a mess" and recommended they sing separately.

Amanda sang Patsy Cline’s Crazy. Randy said, "You sound pretty good.  Your voice is good."  Simon contradicted, "You didn’t come in, stamp your foot, and go this is who I am.  You sang a very generic song."  Paula declared, "This girl can sing.  I mean I don’t think you came in and gave your best audition, but I definitely think you should go on to the next round."  All the judges unanimously decided to put Amanda through to Hollywood.

Antonella sang Free Sail On by Chante Moore.  Simon who looked impressed told her, "I think you were better than your friend."  Guest judge Carol Bayer Sager seconded, "Yeah, I didn’t want to say that, but I think you’re good and you have a great look, and so I think you should go to Hollywood." Paula suggested, "I don’t think you ever should have to say ‘Well, she’s trained and I’m not,’ and you’re fantastic, yes."  The judges also unanimously decided to put Antonella through to Hollywood. Yes, we’ll see more of these two hot babes and we’ll find out soon how long their friendship will last in the Hollywood round.

Those are just some of the early bets in the competition. Expect to see more of them in the coming rounds.

Catch American Idol Season 6 every Wednesday and Thursday night at 10 on ABC 5.