Now it's time for Elise Testone, Exhibit A for how the age limit applies to actual and not apparent age. She sang "This Is a Man's World" yesterday, and when she sits down in front of the judges, she says she's trying to convey all the emotion and not just the notes. Randy says he isn't going to drag it out, then drags it out, and asks Jennifer to give the word: she's through. Backstage, as she hugs her parents, Ryan skeptically asks, "Were you even worried about it?" She claims to have been. Probably why she aged a year.
Video of Reed Grimm's performances dates all the way back to his toddler years, covers his audition with the Family Matters theme, then veers into the emotional as Reed reveals that his dad, the family bandleader, died on New Year's Eve 2005. Then there was his near-meltdown at Hollywood week that he saved by playing drums while singing "Georgia on My Mind." He did it again yesterday with a jazzy version of " Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing." It wasn't exactly a standout performance singing-wise, but he's going through to the top 24. "I got more for ya," he promises/threatens them.
Erika Van Pelt is , the mobile DJ with the bluesy voice and a "signature" performance in Hollywood that we're seeing for the first time just now. Yesterday she did an Adele song that was too low for her (and Jennifer said she didn't like right in the middle of it), so she's a little nervous. Now, in front of the judges, Jennifer tells her she was one of the people who didn't do as amazing yesterday as they'd hoped. But we go to commercial before she gets the verdict, so she'll be fine.
After the ads, the first thing we learn is the time (4:20 PM). Ryan says the room is getting restless, but oddly it doesn't seem to be getting any emptier. Back to Erika, and at last Jennifer says they're taking another chance on her; she's going to the Top 24. "This doesn't happen to girls like me," Erika marvels after the shock has worn off.
There's this Chelsea Sorrell chick, a country singer who grew up in a small town (we get to see the one traffic light and everything) and then choked during a solo performance in Hollywood, only to have Steven tell her to start over because she was doing so well otherwise. Sitting across from the judges, she sits and listens to the trio talk about themselves and finally gives a vague answer about how she thought she did. Steven blankly says she already knows what the answer is, but after a long pause, they tell her she's going through. What a relief for her, and her family backstage, and her friend and fellow country singer Baylie Brown, and the several other people who know who the hell she is.