We're picking up from last night in the middle of the Four-Chair Challenge for Demi's category of the Girls. Though it's obvious that tonight's show and last night's were taped in the same session, given that everyone's dressed the same. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If nothing else, it's certainly fairer to the people who came to the taping and didn't have to go home on a cliffhanger.
19-year-old Simone Torres, the awkward one from Long Island, is starting off tonight's singing. We learn that she's a semi-professional semi-karaoke singer with her dad, so this is a bit of a step up for her. She still has the surprisingly big voice, but she's doing a version of "A Change is Gonna Come" that's so upbeat, it's barely recognizable. It has a couple of big moments, but Demi's watching her the way you watch the chicken that's going to be in your pot later. Paulina says she relates to Simone for how hard she's been working since childhood, which isn't really an endorsement. Simon wishes he could have stopped her from doing that song, calling the arrangement a joke. Kelly assures her that she still sang the hell out of it, which is not the same as saying it was a good idea. Demi is torn, saying she's not sure she sees a star. But as bad as Simone's artistic decisions were, she's still a better singer than Bree Randall, so that's whose seat Simone gets. Of course.
Simone is followed by another singer who billed herself as awkward, 15-year-old Danielle Geimer, who the show isn't calling Danie any more. Her back-up plan if this whole music thing doesn't work out is to be a neurosurgeon, so she may need a back-up plan for the back-up plan. She's going with a fairly straightforward, but quite lovely arrangement of "Georgia on My Mind" that has the judges riveted and the current final four trying to set fire to her with their eyes. Kelly says she sang her face off, and tells Demi that someone's going to have to get up. Simon like her shyness and humility at this particular pop moment, and Demi digs her too. She gives her a seat, so the question is who's about to lose theirs. Some of these people really need to work on their Oscar-loser faces, I'm telling you that right now. Demi ends up taking away Simone Torres's seat while it's still warm from Bree Randall's ass. So, ouch.
Rylie Brown is also a junior in high school, claiming that her hometown of Lee's Summit is small, which I suppose it is compared to Kansas City practically door. She's the pageant girl who still has all her trophies, but she now claims that the pageants were just her excuse to get onstage and sing. Uh-huh. She does a country ballad that gives her a little trouble on the big high notes, but that didn't seem to hurt her at her first audition. Kelly isn't sure about the song choice or whether Rylie is ready. Simon remarks that everything about that performance seemed chosen by Rylie's mom, which is not a compliment. Demi says she looks beautiful and has a lot of potential, but it was pretty pageant-y. Which, you know, makes sense. But it also means that Rylie's the first Girl not to get a seat at all. Back to the pageant circuit for her.
Now we meet Primrose Martin, 20, from Las Vegas. Given James Kenney's reference to The Hunger Games last night, her name is either a very good omen or a very bad one. She did well at her first audition in Denver, we see for the first time, and we find out that her dad is "Skip Martin, from Kool & the Gang." Apparently he knew about her singing talent the first time he brought her onstage at age four. Which raises the question: where the hell was Kool & the Gang playing in 1997? Primrose says it's time to step out of her dad's shadow. How big a shadow can that be, though? If it was Kool, sure, but… well, anyway. Primrose brings a boppy, dance-dependent, pitch-challenged version of "Blame It on the Boogie" that actually gets boos from the audience before she's even finished. And here I thought they might be going worst to best for a bit there. All the judges are pretty disappointed, and probably embarrassed in front of all the people who are wondering how Primrose got through in the first place. "I don't know what Demi should do," Paulina says. "I do," Simon pipes up. Primrose asks to speak, but Simon thinks it was so awful that anything she could say now would be pointless. "It was the longest minute and a half of my life," he says. Primrose starts singing again like this is a first audition and her dad from the Gang is facepalming in the audience. Demi says she danced more than she sang and came off too confident. Mario asks for Demi's decision, and while Demi's trying to pull off a dramatic pause, Primrose just keeps filling it up with pleading, while her dad is actively hiding his head now. Obviously Demi is sending her home. Too bad there wasn't a Katniss to take this one's place.
Rion Paige is up . She's the confident 13-year-old with the small, curved hands that force her to get through her daily routine using her wrists a lot. She did "Blown Away" the first time, but the ballad she brings tonight blows everyone away. Even the current final four are moved to tears. Kelly loves her voice and her singing, and Simon agrees, "When you got it, you got it." Demi talks about the maturity of her voice at only 13 and that she doesn't see anything different about her. So when Mario asks Demi for her decision, she says Rion is in. That means one of the current final four is getting the boot, which may be the actual reason some of them were crying a minute ago. Demi ends up switching out Ashly Williams, so now she's crying too. Ashly bypasses the judges' table on her way out as Rion takes over her seat. Sorry, judges, deal with your own guilt over this one.
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Only one singer to go, so at least three of Demi's final four are safe. But the last one is Ellona Santiago from Season 1, and given how things have gone for the other returning veterans, none of Demi's current chairholders should get too comfortable. We get to see Ellona walking around her high school in San Lorenzo, California. She and her family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines when she was eleven months old, lived in a garage for six years and then we fast-forward to her second first audition, where she got yeses from the three judges who were present then. Tonight, she gets off to a slow start with "Clarity," but by the end of her performance she has the whole audience in her back pocket. And not just the section her family's sitting in. Kelly calls her a beast, then clarifies that she sounds like one. "Yeah, good luck, Demi," she shrugs.
Paulina is at a loss as usual, and Simon says it's one of the best vocals in this category and can't imagine her not in the competition. Demi agrees, but feels like something is missing, namely some kind of star quality. She says she can't see herself letting go of any of her current final four. Not even the one from last night whose name I can't remember right now? Demi's decision stretches out and Mario presses her, "Ellona's waiting, these four girls are waiting, America is waiting." Don't rush yourself on my account, Demi. But finally Demi relents to the chanting of the crowd and gives Ellona a spot. Mario asks which of the current four is getting the boot in favor of Ellona, and Demi goes with Jamie Pineda, which is kind of a no-brainer (and yes, that was the one whose name I couldn't remember). So Demi's final four is Danielle Geimer, Khaya Cohen, Ellona Santiago and Rion Paige. Mario gives a shout-out to Kelly's final four from last night on the Over 25s category (who have been sitting there patiently all this time), and tells us that Paulina's boys and Simon's groups are up week. Yes, I think we could have guessed that.
M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.
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