Nashville's episode 4 kicked off with Randy saying to Darius, "So you can sing high notes, right?" Darius broke into a loud, sustained, high-pitched sing/scream that sounded more like an alarm than a note. We then saw Ryan standing on the sidewalk outside, looking around for the sound, along with a building collapsing from the sound.
We watched Randy and Jennifer's reactions and Steven's response of, "Wow" but we never saw a vote. Nonetheless, you have to assume that Darius didn't make it through to Hollywood.
Kody told Jennifer that he would describe his voice as "a little bluesy" and similar to Frank Sinatra. This was not quite evident when he struck out with his attempt at Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.
Kody started shadowboxing (or possibly forward-fist-pumping?) while he sang the "Rah rah, ah ah ah" portion of the song.
Steven asked where Frank was in his performance and Kody conceded that perhaps it was a poor comparison. He asked
Randy, "Can I give you a hug," to which Randy promptly replied, "You better!" After a brief hug, Kody asked Randy if he could have a sip of Randy's Coke, but Randy refused.
Joe had been featured in several promotions before tonight's episode aired, where we see him enthusiastically saying, "I'm gonna kick this thing straight to the moon!"
Joe is going to UT (University of Toledo) for Communications and wants to go into radio. Since Ryan Seacrest has his own radio show, he decided to help Joe along. Joe gave a few call-outs including repeated IDs for K100 (pronounced by Joe as "Kaaaaaaaaay One-Hundred!"). Ryan mentioned the fact that if he was successful with both endeavors that he could be playing his own song on the radio. In the audition room, Joe did another sounder for the judges and they were taken aback, rendered almost speechless.
Outside the audition room, Joe's mom told Ryan that she never sings because she was tone deaf.
Joe proved that he took after his mom when he sang Billy Joel's The Longest Time in a pitchy, key-shifting style that had Steven howling like a dog after the performance. The judges unanimously agreed that Joe should abandon the singing dream and continue on with talking on the radio, but he cut them off with a portion of Fools Rush In. The judges then gave their final "No" votes and sent Joe on his way.
Tiffany started out by demonstrating for America "the typical Jersey hairdo." (Step one is that "you need your teaser brush with you at all times.")
As a Puerto Rican dance instructor, she admires Jennifer Lopez because she "made the mark that you don't have to be a stick figure to be gorgeous." Tiffany got choked up when she got in front of Jennifer, so Jennifer came out front and gave her a nice, long hug.
Tiffany chose to show off her Puerto Rican accents by wearing two strategically placed silver stars on her shirt.
Tiffany sang an original song that she made just for American Idol:
Oh, baby you've got to
You've got to put me through
the next round
Oh, baby you need me
Oh, baby they need me
America needs
America needs me
for higher ratings on TV
After that song, Steven had to ask, "What's with the jujubes on your ooh-ooh-bees?"
Tiffany sang a second song but closed her jacket again because the song was "more emotional". She sang Celine Dion's I'm Your Lady and received three Yes votes based on that performance, putting her through to Hollywood. Tiffany got down on her hands and knees and excitedly kicked her shoes on the ground, prompting Randy to clarify, "Yes to the singing!"
Achille is from the Ivory Coast and has the thick accent to prove it. After introducing herself, she began singing Madonna's Dress You Up. After some pained expressions from the judges, Steven stopped her, complimented her on her body language, and let her know that she didn't have the notes or melodies.
Achille let the judges know that she was working on her thick accent with her vocal coach but Jennifer assured her that it was really just about her singing and not about the accent.
Paul Marturano (Paula’s Stalker) returned to American Idol's auditions this season in East Rutherford, NJ, proclaiming himself the "Next American Idol". You may remember Marturano from season 7, when he serenaded Paula with a stalker song.
Paul Marturano and The Hairy Aureolas sang their new song "The Next Amerrickan Idle," which has already been featured on FOX affiliates nationwide. They spent the morning of the audition singing and performing the song for various morning shows and radio stations. The song includes lyrics like "Your mommy told you that you could sing but she lied to you about everything . Give up on your dreams." Video of their visit to the auditions was recently released on YouTube:
Robbie Nipple of the Hairy Aureolas didn't think the footage would make it to the American Idol episode, but did continue on to say, “Maybe next year I’ll pants Seacrest.”
Lloyd "Big SuccSexy" Thomas is a big personality. We first see him doing the robot and repeating his nickname, a hybrid of "success" and "sexy". As he pulled out photographs of his daughters from his wallet, one of them fell on the floor as the camera zoomed in. Lloyd asked if they would cut that part out.
Lloyd is a dock worker at an airport and says that "the worst part about my job that I have is . . . probably the job that I have."
In the audition room, Lloyd sang Stevie Wonder's Overjoyed and did a great job — even Simon called it the best audition of the day. Neil Patrick Harris suggested that Lloyd work some of that personality into his performance.
