Joshua Blaylock
Contestant #54995
Joshua came in and sang Rascal Flatts' Bless the Broken Road. He got some compliments, but Simon complained that Josh sounded more like a 14 year old: "No presence, no power, no originality".
Victoria Beckham asked him if he was maybe playing it a little bit safe for the audition and Joshua admitted that he had been told that he needed to be more assertive. Randy jumped right in and gave Joshua some impromptu assertiveness training by instructing him to shout, "Simon, shut up!"
Joshua timidly repeated, "Simon, . . . shut up, please" and gave Simon a look of apology. He then repeated the line with a bit more force but was unable to wow Simon with his attempts at disapprobation.
Randy suggested that he instead singing in a group of the same type as Spandau Ballet, but Joshua did not like that idea at all. Simon encouraged him to forcefully tell Randy that he was wrong about that suggestion, but Joshua couldn't do it.
Finally the judges voted and unanimously passed Joshua through to Hollywood. Once he had that news, Randy tried to pump him up by having him repeat the phrases, "I'm gonna be great," "I am great," "I am the American Idol," and "I'm somebody." Randy had Joshua also repeat the phrase "Ain't nobody gonna beat my A." but then said that sounded a little weird coming from Joshua.
