Idol 56 - Ju'Not Joyner

56. Ju'Not Joyner

Season 8, Top 36 Finalist

Frankly, if I had the power to send just one of Season 8's Group 3 guy contestants directly to the finals, it would undoubtedly be Ju'Not - not Jorge and definitely not Scott.

Don't get me wrong, Jorge Nunez and Scott McIntyre can sing but I'd take Jun'Not's gorgeous vocal restraint over Jorge's unnecessary bombast and Scott's pleasant but boring performances. I mean, I've been digging the guy's vocal stylings since his Season 7 audition of I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues.

Personally, I loved that he chose a song that was written this decade. His soulful presentation of Hey There Delilah was absolutely lovely. I loved the way he clearly felt every word of the song, infusing new meaning into it that's been played so much. Oh, and I especially loved the restraint Ju'Not showed in his vocals, refusing to engage in the Idol compulsory of vocal acrobatics - sticking mostly to the melody except for that lovely falsetto run near the end.

Most of all, I dug the way Ju'Not completely changed up the Plain White T's acoustic number into a soulful and sultry ballad. Seriously. On a night when the other standout performances were merely good carbon copies of the original - Lil Round's Be Without You, for example - I was slightly shocked by the judges' failure to recorgnize Ju'Not's originality.

Instead, we had Simon labeling the performance as 'a little bit safe' and Kara noting that he was 'holding back' - as if it was a negative. Part of me wondered if that's their way of manipulating the audience and just go with the other two guys I mentioned above because one if disabled and other one is Latino - you know, for "diversity". Whatever.

Favorite Performance (s): No choice but Hey There Delilah. Good thing, it his rendition was excellent, which is enough to land him this far, ahead of, yes, Taylor Hicks. Haha.

Hey There Delilah

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