Sunday, September 19, 2010

Idol 29 - Katelyn Epperly

29. Katelyn Epperly
Season 9, Top 16 Finalist

Poor Katelyn. She was shown the door on the most painful week. The "I was so close!" week.

To be honest, Katelyn was just a glorified cannon fodder to me coming into the semifinals. I mean, her audition was forgettable and  I really had a big problem with her using divorce as a "back story". It’s not. It happens to a lot of families and that fact doesn’t make you stand out.

But when the semifinals started, something happened to her - she became a serious competitor. Oh Darlin was, to me, one of the bravest song choices of any Top 24 finalist and Katelyn delivered a strong, confident performance that I personally didn’t realize she was capable of and seemed to finally connect with the judges. Sure, I agree that her makeover made her look slightly odd as it took away from the great folksy vibe she had and turned into another girl playing pop star. But, I thought she proved herself worthy of another week - which she managed to do.

That moment, I knew that if Katelyn can manage to shore up enough votes over the next few weeks she could easily spoil someone else’s chances of making the Top 12. Seriously.

Then, The Scientist happened for Katelyn and I was floored. Really. This performance alone made her worthy of this spot - at #29.  Her rendition of Coldplay's The Scientist was absolutely stellar. It was a beautiful, haunting ballad that just turned Katelyn Epperly into a force on that season. To me, it was a great moment that I even ranked this as the second best live performance of Season 9! Effortless. Plus, she is flat out drop dead gorgeous. Like, stupid pretty.

Too bad, her third week performance was not as strong and her song choice, arguably, did her in. Also, she did get into the indie cat fight that week. I mean, there were so many indie, unique contestants in the competition that year that it made every week a bloody game of King of the Hill. There had to be so much vote splitting between Lilly Scott, Crystal Bowersox, Didi Benami, and Lacey Brown. And sadly, Katelyn decided to dive into that shallow pool as well.

Yes, I Feel The Earth Move would have been a great performance.. if it was a week later. But, it’s not. So, Katelyn phoned in a quirky piano-driven number that she desperately needed to be great and made her very vulnerable that week, which turned out to be her last.

It was such a shame because I felt like someone, like Katelyn, who could play other instruments aside from the usual guitar would've made the rest of the season a bit diverse. She had so much potential but when you turn in a pretty plain performance, you don’t excite enough people to pick up the phone and vote. Personally, Katelyn would've been a great Top 5 finisher if she was given the chance to move on to the Finals. Oh well.

Favorite Performance(s): Three words: GIANT WHITE PIANO! Haha. Really. The Scientist was her best performance of the season! It was both breathtaking and beautiful!! Not only was her final glory note perfectly in tune, her interpretation was also thoroughly believable and virtually unmatched all season. Heck, I get chills just thinking about it. Also, her other performances post-Idol were AMAZING!!

The Scientist


Almost Lover


Alejandro


Use Somebody


#28 - Stripper (?)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Katelyn and Lilly Scott were my only favorites from Season 9, and it was my first watching idol as well. Imagine what my reactions were when I found out they were both eliminated at the same night. Both were deserving of a spot in the Top 12, in my opinion.

DAM THE NATION said...

Anonymous: I know! It was like American Idol Apocalypse. I swear.

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