‘American Idol’: Pittsburgh Brings Out The Bieber Wannabes And Sob Stories

Becky Bain | January 19, 2012 10:53 pm

Tonight was the second episode of American Idol Season 11 — what’s that? You didn’t watch the first night? Well, why not? There were some great contestants, Jennifer Lopez looked painfully gorgeous as usual, and what else are you going to do with your time, read a book? Talk with loved ones? Please! Though the 11th season premiere’s ratings fell short of last season’s — and the previous eight seasons before that, too — perhaps folks were more interested in what talent Pittsburgh, The City Of Champions, had to offer. Head below for the five contestants to keep an eye on, even if for no other reason than the drama that may inevitably surround them come Hollywood Week. 

Top 5 People To Watch from the Pittsburgh auditions:

Heejun Han, 22. Now here’s an interesting one to start off the episode. Heejan, who is originally from Korea, sings Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You”, or as he says it with some curious syntax: “How. Am I. Supposed. To Live. Without You.” The show totally sets up Heejun to be a joke: he’s socially awkward, has all sorts of tics, a lack of self confidence, and even his own family has never heard him sing. But – whaaaaaa??? – he’s actually pretty good! It’s rare for us to get faked out by a contestant set up as a punchline who turns out to actually have a fairly pleasant voice.

Reed Grimm, 26. The very handsome, very lanky Reed has been in a family band a la The Partridge Family for basically his whole life, but apparently it was the classic TGIF show Family Matters that influenced him the most as a singer, as he chooses to perform the ABC sitcom’s theme song. And, against all odds, he makes it extremely entertaining. He’s basically this season’s Casey Abrams — a scatting goofball, and I love him immediately.

Eben Franckewitz, 15. He says people say he looks like Justin Bieber; we think he looks more like Greyson Chance. Unfortunately, his singing ability is much shakier and more Broadway than his teen pop predecessors. The judges sail him to Hollywood anyway, and though we’re not impressed, we’re curious to see how much he progresses as the season continues. (And to see who the pre-teen girls flock to more – the baby-faced Eben, or the zygote-faced Mr. Steal Your Girl.)

Travis Orlando, 17. Travis brings out the biggest sob story of the show so far – his mom bailed on him, his brother, and his sick dad, and now he lives in a shelter and had to drop out of high school. Travis does a decent job with “Isn’t She Lovely” and he seems like a nice kid, but I think he would have been a no had he not turned on the waterworks and had such a depressing back story. Keep an eye on him, though, to see just how often his tragic homelife gets mentioned in future episodes to prove just how high the stakes are for Travis.

Hallie Day, 24. Hallie Day – no relation to Howie Day, mind you – has the most unsettling backstory yet. After dropping out of high school, joining a girl group called Plum Crazy (Congratulations! We found a worse girl group name than Wild Orchid), she suffered depression and attempted to kill herself by swallowing a bunch of pills. Holy cow, this is a bummer. Hallie knows the power of tying your song to your backstory, though, and sings “I Will Survive”, changing it up enough to make a song that has stopped being interesting years ago, interesting again.

We have to add that our favorite part of tonight’s episode didn’t involve any of the above five contestants. Instead, it was The Look Jennifer Lopez gave auditioner/coal miner Shane Bruce when he introduced his performance of Leonard Cohen’s incredibly famous song “Hallelujah”  as follows: “Ever see Shrek? You know that ‘Hallelujah’ song that plays through there?”

Yes, Shane. J.Lo knows of that song. And, like us, she probably never wants to hear it again. (Or at least she doesn’t want to hear it referred to as a song from Shrek.)

What did you think of the Pittsburgh auditions? Which contestant impressed you the most? Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments below.