This is our continuation of our preview of possible Season 9 contestants. Remember, that the Hollywood round doesn’t occur until January 9th this year. We don’t know how far any of these contestants might go. And since we never see some of the competition round contestants until the competition starts, we might never see some of these people. We might have even found the wrong person with the same name.
Number 20 : Jennifer Hirsch
Age: 19
Hometown: Agoura Hills, CA, New York, NY
Styles: Jazz
Idol Chatter: Mark Labriola
Style: Christian Rock
Pictures/Myspace/Links for Jennifer after the jump
Jennifer:
Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3
Myspace
Website
Can’t Make Up My Mind (youtube)
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead
Hold On
Youtube Channel
EP On CD Baby (also available on iTunes)
This season could be: American Idol the Berklee College Addition. We’ve had Berklee grads and future students to be on the show before, but this season seems to have attracted a bumper crop of viable contestants from that school. Jennifer is yet another one of those grads with a good chance of making the show. Her voice has a rich tone, she sounds current and she can blow. She’s easy on the eyes, too.
I like her style of singing. I think that she fills the niche which they were aiming for with Megan last year. Kind of a bluesy pretty girl with some quirky phrasing. But, sorry Megan fans, I think that Jennifer has way more experience, range and musicality. I was thinking that Alex Nester had this in the bag for being the top female, but now I think she’s got serious competition from Jennifer.
Many feel that Idol likes a clean narrative. Set up your chosen ones to make it to top 3-4 (or to straight up win), throw in some middling talents who will gracefully bow at 5-10 and toss in a helping of cannon fodder who can be eliminated early to ensure that the chosen ones have time to gain their footing. So, will Idol take the risk of having multiple female contestants who could be viable recording artists? Or will they pick the one they like the best and eliminate the rest in Hollywood? Can Idol have a Top 12 consisting of contestants that all could vie to be the winner? Would that improve the show by attracting more viewers or would people be turned off as they saw people who deserve recording contracts being voted off (keeping in mind that many people felt people like Sanjaya deserved a recording contract and even William Hung got one so that element is not really new)? Or will Idol make room for several Skinny Girls that Can Sing (SGCS) and hope that fan support will slide from one to another as they get eliminated and coalesce on the last one standing and ensure the win?
What do you think? Is she too old school? Is there room on Idol for skatting?
Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out Idol Chatter’s season 9 preview of the day, Mark Labriola. He used to belong to a Christian Rock band that has an EP out. Brian seems to think that he will bring the humour. That kind of reminds be of Chris Sligh (Christian music, funny, everyguy looks). I listened to some of the music on the bands Myspace and he’s got a good voice. To be honest, I don’t know if he can win, but if he’s amusing enough he could stand out enough to make the tour. The pictures of kids in his photostream are ridiculously cute.
Spoiler names leaked by IDF.
If you’ve missed some of the Idol Hopefuls for Season 9, checkout the Season 9 Preview Roundup.
