ABC/Eric McCandless
ABC’s singing competition show American Idol premiered in early February, 2020. The show continues with its fifth audition episode tonight, March 15, 2020. This is the last audition episode for Season 18, and Hollywood Week will start tomorrow, March 16.
The American Idol judges this season are Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. They’re joined by long-time Idol host Ryan Seacrest and in-house mentor Bobby Bones.
According to the episode synopsis, the judges will travel to Georgia, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., California, and Oregon to see more auditions from hopeful contestants.
This week, in what is an American Idol first, an audition will take place on a yacht. The judges will then deliberate on their “boat vote,” sending a hopeful to Hollywood. In Milwaukee, an American Juniors contestant reunites with Ryan Seacrest. Then, “another contestant shares a unique emotional and personal story that touches the judges in Oregon.”
Male Performers:
ABC/Scott Patrick GreenABC’s “American Idol” auditions across Savannah, Georgia; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles, California; and Sunriver, Oregon, come to an end on SUNDAY, MARCH 15 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), with the final search for America’s next superstar.
Jafar Hurambi
Jordan Moyes
Justin Oliver
Gilberto Rivera
Luke Stafford
Robert Taylor
Standouts in this group include Luke Stafford, who is a jazz and standards singer who will soon be releasing a cinematic album titled “H O M E”. He brought his saxophone with him to his audition, and it looks as though he plays it at one point. He has just over 3,600 followers on Instagram.
Robert Taylor is a 25-year-old from Louisiana, and he’s no stranger to reality TV. He was eliminated in the Top 10 of The Voice in 2015 after singing for the Instant Save.
Female Contestants:
There will be seven female contestant auditions shown in detail, though there will likely be a medley of contestants getting golden tickets shown at the end of the show since this is the last episode before Hollywood week.
Makayla Brownlee
Amber Fiedler
Jahzan
Aliana Jester
Meghan Knight
Grace Leer
Demi Rae
Makayla Brownlee is a 17-year-old girl from Wellington, Kansas. She was able to skip to the front of the audition line because she won a local TV contest. Since she comes from a musical family, it’s likely she’s been singing since she was very young. She posted early in the week to ask her 2,000 Instagram followers to tune in to the episode to see if she got a golden ticket to Hollywood.
Another standout could be Meghan Knight, who is a singer-songwriter who was born in Southern New Jersey. She has been singing from an early age, first releasing a three-song EP in 2012 when she was just 14 years old. She released her first full-length record in 2015 and released one song last year.
Tune in to American Idol at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC Sundays and Mondays to see how far these contestants make it in the season.
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