Hollywood Week kicked off on season 18 of American Idol last night.
The 167 artists who were lucky enough to receive golden tickets during the auditions all descended upon Los Angeles, where they will be put through the ringer with several different challenges to thin the herd.
Judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan were on hand to make some tough calls. The first day of the three-part Hollywood Week was considered “genre week.” Instead of the usual “lines of ten,” singers had to specifically pick songs that they consider to be within their personal genre and were pitted against singers within their genre.
In the singer-songwriter crowd, Julia Gargano and Arthur Gunn made the cut. Marna Michele, who is a wheelchair user, did not advance. Teen singer Sofia Schuster, who hasn’t previously been shown on the show, advanced alongside Adam Curry and Dillon James. Francisco Martin and Jonny West also made it to the next round.
The pop category included Genavieve Linkowski, former The Voice contestant Rob Taylor and Louis Knight, who all advanced. Demi Rae Moreno and Geena Fontanella also advanced in the pop group. More pop singers, including Kay Genyse, Shannon Gibbons and Lauren Spencer-Smith sang for the judges, but Genyse did not advance while the others did. Bilaal Avaz, who had not previously been shown on the show, also advanced with his performance of “Stone Cold” by Demi Lovato. Margie Mays and Nick Merico both advanced alongside Kimmy Gabriela.
In the R&B crew, teen singer Cyniah Elise advanced with her performance of “All I Ask” by Adele. Makayla Phillips performed the complex song “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” but it paid off and she advanced alongside subway singer Just Sam.
All of the country artists, Lauren Mascitti, Hannah Prestridge and Grace Leer, advanced.
The soul singers closed out the night, including Amber Fiedler, who advanced alongside Sophia Wackerman and Jovin Webb. Garbageman Doug Kiker did not advance.
Hollywood Week continues next week on ABC, when contestants will have to sing duets.
