America, meet your Top 12! After months of auditions, Hollywood Week, a House of Blues showcase, and two semifinal rounds in Detroit, it was time for American Idol to narrow down its contestant pool to the Top 12 singers of Season 14.
The finalists flew to Los Angeles to tape their first performance show on the Idol soundstage in front of judges Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr., and Keith Urban, and new mentor Scott Borchetta. Did your favorites make the cut?
Us Weekly was in the audience for the filming, which — surprise! — thanks to movie magic actually happened the day before. The only real difference between this episode and one of the thousands of live shows taped over the past 14 seasons was that host Ryan Seacrest and the judges had a little more leeway to joke around during commercial breaks, since production had time to make some cuts.
Despite the fact that four singers were about to be sent home, the entire show had a more fun, relaxed vibe than the usual tense, have-to-stick-to-the-timeline live episodes. Well, the crew did. It was probably not as breezy for the contestants whose Idol careers were at stake.
So, who made it through? After reprising the songs from their initial auditions, the 16 singers were narrowed down to the following Top 12:
Quentin Alexander (Judges' Save)
Clark Beckham
Joey Cook
Sarina Joi-Crowe
Adanna Duru (Judges' Save)
Nick Fradiani
Jax
Tyanna Jones
Qassim Middleton
Rayvon Owen
Daniel Seavey
Maddie Walker
This year, the winner will receive a record deal with Borchetta's label, Big Machine — which just so happens to be the home of Borchetta's most famous client, Taylor Swift.
Tell Us: What do you think of the Idol Top 12?
