America's Got Talent: Judge Cuts Episode 2

NOTE: If you do not care about America's Got Talent, you can stop reading here.

We have past Round 2 of the Judge Cuts. Same exact rules apply. 20 acts have performed, but only 7 can advance to the live shows. We have a new guest judge this week and once again, they have a golden buzzer that can be used once on an act they really love to ensure them one of the 7 spots in the live shows.

So here are my reviews for Episode 2 of AGT's Judge Cuts, which aired this past Wednesday night.


Episode 2:

This episode, country singer Reba McEntire was the guest judge and joined the judging panel with the four regular judges Howie Mandel, Mel B, Heidi Klum, and Simon Cowell.

~ Kadie Lynn Roberson: Kadie is a singer and a guitarist. For her performance, she did a cover of Mama's Broken Heart by Miranda Lambert. Personally, I love her voice. She really does have a very distinctive voice. And she has really good stage presence for a 12-year-old girl. You can tell she was enjoying herself performing, especially in front of Reba McEntire, who Kadie says is her favorite country star. But overall, I can see her becoming a star in the future.

~ Vello Vaher: Vello Vaher is a 52-year-old contortionist. I myself am not that flexible, so it amazes me to see what contortionists can do with their bodies. This performance was certainly interesting to watch. But at some point, it gets just a little bit repetitive.

~ Rap Compilation: The rap compilation consists of two acts: House Of Lewis and Zach Sherwin. House of Lewis is a hip hop band. Their performance seemed to be decent-ish for the most part. But then the lyrics became questionable when they were rapping "We're all gonna die and that's alright," with Reba McEntire commenting saying it was the most depressing song she'd ever heard in her life. Zach Sherwin is a comedic rapper. Where it fell short with his act is the fact that his rap wasn't very comedic/funny or even that interesting to the point where Simon Cowell hit his buzzer. Easily two throwaway acts that are definitely not going through.

~ Skylar Katz: Skylar Katz is an 11-year-old rapper. There typically aren't that many actual rappers on America's Got Talent (at least not that I know of), so it's nice to see something a little different. Overall, I thought it was pretty cool and she does have a good future ahead of her. But only 7 acts can go through out of 20, so it's a tough competition.

~ Erik Cavanaugh: Erik is a contemporary dancer. His act was extremely short, so there's a 99.999999999% chance he is not going through. But I have admit, he is a pretty good dancer.

~ Sofie Dossi: Sofie is a contortionist. Like I said earlier with the other contortionist, I think it's quite amazing what contortionists can do with their bodies. For her performance, she started out hanging by her neck on this giant ring and soon enough, she was holding herself entirely on one side of the ring. Then she does some hand balances. But what wowed everyone was her shooting a bow and arrow with her feet, not to mention that the arrow was on fire as well. It's quite fascinating what she can do. Guest judge Reba McEntire was quite amazed as well by the act that she decided to use her golden buzzer, ensuring Sofie one of the 7 spots in the live shows.

~ Moya Angela: Moya Angela is a singer. I absolutely loved her audition and this performance was amazing as well. She really is a powerhouse. She has an incredible voice and I loved everything about this performance. I can see her going far in this competition and I see a great career in music ahead of her. This was personally my favorite performance of the night.

~ Dance Acts Compilation: The dance acts compilations consists of three acts: Parker Garrison, Youngster, and Cody Carter. Parker is a dancer who I thought did a really nice job. I felt the passion. Youngster is a dance group who did a nice job as well. They had great energy and the dance was really well-rehearsed. Finally, Cody Carter, who is a baton twirler. To make his act more dangerous, he decided to have each end of the batons on fire, who was really cool to watch as well. However, all of these acts were cut short. So I think we can figure out their fate already.

~ Kadan Bart Rockett: Kadan is a magician who, for his audition, cut his sister in half (something I'm sure we've seen tons of magicians do). For this performance he put on some little disguise and opened this case on the table only to have about 6 girls pop out of it. The girls then removed Kadan's disguise only to find that it wasn't Kadan, it was his sister. Then all of a sudden, Kadan appears on one side of the judges' desk. He is a really good magician and it left me wondering how he did it.

~ Adam Grabowski: Adam is a comedian. From the moment he started to the moment he ended, I did not laugh one bit. The audience was quiet all throughout the performance, which just makes things so awkward. He got buzzed by Simon Cowell, who looked rather annoyed, especially towards the end. It's pretty obvious his journey has come to an end.

~ Julia Scotti: Julia is a comedian as well. Unlike Adam, she actually had me laughing all throughout her performance. I love how she can just easily joke about her age. I actually wanted this performance to be longer because it was funny from start to finish. This was definitely another of my favorite performances of the night.

~ One Voice: One Voice is a singing group. They had very short screen time, so not a good thing. But they sounded pretty good from the 10 seconds we heard. However, I doubt I'll ever remember them.

~ RL Bell: RL Bell is a bodybuilding singer. He does have a really good voice and hella big muscles. But only 7 acts can go through and we've seen a lot of talent already. So I'm not sure about him going through. But what I did get out of this performance is that he has what it takes to make Reba McEntire blush.

~ Cecile and Mighty: Cecile and Mighty are singing magicians. After seeing this performance, I'm very curious as to how they got past their audition considering I don't remember them. The magic was okay, but there wasn't very much of it. The singing was just awful. Simon Cowell hit his buzzer (again), which doesn't really surprise me with how bad this was.

~ Steven Brundage: Steven does rubik's cube magic. Basically, he started out with a completely mixed up rubik's cube and after making only one change somehow made it completely solved. Then he put the rubik's cube in Reba McEntire's hand and had her make sure nothing was happening with it while having Heidi Klum pick out a card. He ripped the corner piece off the card and then made it disappear. It was then revealed that the corner piece of that card with inside one of the small squares in the rubik's cube in Reba's hand. I have to say, I was quite amazed by it. Rubik's cube magic is something fresh and new that I've never seen before. Overall, I really enjoyed the act.

~ Gary Sladek & Broadway Jim: These guys are (supposed to be) a hand balancing act. For the audition, Gary was hand balancing on a tall stack of chairs, which was pretty crazy, but cool to watch. For this performance, he brought his brother, Broadway Jim. All they did was jump on a trampoline all throughout the act. They completely changed the act. He went from hand balancing on a tall pile of chairs that reached all the way up to the giant X's above the stage to just jumping on a trampoline. Like is this even the same person??? Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel both hit their buzzers, although this act was worthy of all 4 X's, which would eliminate them immediately from the competition. You can't just change your act completely after your audition. That was just awful.

~ Deadly Games: Deadly Games is an extreme knife throwing act. Knife throwing is actually a really common talent on America's Got Talent. Their audition felt like something I'd seen before. But the second half of this performance where the girl was on spinning board of death and the guy was throwing knifes at the sides was something I don't think I've ever seen before and it was quite terrifying to watch. Terrifying enough to the point where they had a commercial break in the middle of the act just to annoy us viewers at home with the suspense. But overall, they definitely stepped up their game.



Results:

Acts Moving Forward:

• Sofie Dossi, contortionist (Golden Buzzer)
• Julia Scotti, comedian
• Kadan Bart Rockett, magician
• Deadly Games, extreme knife throwers
• Vello Vaher, contortionist
• Moya Angela, singer
• Kadie Lynn Roberson, singer/guitarist

My Top 5 Performances

1. Moya Angela

2. Julia Scotti
3. Deadly Games
4. Kadie Lynn Roberson
5. Steven Brundage