America's Got Talent: Judge Cuts Episode 4

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


We have officially past Round 4 of the Judge Cuts, which is the final round. Next week starts the live shows and quarterfinals, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood! Like the last 3 nights of Judge Cuts, we have 20 acts performing and only 7 can advance to the live shows. We had our final guest judge, one that I'm pretty sure a ton of people (specifically Directioners) were looking forward to. Like all the guest judges, he had a golden buzzer that can be used on one act to send them right to the live shows giving them one of the 7 spots.


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



Episode 4 (Final Episode):

This episode, One Direction member Louis Tomlinson was the guest judge and joined the judging panel with the four regular judges Howie Mandel, Mel B, Heidi Klum, and Simon Cowell. Although this is irrelevant, I thought I'd just say that Louis was looking pretty hot all throughout the episode. ;) #HairOnFleek

~ ThroWings: ThroWings are extreme acrobats. Basically, the guys throws the girl and then has to catch her. To make it seem dangerous, she has gotten seriously injured before. I was kind of on the edge of my seat hoping nothing bad would happen. Even though I rarely see an act like this go wrong, it could happen. What helped make this performance a step up from the audition was when the girl blindfolded herself. By her blindfolding herself, she has no idea when she will be caught and she has to be sure she reaches her arms out at the right moment. The end was sweet where Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding faded in followed by a kiss between the two while he was holding on to her. I can definitely see these two moving on to the live shows.

~ Campbell Walker Fields: Campbell is a 14-year-old singer. His story is pretty emotional. He was adopted by a gay couple, so he's always had two dads and all his life, all he wanted to do was to see his birth mother and for her to be proud of him. For his performance, he sang my favorite Christina Perri song, A Thousand Years, which I understand is a song that is covered a lot. But I felt the emotion with every word this guy sang. His voice is definitely different from what I usually hear and it's nice to hear something different. Overall, I really liked him.

~ FLIP: FLIP is a girl dance crew. I'd say their performance was pretty good. I liked the choreography and it was all in sync. But with their performance being cut short, there's a really good chance they won't go through.

~ Shane and Shannon Jessen: These two are a ballroom dance duo. It is pretty cool seeing what they can do and the way he can lift her like that. But like FLIP, the act was cut short. So that's a way of saying that they're just a filler act and they won't go through.

~ Outlawz: Outlawz are a dance crew consisting of 5 guys. They received some criticism from Heidi Klum during their audition. I liked their audition and I liked this performance as well. Even Heidi noted that they really stepped it up. It'd be nice to see them go through because we haven't seen that many dance crews advance to the live shows this season, let alone a dance crew consisting of only guys. Even One Direction doesn't dance as noted by Louis Tomlinson. So there aren't that many male dance groups out there.

~ Singing Acts Compilation: The singing acts compilation consisted of two individual girls: Ary Hill and Avonlea Martin, both of which seemed to be excited to perform in front of Louis Tomlinson. I agree with what Louis said about both acts. Ary has a nice voice, but the song choice wasn't the best and Avonlea should show more personality in her performance. Considering that both acts flew by in one minute, they're just two more filler acts that won't go through.

~ Jayna Brown: Jayna is a 14-year-old singer. She does have a little bit of an emotional background considering that finances are a problem for her and her mom and that they're currently staying with friends and family because they don't have their own home. Like the last two girls, she seemed to be excited to see Louis Tomlinson. For this performance, she sang Rise Up by Andra Day, which after watching this performance was the perfect song choice for this girl's unique voice. It has to be kept in mind that this girl is only 14 years old and has that mature sounding voice. It's amazing. I have to say overall, it was a really beautiful performance. With that voice and how young she is, I feel like she's going to be big someday. Louis Tomlinson clearly felt the same way and decided to use his one golden buzzer on Jayna, immediately sending her to the live shows. And watching her run towards her mom was just so sweet. I see big things for her in the future. Now the real question is: Is she more excited from immediately advancing to the live shows or getting a hug from Louis? It could honestly go either way lol.

~ John Hetlinger: John Hetlinger is an 82-year-old singer. You should totally see this guy's audition if you haven't already. He looks like someone you'd hear sing Frank Sinatra or someone else from his generation. Then he starts and your jaw just drops because he starts screaming to heavy rock music. It's something you probably didn't expect and his audition was quite hilarious. I haven't been this shocked since Aaralyn & Izzy from Season 8. Anyway, back to John, I found his audition to be hilarious and I loved this performance as well. Honestly, this performance was funnier than most of the comedians we see. Heidi Klum buzzed the act, which I expected since she gave his audition a "no". Like Charlie & Rose from the previous night of Judge Cuts, this guy probably won't go through, but I loved it and it would be a miracle if he did. But any act that receives one X at this point is pretty much done.

~ Nathan Bockstahler: Nathan is a 6-year-old stand-up comedian. If I recall correctly, this kid was the very first audition of this season. I wouldn't say he's necessarily "haha" funny. Like I'm not laughing out loud. But he is really adorable and he puts a smile on my face. But there's only 6 spots out of 19 acts. So it's going to be a tough competition.

~ Viktor Kee: Viktor is a juggler. His brother is who got him into juggling. But a few days after his audition, his brother had a heart attack and didn't make it. So all he wants to do is make his brother really proud. I agree with Simon Cowell that juggling is usually really boring. But this guy actually makes juggling really interesting. I've never seen anything like this before and I definitely think it's worthy of being in the live shows.

~ Sos and Victoria: Sos and Victoria are quick change artists. What that means is that one of them will be covered and two seconds later, they have a completely new outfit on. Their audition was really interesting and this performance was captivating as well. I've never seen anything like this. I'm honestly quite amazed by what they can do. Even Louis Tomlinson was amazed and he clearly wants them to help his girlfriend, Danielle Campbell, get ready that fast. There is a chance they can move on to the live shows. But we'll just have to wait and see.

~ Jon Bernhardt: Jon is a novelty musician. I didn't find his first audition to be very interesting at all and this performance was pretty much the same thing. I don't even know what he does, so you'd have to watch the video to find out. But it's so boring in my opinion. Heidi Klum, Mel B, Simon Cowell, and Howie Mandel all hit their buzzers, immediately eliminating Jon from the competition. What makes it even more sad was that he actually thought he had what it takes to win. Fun fact: Jon was the first Judge Cuts performer this season to be buzzed off the stage and out of the competition.

~ Acts That Will Not Go Through: This consists of two acts: Jonathan Nosan and The Amazing Armando. Jonathan is a contortionist. What made his audition stand out was that he looked like some everyday guy in a suit and then surprised us with contortion. This performance was too overwhelming with the outfit and too underwhelming with the actual performance if that makes any sense. Simon Cowell buzzed the act, which I probably would've done the same had I been given a red buzzer. Moving on. The Amazing Armando is a magician. The only thing I liked about his performance was how he asked Mel B to have her right hand up followed by asking the audience for a volunteer with him picking Mel B because her hand was up. He then did some weird magic with a chicken nugget involved and then a bird comes out of nowhere. None of it was working for me. Simon Cowell was the first to hit his buzzer. Louis Tomlinson then hit Mel B's buzzer for her since she was on stage. Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum then hit the final two buzzers, automatically eliminating The Amazing Armando from the competition. Oh well. At least picking 6 acts will now be easier.

~ Musicality: Musicality is a high school a capella group from the south side of Chicago. These people come from pretty rough neighborhoods with gang violence and stuff like that. They've been through quite a bit and it clearly makes them very emotional. For this performance, they covered Skyscraper by Demi Lovato. While I do think they should've picked a stronger singer for the lead part, it was amazing when all of their voices came together. It was magical. I absolutely love what they stand for and I love that they were given this opportunity to express themselves through music. It's incredible. I can definitely see them going through to the live shows.

~ Oksana Grishina: Oksana is a contemporary dancer. I will say this: she looks very fit. That's really all I got out of this. I guess she was a pretty good dancer and I did love the song choice. But this is not something worthy of advancing to the live shows if I'm being honest here. Especially when we only have 6 spots out of 17 acts.

~ The Baron Of The Universe: This guy is a danger/strongman act. For his audition, he hung this heavy item with first his nose, then eyelids, and finally the most cringe-worthy part: the nipples. I can't watch this. I just can't. This performance really wasn't that much better as he was pulling a car with his nipples. Heidi Klum hit her buzzer, so I'm glad someone agrees with me. But I have to agree with Louis Tomlinson that my nipples are sore from watching him. I can't believe someone would actually attempt this kind of thing and I'm just sitting here cringing as I watch this. Excluding Heidi, he seemed to get some decently positive comments from the judges, so I fear they may actually put him through. Hopefully not.

~ D.J. Demers: D.J. is a stand-up comedian. I remember his first audition really well because he actually had me laughing. Sucks that his performance this time around was cut short. Although I did find it funny, unfortunately he's probably not going to go through. But what I find interesting is what the next act seemed to have done to Simon Cowell's thinking process during the judges' comments.

~ The Clairvoyants: Thommy and Amelie (or The Clairvoyants) are mentalists, which is probably my favorite form of magic I guess. The last mentalist we had was Oz Pearlman last season. He was honestly just mind-blowing and he finished at #3, which is really good. As for these two, I remember their audition so well because it was amazing. One of the things they did was Thommy was holding Heidi Klum's lipstick in one hand and held one of Amelie's hands with the other. While being blindfolded, she was able to figure out not only that it was lipstick, but the specific type and color as well. Honestly, these people scare me. For this performance, first Thommy had Howie Mandel roll a die and cover it so that no one can see and using what looks like the force honestly, Amelie was able to correctly guess the number he rolled, which was 1. With that being only a 1/6 chance, they decided to make it more complex with playing cards. Thommy had Mel B shuffle a deck of cards and then had Louis Tomlinson pick out any card. He then had Louis slide it on to his hand face-down and somehow, Amelie was able to guess the exact card while blindfolded. With that being a 1/52 chance, they decided to make it impossible. Earlier, Thommy had Simon Cowell pull out some money and just put it on the desk. Now he had Heidi Klum just pick out any dollar bill followed by Amelie being able to correctly guess the entire serial number with Heidi and Simon checking to make sure it was correct. Words just cannot explain how mind-blowing this is. This is why I love mentalism and just seeing mentalists on America's Got Talent. These people legit scare me. Like they seem like they're from another planet. For the past three nights of Judge Cuts, my favorite acts have been singing acts. But this time, mentalism took over. I know yesterday I said that Brian Justin Crum could win, but I would not be surprised if these two won. They are definitely worthy of making it to the Top 5 at least. Definitely my favorite performance of the night. These two are incredible.



Results:

Acts Moving Forward:

• Jayna Brown, singer (Golden Buzzer)
• Sos and Victoria, quick change artists
• The Clairvoyants, mentalists
• ThroWings, extreme acrobats
• Outlawz, dance crew
• Viktor Kee, juggler
• Musicality, a capella group

My Top 5 Performances

1. The Clairvoyants

2. Jayna Brown

3. Musicality

4. John Hetlinger

5. Sos and Victoria

Alright guys! The Judge Cuts are officially over. Next week is the official start of the live shows and the quarterfinals that will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Before I finish this post, I'd like to first recognize the four special guest judges that were with us through Judge Cuts. We appreciate their time and opinions.

• Ne-Yo (first night)
• Reba McEntire (second night)
• George Lopez (third night)
• Louis Tomlinson (fourth and final night)

Next, I'd like to highlight the four Judge Cuts acts that impressed me enough to be my favorite acts for each night. They are:

• Linkin Bridge (first night)
• Moya Angela (second night)
• Brian Justin Crum (third night)
• The Clairvoyants (fourth and final night)

Finally, I'd like to highlight every golden buzzer act this season now that the golden buzzer is leaving us for the remainder of the season. This includes the golden buzzer acts from each judge from the auditions that were sent right to the live shows as well as the golden buzzer acts from the special guest judges from Judge Cuts. They are:

• Laura Bretan (Mel B's Golden Buzzer)
• Grace VanderWaal (Howie Mandel's Golden Buzzer)
• Sal Valentinetti (Heidi Klum's Golden Buzzer)
• Calysta Bevier (Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer)
• Dorothy Williams (Nick Cannon's Golden Buzzer)
• Jon Dorenbos (Ne-Yo's Golden Buzzer)
• Sofie Dossi (Reba McEntire's Golden Buzzer)
• Malevo (George Lopez's Golden Buzzer)
• Jayna Brown (Louis Tomlinson's Golden Buzzer)

All of these acts including the others that made it past Judge Cuts will be seen in the quarterfinals starting next week. Now it is officially up to America to vote for the acts we love. That is all I have for you guys today and that's a wrap for Judge Cuts!