Courtesy of Fox
"It does feel a little bit like 'Hunger Games,'" Keith Urban said toward the start of Wednesday night's show.
He and his fellow celebrity judges on "American Idol" whittled the field of guys down to 40-something on the first night of the dreaded Hollywood Round.
Sadly, Owasso's own Kayden Stephenson was sent home.
"I'm definitely gonna come back next year ... and use this as my motivation to win," he said before parting. And he left in great style with his head held high.
As in seasons past, the Hollywood Round includes singing a cappella, followed by the group exercise, then solos -- the first two of which we saw tonight.
What was different this year was that the producers chose the groups for the guys, which added to the drama.
Nate Tao, who auditioned in Oklahoma City, made it through. So did my three favorite guys: Micah Johnson, who sings beautifully despite his speech impediment; Lazaro Arbos, who is a stutterer; and Matheus Fernandes, who was bullied for his height.
Poor Lazaro ... His group, Super 55, picked a Beach Boys song, and he wasn't familiar with the music. They aired clips of his teammates saying Lazaro was holding them back.
As it turned out, Lazaro went on through to the next round, and that jerk Josh -- after being sent packing -- got one last jibe in to Lazaro's face, hinting that Lazaro made it through because of his help. Whatever.
The other highlight -- well, not so much "highlight" as "event worth mentioning" -- was Country Queen. This group could've been called Complete Polar Opposites, but that doesn't have quite the same ring.
Anyway, the two obvious queens and the two obvious country dudes sang "More Than Words," and it was probably one of the two worst performances of the evening.
The only one not to move forward was Trevor, who frequently teetered a smidgen past feigned patience with his group's glitter-faced Queens half. Still, I felt bad for the guy, as he said he's not used to losing. But there's always next year, right?
OK, so I thought Country Queens was one of the two worst groups, right? Well, the other one was definitely B Side, who did Maroon 5's "Payphone" -- and did it horribly.
"Adam Levine is still alive, and he'd be rolling in his grave," Keith said of the performance.
So I was quite shocked when he and the other judges sent all four of the guys through to Hollywood. Seriously? Apparently, when making that decision, they considered the group's last performances -- which didn't seem fair for those following them, considering the judges decided to start getting tougher on everyone.
Not sure they came after B Side or not, but whatever group sang the One Direction song made Mariah look flat-out sad. Keith deemed it the "wrongest" song for them -- and the judges sent all four of 'em home.
Another highlight -- the good kind, this time -- came courtesy of ... What were they called, The Mattheads? Whatever the name of the group with Matheus, they did great with Queen's "Somebody to Love."
But, unlike the happy endings of the initial audition episodes, the Hollywood Round ended tonight on a sad note, as subway singer Frankie was sent home. He had a bit of a meltdown, vowing to return next year to win.
They sent my fellow Miss'ippi native Papa Peaches on through -- but barely, Nicki Minaj warned, adding she won't be able to save his skin next time.
If I read the screen right tonight, 23 will go home on Thursday night, leaving the Top 20 men. Will Nate stay? What about Micah, Matheus and Lazaro?
Who is your favorite guy so far?
Peace, love and tune in at 7 p.m. Thursday to see who makes it ... XOXO
