This is our continuation of our preview of possible Season 9 contestants. Remember, that the Hollywood round doesn’t occur until January 9th this year. We don’t know how far any of these contestants might go. And since we never see some of the competition round contestants until the competition starts, we might never see some of these people. We might have even found the wrong person with the same name.
Number 17 : Ashley Makailah
Age: ~22
Home town: Boston, MA
Style: R&B/Gospel
Pictures/Myspace/Links after the jump
Picture 1 Picture 2
Myspace
Gravity (recorded youtube) Gravity (live youtube)
Singer’s Showcase (youtube)
All About Love (youtube)
Crazy Race/The Goodlife (youtube)
News Article – ABC (youtube)
USA Today Article (includes a video of an interview with Fox affiliate)
Biography
Ashley is talented, has a great backstory and is good looking (and we all know that is part of the litmus test for Simon). Ashley is an inner city kid whose parents could not afford to get her involved in music or dance. In stepped the prestigious Berklee College of Music with one of their outreach programs that gave her the opportunity to develop her skills. They went on to give her a full-ride scholarship to their school.
From the rumblings of TPTB and fan speculation, it seems like this year is going to be a girl’s year. I think Ashley could be one of the contenders. She sings well, she’s poised and she fits the AI definition of “commercial”. Her style seems current. Perhaps she’s a bit low-key and Idol tends to favour the bombast. Plus, there a lot of great girls going to Hollywood. She’s got the goods, but she may need to sparkle a bit to get noticed in the crowd. Smart song choices and showing personality will be essential.
What do you think?
Spoilers from IDF.
