Out-and-proud contestant Beane slips 'small moment' of 'defiance to the norm' into breakout 'Idol' performance - Yahoo Entertainment

As American Idol Season 19’s top 24 shows continued apace Monday, charming crooner Beane was paired with classical crossover superstar Josh Groban during the celebrity duets round, and it was a match made in theatrical pop heaven.

And so did Josh, who happily encouraged Beane to be himself onstage.

I have so many pillars: family, wonderful friends, my boyfriend, just stunning people that are constantly lifting you up,” gushed Beane, when Josh asked him if he had anyone in mind for his “Angels” dedication.

While Beane hadn’t yet brought up his sexuality on the show, he had discussed it in a recent press interview, so his brief onscreen mention of a “boyfriend” almost seemed like an afterthought.

But then as Beane prepared to perform, he told Josh, with a glint in his eye: “In a small moment of maybe defiance to the norm, I guess, I’m just going to switch the word ‘she’ out for ‘he.’ And we’re gonna let it rock.”.

While a pronoun swap in a song might seem like no big deal, on a show like Idol it was still significant, even in 2021.

It wasn’t until Season 13 that Idol even featured an openly gay contestant discussing her sexuality on the air: MK Nobilette, who memorably serenaded her girlfriend with John Legend’s “All of Me” and made it to 10th place.

MK might have opened doors for other queer contestants like Season 16’s Jurnee and Ada Vox and Season 17’s Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon and Uché, but before that, contestants either came out after their Idol runs (Clay Aiken being the most famous example of that), or simply avoided talking about their personal lives on the show.

Anyway, my point is… even Beane singing, “He offers me protection” on Idol was a bold move, especially so early in the competition, on a night that determined who will advance to the top 16.

But as he told On the Pulsehin, coming out improved his own songwriting, and in his original love songs inspired by his boyfriend, he always uses the pronouns “he” and “him.” So, there was no reason to assume that Beane had just covered the Jessica Simpson version of “Angels” instead of Robbie’s this Monday.

As judge Lionel Richie told Beane: “You made us turn around on every note to say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ And we noticed exactly what you were doing.”.

“I’m going to take some of that Josh Groban spice and put it in the Beane soup, and we’re servin’ it up, honey!” he proclaimed.

Beane was already my favorite male contestant of Season 19, but when he held his own next to a stupendous master-class vocalist like Groban, I was even more enthusiastically on board.

I think you have incredible artistic vision … I would invest in you any day!” Katy doesn’t have her own record label, yet, but hopefully someone will sign Beane after this, because he took a potentially viewer-alienating risk this Monday.

As for the rest of Monday, it was, like the previous evening’s episode, briskly paced — with 24 musical numbers crammed into two hours, as this second batch of 12 contestants performed one solo number and one celebrity duet each.

That made zero sense on a show that constantly praises contestants for their charisma or “sparkle.” Anyway, Madison sparkled tonight, even when sharing the stage with her idol and hair twin, Tori Kelly, doing what Tori confessed was the toughest song in her catalog, Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You ‘Bout a Thing.” Madison admitted she was “terrified” to duet with Tori, and I did see some of that nervousness on her face — but I didn’t hear it in her voice.

Madison is probably in danger due to her lack of previous screentime, but if she gets voted off, she can take solace in the fact that she’s already made it further on Idol than Tori ever did (Tori was cut by the judges on Season 9’s Green Mile episode) — and Tori has managed to do all right for herself.

Katy noted that there were “a couple of things that didn’t hit the bullseye” during Hannah’s solo number, and Luke told Hannah, “Once your talent catches up with this little star that you are, it’s gonna be so fun to watch.” That sort of sounded like a preemptive goodbye, but Hannah might coast through on her personality and the loyalty of the country audience this week.

Sure, he didn’t have Brandon’s natural smolder and star quality, but his rough, husky vocals were the perfect complement to Brandon’s crisper, reedier tone, and the song fit him so well, it sounded like his original.

I was like, ‘Am I at Warped Tour, bro?” Luke loved that Colin was “having fun in the moment” and Lionel loved how Colin “treated the stage like his living room,” but it was odd that none of the judges commented on Colin’s vocals — which were strong, especially considering how much he was moving around.

Ava's exquisite cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” — obviously a perfect song for her age, the times, and her singer-songwriter style — made it seem like she was the one who wrote it, and her storytelling delivery was just conversational enough without compromising her vocal range.

She was giving me Folklore/Evermore/cottage-core vibes, and the judges, their shocked faces looked like living GIFs, were stage-whispering “wow-wow-wow-wow” throughout, right up until that heart-in-throat ending.

Equally stunning was Ava’s Josh Groban duet on Joni Mitchell’s iconic “Both Sides, Now” — a tall order for a singer of any age, let alone one who’s hardly old enough to relate to the song’s reflective, stock-taking mood.

Just as Celine Dion once sang “The Prayer” with an 18-year-old Josh Groban at the 1999 Grammy Awards and a star was born, it felt like Josh was paying it forward by giving Ava this lovely, career-launching moment.

Season 15 winner Trent Harmon had his big breakthrough moment (and gave one of the best Idol performances of all time) with Sia’s “Chandelier,” and I wondered what an introspective troubadour like Hunter would be able to bring to such a huge, intense song.

“On a bad day you sound just like yourself, so you can’t mess this up,” added Lionel.

Someone who was definitely not overwhelmed or fearful this evening was this petite powerhouse, who had the judges and even her fellow contestants headbanging in earnest as she operatically wailed Paramore’s “Decode.” This was a powerful and believable rock performance, and most importantly, it felt youthful and relevant, not like a nostalgia exercise aimed at Gen X and Boomer viewers.

I think the contestants from this batch most likely to go home are Jason (mainly because of his “death spot” placement), Madison (because of her lack of screentime), Beane (because of homophobia, sadly), and either Mary Jo, Hannah, or Hunter (because they stumbled and struggled the most)?

We’ll have to wait until this coming Sunday to learn the results from this week’s two-part top 24 round, but regardless of who advances to the top 16, with a talent-packed season like this one, we are in for a world of hurt and some emotional early goodbyes.

“I saw a kid in a commercial when I was 8 years old and I remember just watching this kid and being like, ‘I think I can do that.

I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t discovered me on Zoey 101 and then created Victorious for me, so I’m just very grateful to him for that,” she says.In Trust, meanwhile, twists and turns force characters and viewers to question everything they know about fidelity, jealousy, and trust

But “right now my focus is just putting out a couple more singles and going from there,” she says.“I’m super excited about where I’m at,” Justice says about both life and career.” For now, with our Zoom call at an end, she’ll take a moment to have a glass of wine and relax.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day