Julie Zorrilla Performance on the Top 24 of American Idol 10 (2011) - Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway"

Julie Zorrilla is a Latin singer who originally hails from Colombia. She was chosen to advance to the Top 24 voting round on the 10th season of reality TV singing contest American Idol. According to Rickey.org, Julie sang Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" for her Top 24 performance.

Initial Thoughts:

I had high hopes for this contestant. Julie was featured in every round. While she is somewhat inconsistent and doesn't have a particularly special voice from what we have seen so far, this song choice seems like a bad joke. It's not necessarily a bad idea to pick a former American Idol winner's song, you want to be able to either nail the song or, preferably, put a unique spin on it. This is not something Julie Zorrilla is likely going to be able to pull off, especially without a piano.

It seems like Idol producers are trying to get rid of those contestants in the first round who will have to "rely" on their instruments as a sort of crutch. They may feel that Julie needs that piano to come across as special. Both she and Tim Halperin seem to be the type that just sing better when there's a piano or keyboard in front of them. There has been producer talk of cutting down on the use of instruments for Season 10.

But even if that is so, Julie needed to pick a slower ballad. Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" is so far removed from Julie's slow style that it seems like one of two things - she knows nothing about herself as a singer (unlikely since she went to a music high school with fellow contestant Casey Abrams) or was somehow forced or at least pressured into picking this song choice.

I smell lots of rats in these girls' song choices. And Julie's choice is completely inexplicable absent stupidity on her part or sabotage on the part of Idol. We will likely never know the true answer.

Predictions:

I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that, despite the reportedly bad comments that she got, Zorrilla will squeak into the Top 5. She has been featured extensively, and there is definitely a pretty sizeable fan base there right now. I just don't see an early favorite like this crashing and burning just because of one performance. The first round of voting is rarely ever based on talent or performance, anyway.

Results:

This article will be completed after Julie Zorrilla performs Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

As expected, this is a pretty poor song choice. However, it is not coming off as bad as reported by the spoilers. She is hitting the notes. They just aren't supported very well because she is not a powerful singer like Kelly Clarkson. This is not her speed, but it's not great, either.

The comments are negative, and it almost seems like they are overly negative on purpose so her fans will vote harder. I certainly can't disagree, though. It was just an average performance.

Sources:

Rickey.org Top 24 Spoilers