"Depi Evratesil enters the second half of Judges' Selections, with two teams filling their rosters.<!--more-->
Previously on Depi Evratesil: The judges got a little pickier as their teams start to fill up. Vahe Aleksanyan joined Team Iveta while Jujo hopped on with Team Aram. Anush finally got in the game with her first recruit Stepan Hovhannisyan. In the biggest snag of the episode, Artsvik joined the ranks of Team Essai. Team Hayko closed the show by picking up Anna Danielyan.
With 19 acts to go and 13 roster slots remaining, here's how things shook out in week three of round two of Depi Evratesil:
Team Aram mp3
Aram mp3 completed his roster this week, picking up Lilit Harutyunyan. She covered John Legend's "All of Me" in a way that the studio audience loved, but I found to be profoundly irritating. Lilit has a rounded throat voice, similar to Tina Turner or Billie Holiday. Although it shouldn't prevent her from singing this song, her arrangement choices hit every singing competition cliche. The slowed down tempo of her delivery did not match the speed of the piano, every phrase slurred together, and the performance drowned in affectations. Lilit can sing, don't get me wrong, but this was a poor song choice.
Team Anush Arshakyan
Anush came to play this week, picking up three contestants and filling up her roster. The first to join the team was Marta Kirakosyan, who performed "How Deep is Your Love" by Calvin Harris. The risk that accompanies a song that is primarily a dance track is that the lyrics will probably lack complexity, especially when converted into a ballad. Marta compensated by giving a strong stage performance, avoiding hiding behind the mic stand and working the platform. I think she'll be a smart choice for Anush, but will require guidance in song choices.
Odd man out Alexander Plato returned with another off-kilter yet engaging performance. Much like his audition, his delivery was unconventional for a competition like this, which the judges seem to respond to. This was the only audition this week where there was a race to see who could buzz in first.
Guitarist Anna Sedrakyan claimed the last spot on Team Anush, covering "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak. Truth be told, I'm a little surprised this performance led to a roster spot. Although she plays an instrument and sings fine, she chose to truncate the sweet note of "Oh Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii want to fall in love," which is the hook of the song. Anna's style reminds me of Jewel's first album, which might not be the most ringing of endorsements. Maybe Anush will be able to get her to pop out in her next performance.
Team Iveta Mukuchyan
The third person to join Iveta's team was Hasmik Shiroyan. Hasmik delivered a solid pop performance to close out the show, and I'm not at all surprised Iveta picked her. Both women seem to have similar aesthetics both in music and fashion. This could be a potential obstacle for Hasmik, since it might not be strategic to send Iveta 2.0 to Eurovision as Iveta 1.0's followup. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing this collaboration in the next round.
Team Essaï Altounian
No one joined Opera Viva or Artsvik this week. Two slots remain on Team Essai.
Team Hayko
Egine and Anna Danielyan will have to wait until next week for teammates.
Team Inga Arshakyan
Team Inga is still just Syuzanna Melqonyan.
No Buzzes
Mariam Yevriyan kicked off the show covering "Beggin'" by Madcon. I'm not overly familiar with Madcon's catalog((I'll need to rectify that)), but I can tell that this song may be bigger than Mariam's ability. She tries her best, but the mismatch is too much to overcome.
Diana Adamyan, who auditioned with a Jessie J track, went back to that well by attempting "Bang Bang." Oh, honey. As I said a couple weeks ago, this song's deceptively difficult. Diana never finds the musicality of the song, wavering between shouting and singing likes she's singing in her bedroom. Sorry, darlin'.
Qristina Avetisyan had one of my favorite auditions with an ethereal cover of "Take Me to Church." This time, she offered an overly affected rendition of "Hit the Road Jack" by Ray Charles. The hat, the bowtie, the smooooooth jazz tempo selections: it all combines for a performance that felt inauthentic and disappointing. Ah well.
Diana Dikovski continued the unexpected tour of the Ray Charles catalog with a cover of "Georgia on My Mind." Keep in mind, she had to do three songs in her initial audition to get to this stage, so don't get your hopes up. I think Diana would be a blast at karaoke, but this performance was way too lounge-y and over the top.
Arthur Abgar offered a pleasant, but unremarkable, performance of "Te Quiero, Te Quiero." Unfortunately, no judge said "te quiero."
Next week on Depi Evratesil: the nine remaining contestants compete for eight slots. That's good odds, unless they bring back previous contestants who missed the cut..."