He’s the favorite. He has obvious charisma, tons of personality, a good sense of humor, creative musical ideas, a good voice, and a strong performing background. His only weakness might be a weak upper range, which won’t prevent him from being a star – he’s going to be something as long as he stays the course – but it might prevent him from winning Idol.
Dalton’s showcase performance:
Dalton went to a high-powered performing arts high school – “think Fame,” he said – before joining boy band IM5. He left IM5 in 2014, moving to Texas. His long term goal, according to his IM5 bio, is world domination. He is a Dr. Who fan.
Here’s Dalton with IM5:
Semifinals
Dalton Rapattoni “Rebel Yell” – Billy Idol: A-
Folks gonna love it, folks gonna hate it … but his arrangement was daring, it was original (I couldn’t find anyone else doing it that way), and it was tightly performed. Dalton is going to be this year’s seat-of-your-pants original contestant.
Dalton with Chris Daughtry “Higher Ground” – Stevie Wonder
The song was kind of a throwaway as a vehicle for Dalton – it’s not a showoff song for a singer – so Harry appropriately talked up the band, then Ryan started rapping and it got weird.
Dalton is so lock solid safe that he could basically take the night off. The show used his slot to set their feet for the end game, take a breath and get a little silly.
Top 14
He got one of the four quick-passes into the top 10
Top 10
Dalton Rapattoni “Hey there Delilah” Plain White T’s
I already know Dalton’s style and his sense of humor, so I got what he was doing up there. People who have never seen him before might not understand some of his choices, though, and for that reason I don’t think this was the best song to choose on the first night in front of the voting public. He was good, he’s always good – but that’s two performances in a row, for Dalton, without any dynamic range to play with.
Judges: They know him. They get him. Let’s hope the voters have been paying attention.
Top 8
Dalton Rapattoni “Radioactive” Imagine Dragon
I liked the song choice, but I’m not sure I liked what he did with it. Dalton likes to rearrange everything, so he’s going to misfire once in a while. He’s not going anywhere, so why not experiment a little?
Dalton has sort of a Rob Thomas vibe to him … His lack of high range bit him tonight, like Tristan’s did last week. In order to get the top notes where he could hit them he had to lower the key beneath his effective range at the bottom.
Judges: Actually gave him some constructive criticism, but I doubt anyone could have navigated that labyrinth of feedback without a translater. The translation: “sing better.”
And then there were 6
Duet:
8: Dalton (with MacKenzie) – it’s been awhile since he did anything impressive, hasn’t it?
Dalton Rapattoni “Eleanor Rigby” Beatles
All bust, no balls. I like Dalton, but if that’s the most he can get out of his voice it’s going to get hard for him in a hurry. All the style in the world can’t hide him if he doesn’t show more vocal dynamics.
Judges: Gushed (?)
Audience – loud and enthusiastic
And then there were 5
Dalton Rapattoni “Numb” – Linkin Park
Dalton went to a high powered, Fame-styled school for a short time before he joined the boy band. I think that was the school group with all the kids holding guitars.
He seems to be aiming his style at Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Dayvocally almost as much as does mascarally. He doesn’t have nearly as much voice as the others at this point – the other five all have howitzers, his is more of a pellet gun – so he has to be careful to stay within himself. He was mostly in the groove on this song, and I think it was a decent choice for him.
Ok, Mac doesn’t have a howitzer either, but his game is all finesse. He has command.
Judges: Hammered him, fairly in my opinion, for changing the song but not changing it enough to create a true separation from the original. In baseball terms, his changeup was too close to his fastball.
Dalton gave away an Idol secret at the end, mentioning that he had some song choices. The producers were trying to pretend that the songs were chosen completely by the audience.
Dalton Rapattoni “The Sound of Silence” – Simon and Garfunkel
Bipolar isn’t fun, we all know a few people who have to live with it. One silver lining is that the doctors are getting really good at finding a variety of medications to combat it. Onward and upward.
Maybe Dalton should be an actor; he looks like one of the Lost Boys. He may or may not be a national quality singer, but he’s a national quality performer and he knows how to produce a visual effect. I know from other videos that Dalton has a strong sense of moment, and a terrific sense of humor. I would, if he asked me, tell him to pursue acting.
Judges: shilled for votes, in case Sonika sang really well and ruined the mano on mano on mano competition starting next week.
Dalton Rapattoni “God only Knows” – Beach Boys
I’m probably the only person in the world that thought he was imitating Barry Manilow, but he had Barry’s lilting, Shatneresque, hesitant phrasing going on. I enjoyed Dalton tonight, maybe for the first time since the semifinals.
Dalton can’t compete with Trent vocally, but he can create the kind of emotion Trent’s song was missing. Despite not hitting a single note that would thrill anyone, Dalton’s overall performance was far more thrilling than Trent’s vocal masterpiece.
Bob Gregory's Gallery of Renown 