"American Idol" announced its Top 20 contestants for the 2013 season on Thursday night.
One lucky finalist this season is Cuban-born singer Lazaro Arbos. As Entertainment Weekly noted, Arbos first found his way into the audience's hearts during his Chicago audition. Arbos, who moved to Florida at the age of 10, has stuttered since he was six years old and can barely speak more than a full sentence at a time. But when he opened his mouth to sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in front of the judges, his stutter completely disappeared. You can watch the tear-jerking audition for yourself here.
Arbos did have some prior experience in talent competitions. As WetPaint noted, the singer also appeared on the Miami-based show "Aqui Todos Ganan," where he sang "Imagine" by John Lennon. You can watch the video of that performance here.
However, Arbos disappointed somewhat during his semifinals performance on Thursday night. As E! Online noted, the singer performed "Tonight I Wanna Cry" by "American Idol" judge Keith Urban. But even Urban was underwhelmed, telling the contestant that he felt the song was ahead of him the entire time.
Still, Arbos advanced to the Top 20 and will sing for America's vote starting next week. Based on the reactions of the crowd in attendance for the semifinal rounds, the Cuban appears to be a fan favorite, and his backstory and good looks could help him go a long way in this year's competition.
But some "American Idol" critics are less than impressed. TVLine's Michael Slezak gave his performance a D-, noting the bad notes and poor use of breath, while Lyndsey Parker of Reality Rocks called it "shaky" and "amateurish." Several others, including Annie Barrett of Entertainment Weekly, even speculated that weaker male contestants like Arbos were put through to ensure that a female competitor would win this season for the first time since the sixth season.
Arbos is not the only Latino contestant to advance to this season's finals. Tenna Torres and Devin Velez were also named to the Top 20 last week.
The Florida native was also not the only controversial selection the "American Idol" judges made this week. On Wednesday, the quartet also chose Zoanette Johnson for this season's Top 20. Johnson raised eyebrows with her crazy performance of the national anthem during her audition, but the judges liked it enough to send her to Hollywood. On Wednesday, she sang "Circle of Life" from the film "The Lion King" and received a standing ovation from three out of the four judges, per Today.
However, several "American Idol" recappers criticized this decision. Andrea Reiher of Zap2It called it a "joke" that Johnson went through over other ladies like Jett Hermano, while Christopher Rogers of Hollywood Life called the decision a "mistake."
Rickey.org readers even believe that this is the worst Top 20 in the show's 12 seasons, likely because of talent like Johnson and Arbos.
Do you think Lazaro Arbos and Zoanette Johnson should have advanced to the "American Idol" Top 20? Vote in our poll below.
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