What’s the Genre Challenge? Well, this season, each of the Idol hopefuls has to decide in advance which of six genres of music they will be pursing: indie-folk, pop, rock, R&B, soul or country. On Sunday night, the competitors in each category performed head-to-head and the best of the best made it through. At this point in time, there was no quota, so the judges were able to put through as many contestants as they saw fit. Those that made it through will return on Monday night for the Duets challenge, a twist that none of them saw coming when they discovered that it would be the judges who would be pairing them up. The following artists made it through on air: Not all names were announced so this is a partial list: POP Amanda Mena, 18 Boston, Mass. High School Student Anthony Guzman, 27Santa Rosa, Calif. Warehouse Worker/Viking Enthusiast Andrea Valles, 23 Houston, Texas Wedding Singer Ava August, 15 Laguna Niguel, Calif. High School Student Claudia Conway, 16 Alpine, N.J. High School Student Colin Jameson, 22 Boxford, Mass. Wedding Singer Laila Mach, 15 New Paltz, N.Y. High School Student Liahona Olayan, 16 Wahiawa, Hawaii High School Student Mary Jo Young, 19 Cleveland, Ohio Real Estate Sales Assoc. COUNTRY Alex Miller, 17 Lancaster, Tenn. High School Student Caleb Kennedy, 16 Roebuck, S.C. High School Student Cecil Ray, 20 Cameron, Texas Machine Operator Chayce Beckham, 24 Apple Valley, Calif. Heavy Machinery Operator Drake McCain, 19 Spring City, Tenn. Substitute Teacher Mignon, 27 Nashville, Tenn. Fitness Studio Employee SOUL Alyssa Wray, 18 Perryville, Ky. College Student Grace Kinstler, 20Chicago, Ill. College Student Re’h, 27 Houston, Texas Army National Guard R&B Willie Spence, 21 Douglas, Ga. Caretaker Xavier Washington, 22 Atlanta, Ga. College Student INDY-FOLK Cassandra Coleman, 24 Columbia, Tenn. Coffee Shop Manager Christina Daugherty Knoxville, Tenn. Teacher Emisunshine, 16 Madisonville, Tenn. High School Student Graham DeFranco, 27 Rockwall, Texas Aerial Survey Pilot Hunter Metz, 22 Franklin, Tenn. Unemployed Lizzy O’Very, 20 Ephraim, Utah Voice Teacher Murphy, 27 Baltimore, Md. Musician Wyatt Pike, 19 Park City, Utah College Student Rock Althea Grace, 21Chicago, Ill. Musician Beane, 23Boston, Mass. Wedding Singer Casey Bishop, 15 Estero, Fla. High School Student American Idol airs Sunday and Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
