More thoughts:
I know Gene told Nia to be as big as she can be, but all she did was SHOUT and be shrill. Pretty sure that's not what Gene meant.
Putting Jayna in a Whitney Houston costume was not good. She couldn't quite hit the notes the way Whitney did, so having a direct comparison with Whitney, down to the look was probably the kiss of death.
As a note to
every contestant: If you can't sing like Whitney, don't pick ANY of her songs. I'm talking to you, Jordan.
I loved how Gene really worked on many of the contestants physicality and got them in touch with their bodies. He sat there doing his mentoring and at 74 he could have sat through it all. Instead, he would get up and really get physical with them and get them anchored in their bodies instead of their nerves.
Yet, he also knew how to really affirm the contestants emotionally and for all the stereotypical reputation KISS has of being a big, sensational band, that it's the emotion one brings to a song that matters and got the contestants to bring it emotionally.
Gene is famous for all the larger than life face makeup, tongue gyrations and facial expressions. And there he is watching Jack. . . He tells Jack that the less SHOWY he is, the more authentic he is and to just sing-talk it. (Because Jack doesn't make those faces when he simply TALKS.) That LESS is MORE. Brilliant!
And with Roman, Gene talked to him with his language and church symbolism. Telling him to be big, raise his arms up at the end and "Praise the lord." And that, "It doesn't end with the last note, and it doesn't begin with the first note," like having faith or believing in God only when you see or hear something, but that it starts from a deeper place.
I think after Idol, Roman will be given chances to make it big on the Christian/Gospel Rock charts. Christian music could probably use a new Donnie McClurkin for the younger generation, one who's had crossover fame from being on Idol.