The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart: Season 1, episode 3 performance grades
Savannah McKinley & Brandon Mills, “I Want You to Want Me” – Cheap Trick
Vocal Performance: B
I mean, the number one rule is do not ever ruin 13 Things I Hate About You. While they did not accomplish this undesirable feat, they didn’t particularly stand out whatsoever. They harmonized well, I’ll give them that. Brandon is also a sneakily impressive singer – he doesn’t exactly do himself any favors to separate from the pack, but he has a unique sound and appeared to actually transform the verses. In other words, he didn’t sound like your third-grade class’ 8 AM monotone recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Savannah, on the other hand, is just meh. She isn’t bad but isn’t particularly great either.
Brandon and Savannah are here to bring you hot-people drama, leaving the talent portion to the pros. It’s a valiant role, but someone inevitably ends up with it. Also, imagine your hero being Jason Mraz.
Interpretive Routine: B
Again, minus the nailed down seats, there was no benefit to tethering themselves to their respective microphones. Brandon and Savannah of all people would have benefited most from a sprightly accompanying quickstep to their lukewarm hotdog vocal performance. Instead, they channeled their inner Rodin and effectively froze themselves on their entrance stage marks. I need more from these two or they will definitively end up as next week’s boot, love triangle drama potential aside.
~Romance~ Level: B
They really second semester seniored the entirety of this performance. To be fair, anyone afflicted by the romantic wet blanket that is Julia will inevitably suffer in immediate chemistry. But the lovesick high school relationship PDA inside the mansion did not translate whatsoever on stage. In fact, it was nothing short of uncomfortable when they attempted to be romantic and sing their breath at each other’s faces at the end of the song. Please stop giving Julia material to work with.