The Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart: Season 1, episode 3 performance grades
Julia Rae & Sheridan Reed, “As Long As You Love Me” – Backstreet Boys
Vocal Performance: A
Thanks, I hate it. Objectively speaking, Sheridan and Julia may be the best duo at current. But Julia doesn’t deserve the accolades she’s getting from this performance. It’s called Listen To Your Heart, not Listen to Your Selfish Desires and Stomp on Sheridan’s Heart in the Process. Julia is absolutely an incredible singer, but her chaotic evil energy is getting old. More on that to come in my following thesis statement. These two simply sound fantastic together.
Not only do their voices shine separately, but their expert-level harmonies also showcased an unprecedented depth to the required duet aspect of these songs. Sheridan legitimately sounds like a blend of Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran – we still have a long way to go in terms of direct comparison, but you have to love the potential. And, personal preferences aside, Julia has a killer voice and we will inevitably be seeing them for weeks to come.
Interpretive Routine: C-
See my assessment of Bekah and Danny, but with Julia’s hand-stitched to Sheridan’s pant-leg. This was clearly for nothing but appearances sake at an attempt to look “intimate,” but aside from that, seated statues. They looked like the embodiment of the above-average smart kid in high school who didn’t have to try and had a rude awakening their first semester of college. Don’t be lazy and rely on natural talent – take it from someone whose talent does not extend much past sarcastic performance grades of reality television contestants.
~Romance~ Level: D-
Look, the edit did Julia ABSOLUTELY no favors, but an edit cannot put words in your mouth – at least when we can see you saying them directly. For lack of a better term, Julia sucks. She’s holding onto a thread of an unrealistic, idealized relationship with Brandon based on their tipsy connection night one. For the people in the back: if he is into you, he will make that known. Brandon’s sleaziness aside, if someone picks another girl in front of you but then tells you they “knew you were gonna stick around for them to get to know,” you are on the back-burner. And you probably shouldn’t want to be the sautéed favorite at that. Also, stop being that girl that hates the “other woman” for absolutely no reason.
Julia needs to stop stringing Sheridan along and not so much hold his hand for a moment longer until she commits or gets off the pot. Likewise, Sheridan has devolved from wishful thinking to borderline delusion, emphasis on delusion. She’s just not that into you – there’s an educational movie on this topic that is perfect for your growth, Sheridan!