'American Idol' Season 18 Episode 7: Louis Knight and Francisco Martin scrape through Hollywood Duets round
The amazingly gifted singers Louis Knight and Francisco Martin barely made it through their latest challenge on the latest episode of 'American Idol' that premiered on the night of March 22 on ABC.
The judges threw an immediate curveball at all the contestants who had successfully made it through the first round of Hollywood. In an unprecedented first for the show, it was announced that the singing hopefuls all had to pair up and pick a partner to perform a duet.
As luck would have it, fast friends and friendly rivals Louis Knight and Francisco Martin decided to choose each other, in the hope that they would bring out their respective bests.
They had both impressed the judges earlier with their squeaky clean images, crystal-clear voices and immense singer-songwriting talent, but the tricky part of choosing someone to perform with is that so much is out of your control.
If your partner messes up, it could be your head on the chopping block, regardless of whether or not you did the best you could. You also have to listen carefully and take care to complement your teammate's talents, and not overpower their performance — so there's a lot of nuanced factors at play here.
Although their initial rehearsals for the song 'Breakeven' by The Script went well, there were immediate troubles on the day of their performance. Although Louis was gamely holding his own, Francisco was letting his nerves get the better of him and forgetting the song's lyrics.
Despite his racing mind and heart, the duo decided to give it their best shot and support each other as they went on stage. And despite their best efforts, their performance tonight was unfortunately entirely forgettable, with both turning in average performances.
Francisco fluffed his lines, and while Louis did his best to cover for his teammate with harmonies, the despair in Francisco's face was clear to see — he'd given up on himself and the song.
Thankfully, the judges didn't see it that way. They remembered how well the duo had performed in the past and decided not to give up on them. Louis received special praise for looking out for Francisco, despite him forgetting the lyrics live.
The judges sternly reminded them to believe in themselves more and then gave them the welcome news — they were both through to the next round!
Fans breathed a huge sigh of relief too. "That's a real friend not letting the other one down," said one viewer. Another fan of the duo said, "Once Francisco figures out his nerves he’s going to be a star, but no lie seeing the bromance made me cry, lol this is dope."
It's certainly touching to see how well these two talented brothers-in-arms are propping each other up. Let's hope the next round brings better news for both of them.
'American Idol' airs on Sunday and Monday nights at 8 pm ET on ABC.