OK Folks- And you know who you are. The ones hitting every blog/message board on the net whining that American Idol is rigged. Stop for a second and use your brain. The results should not have been such a great surprise.
Allow me to quote myself (for the second time) from this year’s handicapping post… And I’m bolding part this time.
Winning AI is similar to winning a campaign, you have to get votes… that means appealing to a base. There is NO WAY that Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis will be the final 2. [Of course not, they were from last year’s post. But I was right last year and it still applies. -ed] They are both 29 year old, hard rock, white males… They will bump each other… thems is the breaks.
I remind people of that because when good people go home, it will probably have as much to do with genre and demographics as talent. (In other words, no whining)
Let’s review a few things we all know. 1) At this stage of the game somebody good is going home. 2) It will be the person with the least votes. 3) Getting the most votes means appealing to the most people and getting them to vote multiple times.
And that is why Daughtry lost.
If you read my post, I said MONTHS ago that he would be highly commercially successful but that I doubted he would win. He only sang one type of song one way. That is a good thing for your musical career because you will have a loyal following and they will buy your records. But it is not what you need to win AI.
I’m starting to believe Taylor Hick will win. Why? Because he has a broad cross section of support – if not incredibly deep. THAT DOES NOT MEAN he is the best singer or that he will sell any records. It means more people will pick up the phone and vote for him.
If we only judged people on singing ability regardless of genre, that dark haired opera girl would still be around. But she didn’t make it to the final 24 because she sang opera. You Daughtry fans might relate.
BTW- If you’re one of the people still stinging from last night’s news, you might read this piece over at Wizbang Pop where my piece would be posted if my username wasn’t wonky.
I might as well be the one to throw out the conspiracy side note. AI is a corporate music machine. When the season is over the entourage makes an album supported by a tour. I’m not sure of their contract, but I would assume AI has the option to pick up any artist they feel is viable. Therefore it would make sense that any contestant that seems to be a clear winner would be bumped during the final 4 because they know he/she clearly has the potential to sell records, thereby giving the “winner” more exposure by taking the crown. Why sell only 1 artist, when you can sell 2? Again I say this is just my conspiracy side note, but after seeing a show on how IA operates, I wouldn’t put it past them.
Hmmm.
IMHO Anyone who gets on AI is already a winner.
And if you can’t parlay repeated appearances on AI into a winning career, regardless of whether or not you won the contest, then you shouldn’t be singing anywhere other than a shower.
It wasn’t a matter of genre. It was a matter of people assuming he was that good. There’s a reason that anybody I know who watches the show is upset. He lost. …but they didn’t call to vote for him. It’s a tortoise and the hare type deal. The hare (Chris’s fan base) feels it has things so wrapped up that it forgets what it needs to do in order to win (vote), so therefore the tortoise (the fans who care about the other contestants) has a shot at winning, and works diligently to do so. Chris’s fans figured they had it in the bag, but everyone else’s fans didn’t.
You can even blame demographics if you want, but don’t sit on your silly toilet of a throne and say you predicted it however many months ago. That’s like looking for hay in a stack of hay with a couple needles hidden in it.
In running several errands today I probably heard 20-25 people proclaim their shock and anger at his getting voted off.
To a person not a one of them voted for him. One even admitted to voting for Hicks, but still angry Chris was voted off. Granted, small sample set, but it was a fairly diverse crowd.
If you don’t vote for your candidate they ain’t gonna win…
? I know you will view this as “sour grapes” and probably toss my email but it sure seems as if American Idol has turned into the Taylor Hicks show. Why was Taylor given an additional opportunity to sing when it was not afforded to any other final contestant? That was shameless, outright endorsement and promotion of Taylor. And the amazing thing is Taylor is not even close to the class of Chris’s, Elliot’s or Katharine’s voice. Your obvious ploy to push Taylor Hicks through to the finish is a poor reflection on the show and the producers. You deserve to lose the support of the American people who have placed their trust in you. This sad behavior seems to be a hallmark of the Fox channel in general. Even though I love and have followed the show every year since its’ inception I feel strongly it is time to change the channel.
Beth not only was Taylor allowed to sing again, but he took time away from Chris’s final performance. There wasn’t a final performance. AI seems a little partial.
I have supported Elliot by voting every week since the competition started. I had never voted before, but I remembered what happened to people I liked last year when I didn’t vote. I saw Elliot as an underdog and wanted to keep him in the competition as long as possible. Another family member was a big Chris fan, but they never voted. Elliot improved every week and last week he did an outstanding job. Chris’s performance the last two weeks was not outstanding.
I thought Chris was very talented and probably had a more powerful voice than any other contestant. But I don’t like his style of music and his songs all sounded the same to me. On the other hand, Elliot has just as much talent as Chris to me, although in a different way. Taylor Hicks may not have the most talented voice, but he does have singing ability and a unique sounding voice/tone and he is very entertaining to watch.
All in all, it has been a very entertaining season with more talent than any year before. I would not have been sad to see any of the top 4 win it. I think Chris will have a great career ahead of him with fans who enjoy his style of music and actually, winning American Idol might not have really fit his ‘bad boy rocker’ image. [g]