Twitter
EmailAI7 – Round of 6 – Results
Apr 24
I can explain this one. It’s sad, but not entirely unpredictable. Not only were the two best singers in the bottom two this week, but the two who had the best performances overall landed in the bottom two.
There was no Bottom Three. They saved one person that agony. I wonder if it would have been Jason Castro, who I predicted would leave this week?
It was just Syesha and Carly sitting on the stools, stage right. At first, it’s devastating. When the overrated Archuleta is breezing his way through to the finals, the stumbling Brooke carries through, and the hopeless Jason mumbles his way through another wretched number that sounds like all the others, the two girls with the strongest and most powerful voices are the only ones in danger of leaving.
But think about it for another minute or two. It’s a classic case of vote splitting. Syesha and Carly are splitting the same audience. The people who watch this show looking for the next Mariah or Whitney have only Syesha and Carly to choose from. With Carly now gone, Syesha gains votes for the first week in a long time. I think she’s safe now next week, for sure. She just got all of Carly’s votes.
Cooke is the lone rocker. Brooke is the lone folksinger. Jason and David might be splitting a bit of the youth vote, but David is the superior singer, overrated as he is. Carly and Syesha are, relatively speaking, the same singer. When votes are split in this show, people leave too soon.
Just look back, again, to the LaToya London, Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia Barrino week. They were all too very similar to not split the vote, and Hudson left, with all her votes going to the eventual winner in Fantasia. (As I recall, sadly, LaToya didn’t last much longer after that week.)
So this is just a simple matter of vote splitting. That said, I do have a negative feeling about this season. I fear we’re going to wind up with a one hit wonder Idol this season. David Cooke, I think, is the only one left who might have a valid long-term career, and even then it will always be in the shadow of Chris Daughtry.
We heard about how this was the best Top 12 in Idol history, but it’s winding down to something that’s not very pretty.
Apr 24, 2008 @ 09:33:25
If not for my love of Brooke and David, who I think are very good (despite Brooke’s stumbling), I might not watch.
But I ask this question every season – how is it that people vote? Do they vote based on the “best” performances each night, or do they pick favorites and vote for them no matter what?
Because David A. is SEVERELY overrated at this juncture – I’m getting really annoyed with the judges ramming him down our throats as this awesome thing. Jason is NOT a “breath of fresh air” if all he does is the same thing week after week after week. David, in contrast, HAS stretched himself, has done some different things, especially this week.
Carly had her best performance in weeks, and she leaves. Augie, I agree with your assessment of how it worked out math-wise, but I’m more interested in the mindset. Why do you vote for someone?
Apr 24, 2008 @ 12:55:53
Patricia, I agree with you. Once Brooke and David C. are gone, I won’t care who wins. Those are the only two I enjoy, with David C. being the one I would want to win.
I think that for the most part, people choose a favorite and stick with them no matter what. Here is an example. The little teeny boppers have latched onto David A. He could go out there and belch the dictionary and he would still probably make it through the week. They will claim a victory if he wins this year, but these are the same kids who won’t actually buy his album when it is released though. And then they will repeat it next year.
I don’t mind Jason, but I don’t think he would have made it this far without his fans either. He isn’t up to the quality of everyone left, but he has a personality a lot of people like.
To emphasize my personal experience with voting, I’ll let you know how I chose David and Brooke as my favorites. David can do pretty much anything, but because he is the rocker, I gravitated towards him. I like a lot of rock music, so I always tend lean towards the rockers. It is why i supported Bo, Daughtry and now David. And during that time i saw what David had and started liking him for who he was and not just because he is a rocker.
Unlike David C, I enjoy Brooke because of her sincerity, emotion and char, not because of the type of music she sings. She could sing pretty much any type of music and I would probably buy her album. For me, it her personality and the connection she makes with me through her singing that draws me in.
On the flip side, I just don’t get Syesha. I will admit that she is a good singer, but there is something about her that just doesn’t resonate with me. I know it is a talent competition and in my mind I should vote for the best performance, but I just can’t vote for Syesha even if I think she may have the best performance of the night.
I hope that gives you a little insight into how some people vote (filtered through my opinion).
Apr 24, 2008 @ 13:00:51
I absolutely could not stand Carly. She was really starting to bug me, big time, like to the point where if she had stayed another week I would have stopped watching.
As far as I’m concerned the Top 5 is spot on except Michael Johns should replace Jason Castro.
Apr 24, 2008 @ 20:55:23
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: IDOL is just as much a popularity contest as it is a talent show. As the numbers get whittled down, talent tends to win out over sheer popularity, but both are still important. That’s why a good personality and a strong back story and acting properly in front of the judges and the live TV cameras are so important, and why the contestants have become so stiff for fear of every saying the wrong thing to tick off anyone at home.
In a way, IDOL is the victim of its own success.
Apr 25, 2008 @ 19:26:45
I love the last line of your entry. It’s exactly what I thought when I saw the bottom 2 this week. I actually thought to myself, I’m not really that interested in who’s left except for Syesha and Brooke really and even then…I’m still not all that interested.
Apr 25, 2008 @ 22:29:01
Not sure I’d agree that talent wins out over sheer popularity in the end – look at Taylor Hicks’ case. Yes, okay, he was ENTERTAINING, but I’m not sure that’s the same as talent. To take a page out of Paula’s book, Kat McPhee’s “instrument” was the superior. More control, more diversity, more range, but she still lost out to Taylor’s “madcap” antics. And I put that in quotes because Taylor stopped being entertaining and morphed into being obnoxious for me pretty darn quickly.
There’s no way you are going to convince me that Jason Castro is more purely talented than Carly, and frankly, his personality is largely just being stoned and random in front of the camera.
So again, still don’t have a good handle on people’s mindset. What makes them pick someone as a favorite to vote for no matter what?