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American Idol 9: Why Lilly Lostby David Bloomberg -- 03/16/2010
View Printable version of this article Lilly Scott seemed like a sure thing to make it to the finals. Not only was she unique and memorable, but she was given the pimp spot in the last week of the semi-finals! How on Earth did she end up going home before the top 12?! Why did Lilly lose? As I did last week, I saved the most difficult voting decision to explain until last, having already addressed this question for Todrick, Alex, and Katelyn. But I couldn’t put it off forever – it’s time to face it head-on and figure out our answers. The path outlined in What ‘American Idol 9’ Contestants Need to Know will certainly help guide us to our conclusions. 
First and foremost, contestants need to sing and perform well. We’ll begin by looking at Lilly’s final performance, where she tackled Patsy Cline while playing mandolin. It was certainly an odd performance, but was it a good one? Three of the on-site judges were impressed. Randy liked it and thought Lilly was in the zone. Ellen liked it and complimented her originality. Kara went so far as to say Lilly made Patsy Cline feel current. Simon, on the other hand, noted that the performance did not have the wow factor he was looking for. It was cute and quirky, but that was all. The Foxes On Idol writers were somewhat mixed in our reviews. Recapper Jenn thought Lilly was singing in an annoying fashion and was not at all endeared to Lilly by the performance – there was nothing special about it. She also couldn’t figure out how Kara thought Lilly somehow made Patsy Cline feel current. Our We’ll Be the Judge of That! panel of Tyler and myself were split up this week due to technical issues. Tyler indicated that he liked Lilly but admitted this performance was not the best – however, he thought it was pretty good. As for me, I wasn’t nearly so impressed. Indeed, I compared it to the bad acts on America’s Got Talent and expected the judges to hit the “X” buttons and end it on the spot. Instead of a “Wow!” factor, I thought it had a “Huh?!” factor. In The NGH Report, Joseph ranked Lilly fifth for the night – just one step ahead of Katelyn. Yet he still felt it was an “impressive performance” and rated her as “Never Going Home” – whoops! Well, to be fair, none of us expected that! 
So, we’re still somewhat confused here. Let’s move on to the second rule and see if that helps us any. It notes the importance of song choice. Considering I was scratching my head and trying to figure out what the heck Lilly was smoking when she decided to go with this song, it seems to me that the issue is definitely relevant. Heck, even Ryan Seacrest, who is normally known just for supporting contestants rather than taking a serious look at how they performed, asked on the results show if her problem could have been related to song choice. Unfortunately, Lilly gave an answer that may be indicative of her problem: She didn’t know what America wanted to hear. Um. Perhaps not a Pasty Cline song played on a mandolin. That is to say, I’m sure her fans – those who liked her for being quirky – were entertained by this. However, it was not the kind of song that would grab the viewer who was not already a fan and make that viewer vote for her. Indeed, Lilly herself told an interviewer later, "I'm sure the tweens don't know who Patsy Cline is." She needed to think of that before choosing to perform it, though. The third rule discusses consistency. Here is an area that I thought – and many people were certain – would carry Lilly to the finals. Her first two performances got generally rave reviews. Indeed, around here at Foxes On Idol, the columnists all applauded her, with Joseph ranking her first and second and me saying she would likely sail into the finals. But if there is one key point to this rule, it’s the statement, “you need to treat every performance on Idol as if it could be your last – because, well, it could be! Be excellent every time.” Her third performance was definitely the weakest and it was, as noted, rather quirky. Maybe she could have gotten away with that later in the competition, but doing it on the last night of the semi-finals was risky. As I noted at the top of this article, Lilly had no problem whatsoever with the fourth and fifth rules. She was unique – from her hair to her style to her performances – and certainly memorable. Indeed, she was one of the few who stood out right from the get-go and who stayed lodged in my memory. Because she did so well in terms of both of these rules, there really isn’t anything more to say about them. So we’ll move to the sixth, which talks about turning yourself into a package. I have to admit, Lilly wasn’t as strong here. I mean, we knew she was talented; we knew she was somewhat quirky. What else did we know about her? I’m sure some of you will remember what was said in those pre-performance videos, but nothing from them really stuck with me. Her personality seemed nice enough, but it didn’t jump out and grab me the way her look, style, and earlier performances had done. And, as Jenn said in her results show recap, this led to people not really knowing what to make of her. So she could have done better here. We know that she didn’t have a problem with the seventh rule – but then, there was nothing for her to really argue with the judges about, so that’s no surprise! The eighth rule should have been pretty easy as well, as it tells contestants to gather a fan base. Everybody I know of thought she had one! So what happened? Frankly, I think the fans got lazy. She was so obviously going to the finals that they didn’t think they needed to dial ‘til their fingers bled. She had two great performances. She had the pimp-spot for her third. I think many of her fans thought that last performance was also a very good one (even if non-fans might not have). Sometimes, in ironic twists, doing well can actually hurt if the conditions are just right. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect Lilly received more votes than Katelyn. So if this had been a week during the finals, Lilly’s fans would have received a wake-up call with her being near the bottom but not at the bottom. Unfortunately, they didn’t have that opportunity to realize what kind of danger Lilly was in. Just like that, it was over for her. Lilly’s departure was probably the most painful of all those who left in the semi-finals. She, more than any of the others who left – and more than at least several of the others who are still around – had the potential to really turn herself into a star. Heck, it might still happen for her. But her time on Idol was cut short. Lilly did so many things right. She was unique; she was memorable; she had two great performances. But the third time was not the charm for her. She gave a performance that didn’t bring in new voters while her fans may have fallen asleep at the switch compared to the fans of others who were dialing to save their ladies. That is why Lilly lost. 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David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com. You can also follow him on Twitter! Be sure to sign up for the RealityNewsOnline/FoxesOnIdol e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on both sites! Also make sure to check out RealityNewsOnline for recaps and articles covering other reality TV shows. For even more news about American Idol, be sure to check SirLinksALot: American Idol! View Printable version of this article
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