Why Rickey Lost

Welcome back to our regular look at why each contestant fails to make the grade in American Idol. Obviously we skipped last week because the article, "Why Corey Lost," would have been rather short: "Because he failed to tell producers about allegations that he beat up his sister and resisted arrest, and the producers did a lousy job with the background check but then The Smoking Gun found it all out." End of article.

This week, I first thought it would be an even shorter article explaining why Rickey Smith lost: The Hat. But even as horrible as it was, the hat can't explain everything.

Rickey wasn't even in the bottom three last week, yet he ended up dead last this week when the votes were added together. What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen? Well, that's what this column aims to answer.

As always, we will presume you have already read Sting7's recap of the results show, and we'll take a look back at What American Idol 2 Contestants Need to Know to see what we can gather. But that column definitely does not cover all of the factors here, in part because the producers changed the rules this week and my crystal ball just didn't see it coming way back in January when I originally wrote that.

But we'll still start with the rules listed there and see where that takes us. So we'll start with the first rule, which is to have some singing talent. Frankly, I was never terribly impressed with Rickey. In my view, he had a couple of good nights, but overall I found his voice to be terribly grating. Looking back at some of my earlier reviews, I said things like, "I found his voice a bit too high - such that it actually bothered me" (semi-finals), "there was just something about his voice that made me think it was breaking too much" (first finals show). There were a few weeks where I thought he had his voice in order and did a pretty good job, but this week, as I said in my column, his voice "was back to grating on me a bit." Others felt he did a good job - maybe not Ruben-good, but good nevertheless.

Still, he was not terribly consistent and the simple fact is that he does not have the same talent level as a Ruben or a Clay. Was this the only reason - or even the main reason - for him being voted out this week? No. But it was a contributing factor.

The second rule is to make sure you pick appropriate songs. I found it interesting that for two weeks in a row, Rickey picked songs originally done by the guest judges. In both cases the guest judges complimented him on his performances - they couldn't exactly say it was a bad song choice! But did this have any effect on the viewers? Did they think maybe he was sucking up just a bit too much? That's hard to say. I tend to think the answer is "no," though. He did a much better job of picking songs than some who are still around, such as Joshua ("Celebration"), Carmen ("Call Me"), and Kimberly Caldwell (too many to mention). Indeed, one of the recommendations in the article is to "have fun with it" and "pick songs to get the audience on your side." I thought he did well in both areas - perhaps having a bit too much fun with it for Simon's tastes.

Third we have the recommendation to be different, and Rickey definitely was that. From his "Hercules! Hercules!" antics to his giant afro wig on disco week to the fact that he simply looked different from any other contestant, Rickey could not have been mistaken for anybody else. His look was criticized by the judges early on when they said he looked too old. He changed it to appease them and still managed to be himself.

Fourth we have "Be Memorable." Again, Rickey was certainly memorable. It wasn't particularly his backstory or family or whatnot - in fact, I couldn't really tell you anything about any of that. But his personality was memorable and if by chance you might forget that he was a fun type of guy, he reminded you every week.

The fifth rule warns against karaoke performances - those that sound like the singer is trying to imitate the original. Again, this is an area where Rickey was fine. By using different arrangements, mixing it up a bit, and even doing both parts of a duet this week, he made sure nobody would mistake him for somebody else.

The final rule says, "No matter what, don't argue with Simon!" Rickey did not always heed this advice. In the semi-finals, Simon told Rickey his performance was good - just good. Rickey asked what was bad about it, apparently missing the point that Simon hadn't actually said it was bad. Then, to make matters worse, even Ryan Seacrest pointed out that he should have asked what he could do to make it better! Rickey refused to give in on the point and said there was nothing he would do to make it better. Frankly, I thought he was through right then and there.

But he pulled through. Later, Simon would criticize him regarding him being an entertainer rather than a singer. Rickey couldn't keep his mouth shut and said that singers have to entertain. Simon snapped back to point out that clowns can be entertainers. Ouch. Not the worst of all arguments, but not the best way to handle it either. It may be worthwhile to note that Simon (and the other judges) have repeatedly criticized Kimberly Caldwell, and she has repeatedly said that she would keep her comments to herself. She's still there. Do I think this played a major role in Rickey leaving this week? No. Did it help him, though? Absolutely not.

So that is how he fared on the "official" recommendations. But they don't seem to explain precisely why Rickey is gone. Instead, we have to look at the big picture. Basically, it wasn't that Rickey was voted off so much as it was that everybody else was voted for to stay on.

I'll be writing a more in-depth article about this soon, but in short, because of the way Corey's boot was handled last week, voters knew that Trenyce, Carmen, and Kimberley Locke were in big trouble. It's no coincidence that this week provided the most votes recorded in the show's history. Fans wanted to make sure their idols-on-the-bubble were safe. And indeed they were. But that left others out in the cold.

I ranked Rickey in the middle of this week's performances (#5, to be specific). Sting7 ranked him a bit above the middle (#3). Mike DeGeorge didn't do a specific ranking but said he was good, but the voice was still too high. In short, Rickey wasn't great, but he wasn't terrible. Frankly, this is not the best of positions to be in.

Writers on this site have previously addressed the suggestion that it may be better to be bad than mediocre - or perhaps even "good but not great." The fans knew there were three who had been deemed as "bad," and they wanted to save them. Rickey was not bad, he was either mediocre or good-but-not-great, depending on who you ask. I've already gotten e-mails from people saying they had planned to vote for him but didn't get around to it. People figured he was fairly safe, but meanwhile others were calling in for those who were not safe, and this turned everything topsy-turvy.

Mind you, I don't think Rickey should have won. However, if it were based solely on talent, he should have gone a bit further. But it's not based solely on that aspect. Fans can call in for whatever reason they want. So if you combine the fact that he was definitely not the best singer with the way the voting was handled this week, you have a pretty good understanding of why Rickey lost.

And I'm sure the hat played a role there somewhere, too.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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