Why Kimberly Lost

Kimberly Caldwell was prominently featured from early on in the American Idol auditions. Things went sour when she was portrayed as something of a bitch in the whole Kimberly/Julia feud, and that likely contributed to her early inability to gather a large fan base. But she made it in as a wildcard under the premise that she had more to show us. Why did she lose now?

As we do each week, let's take a look back at What American Idol 2 Contestants Need to Know to see if we can figure out the reasons.

The first rule, of course, is to have some singing talent. Frankly, I think that this is what eventually did Kimberly in. Everybody thought she had such promise, that there was something more there, that she just wasn't reaching deep enough. But at some point, you have to wonder - is there actually anything more there to reach? When almost every week she was told that she just hadn't shown her best, you are forced to think about where people got the idea that she had more. I eventually came to the conclusion - and I think many other viewers did as well - that we had seen her best. And her best just wasn't good enough.

Indeed, her final performance had Paula saying it was her best ever. Frankly, I put her in the bottom two of my rankings. So did Sting7. So did Mike DeGeorge. So did lots of other people. Not to say that we're necessarily the best judges in the world, but when all three of us agree, there's usually a reason. Mind you, Kimberly was put in the bottom two by each of us, not at the very bottom, but we'll get to that issue soon enough. The main point here is that perhaps that was Kimberly's best. But it wasn't anything compared to the other people still in the competition. Kimberly is a great performer, but she is not a great singer.

The second item deals with song choice. Over and over again the judges criticized Kimberly's choice of song. Part of it goes back to #1, above - they thought there were better songs to showcase her ability. Maybe there were, maybe not. But her choice of songs definitely contributed to her image as a performer rather than a singer.

Third is to be different. To be blunt, Kimberly wasn't. She was a beautiful blonde performer - the industry is full of them. As Simon indicated many times, you could see singers of her caliber at theme parks across the U.S. Indeed, when she was younger, Kimberly was one of them! Despite her ability to make it on both Popstars and American Idol, getting on the show is one thing - winning is quite another. Her performing ability got her to the finals, but she couldn't seal the deal because there was little about her that stood out.

On a related note, the fourth recommendation is to be memorable. Unfortunately, Kimberly wasn't. She wasn't the only beautiful blonde on the show early on, and even when it got to the finals she had to compete with Carmen, who has a more wholesome look. She wasn't even the only person named Kim! In fact, the only thing that really made her memorable was her early fight with Julia DeMato, and that wasn't being memorable in a positive light. She eventually overcame that stigma, but the memory of it still haunted her, I suspect. The official AI website shows her "egometer" at the highest possible level, "Pretty Princess" - which shows what viewers thought of her. That is definitely not a good thing.

Fifth is the rule against karaoke. Several times along the way, Kim did indeed sound a bit like she was singing karaoke. In her earlier performing days, it's likely she was not encouraged to make the song "her own." So instead she probably learned to sing like the original. Sometimes she did try to make it her own but her lack of ability hampered the attempt.

Finally, we have the rule against arguing with Simon. Kimberly was smart in that she refused to be baited into an argument with the judges. However, I have to say that her repeated statements that she would keep her comments to herself was basically a way for her to say, "I disagree and you're an idiot but I'm not going to come out and say it." I mean, it was obvious that she had comments, or else she'd have given the better answer of, "I'll take what they've said and learn from it." Just saying she'd keep her comments to herself did technically avoid a violation of this rule, but there was the implication that she wanted to smack 'em around sometimes. Combine that with the thoughts on her ego mentioned earlier, and it's not a good thing. Don't get me wrong - doing what she did was preferable to having an out-and-out egotistical fight with the judges, but it was far from the perfect way to handle it.

Finally, we have to go outside the earlier article to fully explain why Kimberly was voted out now. As mentioned earlier, Kim was put in the bottom two by many people - but she wasn't put at the very bottom. That spot went to Carmen according to just about everybody who watched the show. By all rights, Kim should have stuck around an extra week. However, as we've seen before, the fans don't necessarily vote on a single performance. Or if they do, they may vote to save their favorite rather than because that person "deserves" the vote. Add this in to something we've said here more than a few times - that sometimes it's better to be bad than mediocre, because the fans will know you need rescuing - and you have a large part of the reason that Carmen is still there while Kimberly isn't.

Kimberly made it this far in large part based on her performing abilities and the thought that there was something more there, if only she could reach down deep inside and pull it out. Maybe there is indeed something more, but if so, she didn't show it. She didn't have the talent to get people to vote on that basis and she wasn't able to gather enough fan support to become this year's Nikki - which is what I thought she might be developing into. In the end, it was Carmen's fan base that did her in, but it couldn't have happened if she had performed better throughout the series. That is why Kimberly lost.

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

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