My Trenyce Goodbye

I am not going to sit here and make comments that Trenyce should not have been the one who went this week. I am also not going to sit here and say that Ruben had no place in the bottom two. I’m going to try and not talk about how Josh knew he was the one that should have left this week. Actually, I’m lying. I plan to talk about every single one of these things in general, especially the first. By now, everyone knows that I’m a hard-core Trenyce fan. For crying out loud, I was outraged when she didn’t make the finals when she performed “Love Sneaking Up On You.” Anyway, I want to look at how she did this week, why she left, and where we go from here. Don’t think for a second I’m not going to discuss who I thought should have left and why. Sit back, get comfortable and let’s look at why Trenyce should have stayed.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I think Trenyce had her best performances with “Proud Mary” and “Love Will Keep Us Together.” To me, both performances were flawless and were up in the ranks with when she sang “Come See About Me,” “Let’s Stay Together,” and “I Have Nothing.” There didn’t seem to be a question in my mind that she was safe this week. Why would I make such an assumption? Let’s look at the facts.

First off, as I said, her performances were right on the money. Despite the fact that Simon said her first performance seemed a bit like a “drag act,” I think he knew that it was still good. Heck, I thought it was her best performance EVER. Let us compare that to Josh, who really was having an off night. It seems that for the past three weeks Josh has been having “off nights.” Josh has changed so much in this competition, but unlike Trenyce, it has not been for the better. For his semi-final song, he sang “I’ll Be” and he nailed it on the head. From then on, it was like a downward spiral. I can’t think of a time that I liked any of his performances, excluding “Piano Man,” from then on. The simple fact is that Simon was right when he said Josh was not good enough to continue in the competition. Now, who else do I think should have been in the bottom two? Well, certainly not Clay because he sang his a** off and did a great job. There was no way Ruben should have been in the bottom two either. Even though I’m not a big Ruben fan, he did great with both of his songs the other night even though they did seem a little dull. Kimberley Locke hit the nail on the head with “Where the Boys Are” but her rendition of “Heard it Through the Grapevine” really wasn’t that impressive. This week, she deserved to be in the bottom two. She was on many levels better than Josh, but of the remaining four, she was the weakest.

Something else that I wanted to take a look at was attitude. I’m not talking about the good kind of attitude. I’m talking about when a judge tells you what he/she thinks and you feel the need to snap back with a smart comment every time. Every time a judge gave Trenyce any kind of harsh criticism, she rolled with it. Even when Simon told her that “Proud Mary” was more like a drag act, she managed to just smile and nod her head. Now, we have all seen when Simon makes a negative comment, Randy boos and tries to get the finalist to fight back. Even when Trenyce was given the opportunity, she did not feel the need to give a negative comment back. If anything, she would just smile, nod, and in some cases, agree. Trenyce understood that the judges were giving her comments that would eventually help her, unless they were saying something just to be mean, as I think Simon usually did. That is not the kind of attitude I’m talking about that. I am talking about the kind of attitude that Josh had.

At this point in the competition, you would think that everyone has gotten used to receiving at least a little negative criticism from Simon. Not Josh. He seems to feel that every time Simon says something negative to him, it is his responsibility to say something negative in return. This is not classy. It was funny the first and second time he did it, but we are to the point that the finalists have to show they can take the criticism and roll with it, the way that Trenyce did. She conducted herself with pure class and grace. Josh just likes to make snide comments, and with the help of Ryan Seacrest, takes it much further than he should. I’m sorry, but this is just another reason that Josh has to go. I liked him in the beginning, but now he is just starting to grate on my nerves. Maybe I need some time to cool down but I am still not over the fact that Trenyce is going home and Ruben was in the bottom two because Josh stunk up the joint and people still voted for him to stick around.

Let me admit that I was a Nikki McKibbin fan. Cast your stones, I know. Everyone knew that Nikki was not a great singer. Heck, I think even she knew it. The difference here is that Josh fans still think he has a chance at winning. Let me put it as blunt as possible: HE DOESN’T! Nikki fans knew she wouldn’t win, and in my opinion just stopped voting for her after she ou-placed Tamyra. The talent was better than Nikki, and it is the same thing for Josh. It could be argued that he was better than some of the other finalists, like Charles, Julia, and probably Carmen, but when it gets to the point that the rest of the talent is much better than you (and they were) then it is your time to go. Does Josh see this? I’m hoping that he gets on stage next week and tries his best, but I still think his best is not as good as the other finalists’ worst. That is a harsh statement, but that is the fact of the matter at this point.

I’m trying to keep this as a positive article supporting Trenyce, but it is hard not to look at who screwed her over. Trenyce definitely has the look, poise, determination, heart, voice, and demeanor to make it in this business. She is beautiful and has, I think, one of the most marketable voices we have seen in this competition. There is no doubt in my mind that we will see Trenyce again, and I hope it is sooner rather than later. I understand that the winner gets to put out the first CD, but I will be the first one in line when Trenyce puts out hers.

I want to say thank you to so many that emailed me saying they were going to vote for her, and those that were as far away as Singapore and Northern Canada that said they were rooting her on. We did an awesome job as a fan base to get Trenyce as far as she did. I know we would have liked her to make it to the end, but you can’t change the past so you have to just roll with it. I had an awesome time rallying the Trenyce voters every week and I’m so appreciative of all the support that I received in return. As I said though, I don’t think this is the last time we will be hearing from our girl.

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out David Bloomberg’s article, Why Trenyce Lost.

Phil Kural is a junior at Temple University, and can be reached at pkural@astro.temple.edu.

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