How Did Matthew Make It Through?

After watching this week’s AI results show and seeing that Matthew Rogers made it through despite harsh criticism from the judges, it left a lot of people wondering, why did Matthew get through?

His performance can only be called "decent" at best and there is little doubt he would have gotten hammered by the better singers a week earlier. I think he made it because of several factors:

1. The vote count was likely lower than usual due to indifference toward most of the singers on what was arguably the worst round of its kind in AI history. A lot of people probably just skipped voting at all this week. As support for this, Ryan didn't even make his usual, "Eleventy-three million votes came in and HERE are the results" speech. This indicates that the vote total was low, which therefore means each vote is worth more than usual.

2. AI tends to have more female than male viewers and Matthew was the best of the guys who performed this week. By a long shot.

3. This may be a first on the show, but I believe the clips shown just prior to his singing, along with his brief chat with Ryan, had a lot more to do with the votes he got than his actual performance did. He came across so "Awww shucks" nice and hometownie in the clips and then there was that little tug on the heartstrings when we were shown his breast cancer pin and he said, "It's for my mom." Awwwwww. Cynical me thought he was laying it on a little thick, but a quick glance across the room at the mother/daughter tag team watching with me revealed them both staring at the screen with big eyes. "That's so sweeeeeeet!" my daughter squealed, "Daddy write down his number!" At this stage of the competition, with little to go on in terms of performance (especially on such a bad night), personality and backstory can be important.

4. He chose an up-tempo number. While power ballads and money notes come heavily into play further into the competition, right now it seems more important to make a strong impression. Look at Briana. It's her shot at the big-time. So in front of well over 20 million people she chooses to sing a soft and easy Norah Jones ballad that has been through so much overkill on the radio that even my dog can hum along to it. It was forgettable the moment she started singing except for the fact that she looked like a fish out of water singing it in the first place. Meanwhile, Matthew chose a song with a bit of rhythm and life to it. My old manager once told me, "If you get them tapping their feet, you know they'll remember your song," and she was right. Most artists with multiple hits don't have ballads for a first hit. Clay wowed audiences with his power singing of "Solitaire" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" but the first real single release off of his album was the much more up-tempo "Invisible." While the other guys were whispering off-key tunes, Matthew was stepping up with a much more energetic performance. While it's true he should have really belted out with power more than he did, in comparison to the other guys he was positively manic.

Feel free to disagree, but I think those four things are what enabled him to get into the Top 12… where he will likely get demolished by bigger talents.

Bruce Barker is the co-owner of Movie Boss – a free online game. He has also been writing about the entertainment industry for over 10 years with articles appearing in numerous publications including Box Office Magazine. He has written about several shows both at RealityNewsOnline and also here at Foxes on Idol. You can contact him at bbarker57@yahoo.com.

Be sure to sign up for the RealityNewsOnline/FoxesOnIdol e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on both sites! For all of our articles, check out our sections on American Idol, American Juniors, Fame, and Canadian Idol. Also make sure to check out RealityNewsOnline for recaps and articles covering other reality TV shows.

For even more news about reality TV, be sure to check SirLinksALot!