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American Idol 4: Why Aloha Lostby David Bloomberg -- 03/03/2005
View Printable version of this article Aloha came into Idol with an abundance of personality. Unfortunately, none of that joy was present when Ryan Seacrest told her Wednesday night that she would not be coming back. What happened to turn things around so dramatically in just two weeks? Why did Aloha lose? As always, we have a way to get at the answers to these and other questions: What ‘American Idol 4’ Contestants Need to Know. Let’s hit the important points and see what happened to Aloha’s bid for stardom. 
First, we address the key point of having singing and performing talent. Aloha had both – we saw them last week. Unfortunately, they did not really make a return visit this week. Randy said, “It was very below par.” Paula agreed. Simon said she “wasn’t as good as last week.” Recapper Donna Reynolds said it was “not a knockout.” Commentators from We’ll Be the Judge of That! had similar things to say. Bruce called it a “slow start” while Betsy said it was a “bad start.” Brian was “not feeling the Aloha-love.” Gil found it “mediocre at best.” As for me – I was bored with it. None of these comments is in any way, shape, or form complimentary. Sometimes judges and viewers disagree, but when pretty much everybody is on one side, and that side says you weren’t very good, you’re going to face trouble. One factor that played into this was Aloha’s song choice, which brings us to the second rule. In the first week, Aloha picked a song that gave her the ability to really perform. This week, she didn’t. After being booted, she told Ryan Seacrest that she had changed songs several times because it was hard to get clearance to sing certain choices, but in the end she had one that didn’t allow her to really go at it. Indeed, she said she was “very uncomfortable” on the stage. That, my friends, is a sure sign of a bad song choice. Third is to be consistent. Considering how surprised people were that Aloha had done so well the first week and, well, not the second week, we definitely have an issue with consistency. It would have been interesting to see how Aloha could have done as the weeks progressed further. Unfortunately, it only took one bad week to make it so we could not find out. Aloha did succeed in the fourth rule, being unique. She is different from past Idols (though she did wear a Jasmine Trias-like flower in her hair several times) and also stood out among her competitors. Aloha did not get much early screen time at all, but she jumped out at us as soon as we saw her. And once we saw her, we remembered her – so that means she succeeded with the fifth rule as well. The sixth rule, not so much. For years the judges have been admonishing singers to avoid karaoke-like performances. Yet Simon mentioned “bad impersonators” at the beginning of the results show this week, and one of the people he was talking about was Aloha. 
Even when Simon and the other judges were criticizing her, though, Aloha did not fall into the trap of arguing with them – so she did fine in following the seventh rule. She also did pretty well in the eighth, which reminds contestants that they are a package. While I can’t say I really know Aloha, we do know that she has a fun-loving personality and she certainly impacted the viewers more than some did (like Celena, the only woman to get fewer votes than Aloha this week). Even so, Aloha did not create a fan base quickly enough. I thought that between her screen time in the final taped episode and her performance the first week, she had enough fans to pull her through. But, of course, she was not the only singer to be gathering fans. While Janay, for example, definitely had a worse performance than Aloha both weeks, Janay also apparently has the votes of those who want to keep a nice young girl around. Aloha’s fans just couldn’t pull her through. Aloha was given the perfect opportunity to really wow the audience. She went first this week after an entertaining performance in the first week. But while viewers were expecting a lot out of her, they received very little. Aloha couldn’t carry the momentum into a second week, which left potential voters without a reason to dial for her. Her lack of consistency spelled her doom. That is why Aloha lost. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out RealityNewsOnline’s American Idol recap and Foxes On Idol’s other recent columns: David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.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, Nashville Star, 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: American Idol and Reality TV Fever! View Printable version of this article
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