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American Idol 4: Why David Lostby David Bloomberg -- 03/03/2005
View Printable version of this article David Brown has the dubious honor of being the first Idol contestant this season who absolutely 100% cannot blame a lack of earlier screen time as part of the reason he lost. While we didn’t accept that excuse as a sole explanation from the other seven who have been sent packing up to this point, it will not even play a role here. Luckily, we have a way to determine why David lost. As we do each week, we will pull out the What ‘American Idol 4’ Contestants Need to Know blueprint and compare David’s performances and actions to what he should have done. Let’s take a look. 
The first rule is to have singing and performing talent. In the earlier stages of the competition, we saw that David does indeed have that ability. However, it seems that when he arrived on the live Idol stage, he lost it. Let’s look at what both the on-site and website judges had to say about his most recent performance. Randy thought it was “just okay.” Paula said we had seen better early on. Simon told him that he “left whatever sparkle behind” and hadn’t “brought it to this part of the competition. RealityNewsOnline recapper Donna Reynolds said he “was all over the place vocally,” and, it just wasn’t good enough.” The “We’ll Be the Judge of That” contributors had similar thoughts. Betsy was “not impressed” and added that David was “just boring.” Brian officially jumped off the David bandwagon. Bruce found him flat and “the worst of the night by far.” Gil wanted people to remind him why he made the Top 24. And I said I liked David, but not that performance. Not exactly a standing ovation from any of the judges! Part of David’s problem was in the song choice area, which is addressed by our second rule. He did not pick songs that allowed him to bring out the “sparkle” Simon said he left behind. That left his performances a bit drab. It also left him without consistency. As mentioned earlier, David absolutely cannot blame a lack of earlier face time for the reason he lost. On the contrary, part of his problem could actually be that he was seen earlier and didn’t live up to expectations. This was not the first time we saw David, and I think viewers expected more from him. He didn’t provide it. His first performance was shaky, at best. His second was below par. Those who hadn’t seen David earlier in the show had nothing good on which to judge him. Those who had seen him were left disappointed. David did succeed in both the fourth and fifth rules – being unique and memorable. His name was consistently popping up as one of the early favorites. He stood out from his fellow competitors and viewers could definitely recall him from his early audition and announcement to his church that he would be going to Hollywood. However, this only goes to prove that early airtime does not guarantee a spot in the finals. Contestants need to continually prove that they are worthy of the fans. When David could not back up his earlier airtime with the performances viewers expected, they dropped him like a hot potato. Neither the sixth nor the seventh rule – against karaoke and arguing with the judges – played any role in David’s loss. The eighth, however, definitely did. That rule says that contestants are packages – they need to have singing skills and personalities. We saw an early glimpse of David’s personality in the audition rounds, but it was not backed up with anything in the semi-finals. I hate to beat a dead horse, but let’s once again bring up the “sparkle” that Simon mentioned. It did not come through in his performances. It did not show viewers that he wanted to be there. 
David did succeed in the ninth rule, creating a fan base. But at this stage of the competition, that fan base has to be incredibly strong to go up against nine other good singers. Recall that even Clay Aiken didn’t make it in the semi-finals – he needed the wildcard round to get into the competition. Some of David’s fans were lost – like “We’ll Be the Judge” contributor Brian, mentioned above – by his weak showing. Others never had a chance to jump on the bandwagon because they hadn’t seen him in the audition rounds and he did nothing in the semis to make them want to back him. David really had one of the best shots at getting into the finals, based on what we had seen earlier. We knew something about him, fans had a chance to get on his side, and he had the necessary time on earlier shows. However, all of that was for naught when David simply could not “bring it” to the live shows. He fell apart in front of millions of viewers, and gave them no reason to vote for him. There can be no excuses for David. He can’t blame the producers or the judges. He can only blame himself. David simply did not have the performances to put him in the same league as his competitors. That is why David lost. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out RealityNewsOnline’s American Idol recap and the other columns about this episode here at Foxes On Idol:
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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