American Idol 4: Why Nikko Lost… Again

Nikko Smith lost once already, but then was given new life when Mario Vasquez dropped out just before the finals were to begin. So we already knew why Nikko lost the first time – why did Nikko lose again?

Last time, we answered that question by looking back at What ‘American Idol 4’ Contestants Need to Know. Of course, this time is no different. So let’s take a look.

The first rule, as always, is to have singing and performing talent. Last time Nikko was sent home, I noted that he definitely had both, but was not the best of the group – “Nikko was not at the bottom of the pack, but nor was he at the top.” That pretty well holds true again this time.

Randy thought it was good, but not his best. Paula said he was the true epitome of R&B to American Idol (remember that, we’ll come back to it in a minute). Simon said he was out of tune.

As for other opinions, Donna Reynolds, in her recap, said the performance was not perfect but was original. From the We’ll Be the Judge of That! crew, Betsy thought he did a great job, Gil was just the opposite and called him a “one-trick pony” because he always did R&B (refer back to what Paula said – they agree, but look at it differently), Bruce heard tension in Nikko’s voice, and I found it mostly average with some good notes thrown in.

Last time Nikko was voted out, most people felt it was a good performance, but not a great performance. What do we have this time? Pretty much the same thing. When somebody sings well and viewers think they did the best, they get votes; on the flip side, when somebody sings poorly and viewers think their favorite is in trouble, they get votes. When somebody sings in the middle, there could be trouble.

The second rule talks about picking good songs. Nikko did as well as anybody could expect with the “musicals” theme (a theme I hope Idol never brings back again), but every song he chose was R&B or he made it into R&B, as noted by both Paula (positively) and Gil (negatively) above.

This leads directly into the third rule, which says to be able to sing in different genres. Here is where I believe Nikko faced a problem. Let’s look at some of the other contestants. Bo is a rocker who has also given us slow songs to show versatility. Carrie is a country girl who also sang a Heart song and did well this week with a showtune. Nikko is… an R&B singer who, well, always sang R&B. While he did a decent job most of the time, he didn’t show that he could sing anything else. This can be a turn-off to potential fans and voters, who want to see a little bit more.

The fourth rule says to be unique. As I said when he lost the first time, “Nikko definitely had his own style and look, which made him unique among both current and former contestants.” That stayed true until the bitter end.

But what also remained true was that Nikko completely avoided letting viewers know his backstory – that he is the son of famous baseball player Ozzie Smith. Indeed, after I wrote the original “Why Nikko Lost,” several people e-mailed me to say they had no idea he was Ozzie’s son!

As I said the first time, I understand that Nikko might be purposely avoiding mention of his father to avoid the appearance that he was riding on his dad’s fame. However, it still meant one of the most interesting backstories of all the contestants was kept from viewers.

Sixth is to avoid karaoke. Nikko had no problem here, especially in his final week where he completely reworked the arrangement. He also was fine for the seventh rule, which says not to argue with the judges.

The eighth, however, notes that contestants are a package. As we’ve already discussed, because Nikko didn’t play up his background, viewers did not have a full picture of just who he really is. That was true in the semi-finals, and it’s still true four weeks later! Meanwhile, we know that Constantine was in a rock band but also toured with Rent and did some acting; we know that Anthony’s parents were told he might never talk; yes, we even know about Scott – while that might be viewed as a negative, it also could have helped spur on his fans to vote.

Speaking of fans, that takes us to the ninth rule. Nikko definitely had a fan base in St. Louis, but he needed more than that. To make matters worse, the Cardinals had their first baseball game televised the same time as Idol was on. If fans who knew of his father were siding with Nikko because of Ozzie, they might well have been more interested in watching the game than Idol.

Also, because of the strange way Nikko got into the competition, his fans were pretty active in the first few weeks to make sure he stayed around. However, as each week went by, the fans may have slacked off just a bit. A solid fan base will vote for their favorite when they do well, and perhaps vote even more when they do poorly. As we’ve already noted, Nikko did average, which does not necessarily spur the kind of bleeding-fingers voting that was necessary. Contrast this to Scott, whose fans knew they were up against bad press and a bad performance.

Nikko was definitely not the worst singer this week. Nor, however, was he the best. While in a perfect world, the worst would go home, it doesn’t always work that way on Idol. Nikko chose not to use his father’s famous name to help him out. He did stand out somewhat on his own, but not enough to really grab the viewers. Meanwhile, his opponents had other things going for them besides just their singing, and their fans came through in this clutch situation when so many contestants failed to perform their best. That is why Nikko lost.

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

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