American Idol 5: Why Sway Lost

Jose “Sway” Penala seemed like a lock during the audition rounds. But when he hit the semi-finals, it all fell apart. Where did he go wrong? Why did Sway lose?

Viewers had a little bit more to go on this week as compared to last. At the same time, we have more to go on as well, when looking back at What ‘American Idol 5’ Contestants Need to Know. Let’s see what we can dig up.

First up is the most obvious, having some singing and performing talent. Sway showed signs of talent from what we saw in the early rounds. However, once he made it to the semi-finals, he seemed to get worse instead of better. Sway’s first performance, almost totally in falsetto, set a lot of people back on their heels. Some, like Randy, loved it. Others, like me, hated it.

So his second performance needed to be great. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The judges panned him, with even Paula saying he was disconnected and “not good tonight.” Simon said it was karaoke, and there is even a specific corollary to the first rule that says contestants need to avoid karaoke at all costs. “You may be better off singing songs that viewers are familiar with…, but you have to do it in a way that does not make it look like you are just imitating the original singer.” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what it looked like Sway was doing.

For this reason, Sway’s choice of song ended up hurting him. But his choice the first week also impacted his votes this week, I suspect. Despite what Randy said, I still maintain it was a horrible idea for him to pick as his first song one that wouldn’t even show what his voice was truly capable of. Yes, we saw him in earlier rounds, but that was his first opportunity to really impress viewers with a performance aimed at them. His song choice then continued to impact his votes this week.

While Sway only gave us two performances in the semi-finals, we already saw that he had problems with the third rule about being consistent. How else do we explain that he sounded so good before the semis, but then fell apart when it really mattered most? Sway was simply not able to deliver the goods each and every time out.

He did succeed in the fourth rule, being unique. He looked unique, his background was unique, even his name was unique! This was part of what made him a likely favorite to make it into the finals.

And he was also memorable. No matter what anybody might have thought of Sway, nobody forgot about him the way they might have forgotten about some of the other guys (you know, like what’s-his-name).

Sway also did fine in terms of the sixth rule, not arguing with the judges. And the seventh rule was similarly upheld, as Sway was able to use his uniqueness and memorable style and story to create a full persona – one that viewers felt they knew more than some of the other contestants.

I also thought he did well by the eighth rule, creating a fan base. It seemed that every Idol fan knew about Sway and expected him to go far. Indeed, even as I talked about how I didn’t like his performances in “We’ll Be the Judge of That!” or other articles, I noted that he might still be safe because of his fans. But apparently, he didn’t do as good a job here as we might have thought.

Or, maybe he did create the fan base, but then he lost them. It is possible to come into the semi-finals of Idol without having been seen in earlier rounds and put forth a performance that overcomes the handicap. Sway did just the opposite. He came in as a likely finalist. He was unique and memorable and people thought he had talent. That is, until he started singing.

Just as some contestants come out of nowhere to surprise us, sometimes contestants will be expected to do well but shoot themselves in the foot through bad performances. That is exactly what happened to Sway. Two poor song choices, two less-than-stellar performances. That is why Sway lost.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent American Idol articles on Foxes On Idol and RealityNewsOnline:

• American Idol 5, March 2: Bringing it Down To 16
• Idol Sound-Off, Top 20

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

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