American Idol 5: Why Brenna Lost

Brenna Gethers sang “Last Dance,” and like Simon said, it was her “last chance.” He obviously wasn’t the only one who thought so. What had Brenna done to earn such a despised place in America’s heart? Why couldn’t she overcome it? Why did Brenna lose?

It is not uncommon for a “villain” to make it to the semi-finals on American Idol. Heck, it’s not uncommon for them to get into the finals! Brenna somehow made it past the first vote, but there was no way she was going beyond that. To find out why, let’s look back at What ‘American Idol 5’ Contestants Need to Know.

The first rule, of course, says to have some singing and performing talent. Brenna must have some, but she certainly doesn’t have as much as she thinks she does. As the judges noted Tuesday night, no matter how Brenna performed, she thought she did a great job. She was unable to properly critique her own performance, which meant there was no way she could improve.

And how was that performance? Boring and not terribly impressive. Paula didn’t see the magic, Randy thought the vocals were lacking, Simon thought she murdered the song. What about viewers? From the We’ll Be the Judge of That! panel, Sandy thought it was “mechanical,” Tyler thought it could have been better, and Bruce found it “average.”

The key to all of this, I think, can be found in one of recapper Betsy Wasser’s comments: “Brenna can apparently afford to be bitchy and catty, but she can’t afford to be boring. This song was boring.”

And what’s worse is that it was the second boring and not terribly great performance in a row for Brenna. Not a good way to start – but a good way to make sure your time is ended.

In Brenna’s first performance, she was also criticized for her song choice – it didn’t show her attitude. She tried to do that with her second, and it was indeed a better selection. The problem was that, as we already discussed, she couldn’t pull it off. So it didn’t matter.

The third rule says to be consistent. We can say that Brenna was consistent – consistently boring in her performances and bitchy/egotistical at other times. That’s not exactly what we want here, though.

The judges must have seen something in Brenna to bring her as far as they did. They seemed disappointed that her attitude didn’t make it into either of her semi-final performances, so I’m guessing that was what they liked about her. She was not able to consistently bring that back, though, when it counted.

Brenna was, however, unique, in accordance with the fourth rule. She made sure people knew who she was. In a group of 12 young ladies, she stood out. Mind you, she stood out for all the wrong reasons, but sometimes that doesn’t matter – just standing out, for any reason, can be enough. She did what the rule said and “set [herself] apart from [her] competition.” She posed, she strutted, she grabbed the attention of the camera whenever possible.

And yes, she was memorable too. She stood out and people would not forget who she was.

But the problem was, she was memorable for all the wrong reasons, like for violating the sixth rule and arguing with the judges. How many times did she say it wasn’t up to them, it was up to America? Is she correct? Yes. But flaunting that fact doesn’t generally earn points, at least not for long. And telling the judges she did great when it was obvious to everybody that she didn’t just made her seem more egotistical, not at all likeable. It was like she was daring the viewing public to send her home.

All of this attitude was part of the package that is Brenna Gathers. It seemed that Brenna knew there was more to singing on American Idol, she just had completely the wrong idea about how to go about packaging herself for the viewers. She thought that vamping around, posing, and trying to be the center of attention at all times would translate to votes. Wrong. It translated to dislike. As Sandy wondered in We’ll Be the Judge of That!, “Could Brenna get any more annoying?” In her recap of the performaces, Betsy noted she thought Brenna’s actions would be perceived “as arrogant, and that will be reflected in the votes.” Donna, who recapped the results, was so sick of Brenna that she wanted her off the stage immediately. And Phil, in his Idol Sound-Off column, talked about being “totally sick of her.” Different RealityNewsOnline and Foxes On Idol writers often disagree on contestants, so when that many agree about a person needing to go, you know they’re in trouble.

Perhaps Brenna was trying to follow the eighth rule to create a fan base. Perhaps she thought that by standing out in the way she did – and as we said, she was unique and memorable – she would find people who liked her attitude and wanted to keep her around. Perhaps that was her plan. If so, it was a terrible one and she accomplished exactly the opposite. Most fans she might have had were almost certainly driven away by the way she behaved and her inability to back it up with a good performance.

I won’t soften the blow – I, like many others, was glad to see Brenna go. Sometimes it’s fun to have a “villain” on a reality TV show, and it seems like that’s what Brenna was going for – note her “great TV” comment when she found out she was in the top 24. But what might work on Survivor, Big Brother, The Apprentice, or The Amazing Race doesn’t work on Idol because the viewers are voting. We sometimes note, as the season goes on, that sometimes it’s okay to have some attitude because viewers cannot vote against a contestant. However, those on the show need to give those viewers a reason to vote for them, and Brenna utterly failed to do that.

Essentially, attitude can sometimes keep a contestant around longer than they should be. But it’s usually only a few more votes, never to the end. And even in those cases, they have to have something else going for them, like talent. Brenna only showed viewers the attitude, and they very quickly tired of it. That is why Brenna 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: Why Sway Lost
• 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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