American Idol 5: Why David Lost

David Radford seems like a nice enough kid, and he’s got a decent voice. But that wasn’t enough to carry him into the finals. Why did crooner David get knocked out in only the second semi-final round? Why did David lose?

Sometimes the answers to such questions are fairly obvious, sometimes not. The only way to really tell is to look a little deeper and poke around, which we do by using What ‘American Idol 5’ Contestants Need to Know. Let’s see if this one was as obvious as it first appears.

The first rule tells singers to have some singing and performing talent. David did okay in the singing department – not great, not horrible, just okay. One problem was that David was a crooner and everybody knew it – and then he went out and sang Sinatra as his second performance, which didn’t exactly make people stand up and yell, “Wow!”

Even in doing his crooning, the Foxes On Idol We’ll Be the Judge of That! panel found him guilty of violating one particular part of the first rule – no karaoke. Sandy said David’s “performance seemed much too karaoke to me. He was imitating Sinatra (and not very well), not putting on a performance of his own.” Bruce said he sounded “like a campy imitation.”

Another problem was in his overall performing skills. Randy was bored. Paula said she had seen him do better. And Simon said he looked nervous and like he wasn’t confident in himself. Hmmm, what does the first rule have to say about confidence? “Also, you need to be confident when you are up there. Look like you belong there.” David didn’t.

This brings us to his choice of song. As I already mentioned – crooning from the crooner, how surprising. Perhaps David thought he should stay in his comfort zone and try to sneak by with the votes of people who liked John Stevens. Perhaps he didn’t think now was the time to take a risk and tackle something else. If that’s what he was thinking, he was wrong. Singing Sinatra was about the worst choice David could make. There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that he can sing this kind of song. There is doubt, however, that he can make it on pop radio. He needed to pick a song that showed he could do more than John Stevens, and he didn’t.

Which leads us directly to the third rule, about being consistent and able to sing different genres. David wasn’t and couldn’t. At least, he didn’t show he could, which for our purposes is the same thing (you might be the best singer in the world, but if you don’t show it on TV, it doesn’t matter). We’ve all been through the John Stevens era once – nobody needs to see David try to sing country or disco if he hasn’t shown he can deviate from Sinatra type performances. David had the chance to show it, but he failed.

And speaking of John Stevens, we arrive at the fourth rule, telling contestants to be unique. While David was unique as a crooner in a competition looking for a pop singer, he wasn’t the first to try it. John did it – and from what we saw, did it better. David needed to do something to show he was more than a John Stevens clone, and he needed to stand out from his competition. Once again, he didn’t.

Another problem is that David was only memorable as “that crooner who didn’t really do well.” The idea of the fifth rule is to give people a reason to vote for you because they remember something about you that makes them say, “I want to give this guy a chance.” What did people remember about David? Not much. And what there was, wasn’t necessarily very good.

David did okay with the sixth rule, not arguing with the judges. And I think he tried to do well by the seventh, noting that each contestant is a package. Unfortunately, as nice a guy as David seems to be, “nice” won’t save the day when there are so many negatives in the picture.

The eighth rule says to create a fan base. There probably is a group of David fans out there. Certainly, his native Chicago-area fans were probably trying to keep him around, as were fans of the type of music he was singing. But that simply was not enough. He was competing against singers of country music, rock music, and pop music. With that type of competition, crooning had an uphill battle.

As I’ve said, David seems like a nice kid with a nice voice. I’m sure he’ll make it in the entertainment industry some day – probably not as a pop star, but perhaps in musicals or the like. Now was not his time, and American Idol was not his place. I think John Stevens went about as far as a pure crooner will ever go. David needed to show versatility and greater ability. He failed on both counts. That is why David 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 Brenna Lost
• 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.

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!