American Idol 5: Why Heather Lost

Heather was known to many viewers simply as the blonde who wasn’t Kellie Pickler. That’s not a good way to start. However, there were some things she could have done to give herself a better shot at making it to the finals. What were those things? Why did Heather lose?

Heather called herself an Idol stalker. As such, we might be correct in thinking she had read previous versions of What ‘American Idol 5’ Contestants Need to Know (lots of Survivor players read that show’s equivalent, why not Idols too?). However, did she understand what she needed to do? Let’s find out.

The first rule is to be able to sing and perform. Frankly, I thought Heather was in trouble here from the first week and even promised to “save a seat” for her on the “We’ll Be the Judge” panel because it seemed obvious that she would be leaving the show quickly. Indeed, all of the panelists that first week called her performance variations of “weak” or “average” or “forgettable.”

She seemed to do a little better the second time out, but not nearly enough. The judges thought she did okay, but was nowhere near as good as Mariah Carey, the song’s original performer. Out of the We’ll Be the Judge of That! panel, only Sandy gave her positive marks, with the others once again giving variations of “average.”

Simon also referenced another problem – she sang the song in a way that wasn’t different from the original, aside from not being as good. In other words, karaoke, something strictly forbidden by the first rule. I understand why she wanted to choose this song, but if she couldn’t do it without sounding like a bad Mariah imitator, she should have picked another one.

We’ve kind of bled over into the second rule, which specifically addresses song choice. Heather really needed a song that could show off her vocals and make her shine. I don’t know her singing well enough to say just what that song might be, but we know it wasn’t either of the two she sang in the semi-finals. The right song can make all the difference when you’re somebody who is trying to make themselves known to the viewing audience. The wrong song can make all the difference too, and it did.

The third rule says to be consistent. Heather, unfortunately, was consistent, but not consistently great. The word “average” kept coming up in descriptions of her performances. That is not the kind of consistency foreseen by this rule.

Two main problems for Heather, though, can be found in the fourth and fifth rules. The fourth says to be unique, the fifth to be memorable. What is unique about Heather? Well, what little we saw of her personality made her seem very nice and all that, but what stood out about it? Not much. As I said earlier in this article, she was known to many viewers simply as “the other blonde” or “the blonde that isn’t Kellie Pickler.” Heather needed to do something to absolutely make herself stand out, but she didn’t.

The problem is that “average” won’t make a contestant memorable. In some ways, it’s better to be horrible than average – at least later in the competition when fan bases are active and watching for dangerous situations. “Average” is one of the most dangerous because people won’t remember how good you were, and thus vote for you; and they won’t remember how bad you were, and thus vote for you to save you.

Heather knew enough to avoid arguing with the judges, which was good. But as we get to the seventh rule, we’re back to the problem again. Heather probably knew enough to realize that she needed to sell herself as a package. But she was unable to do it. Part of the problem was that she didn’t have much earlier exposure, but we can’t blame it all on the editing of previous shows. Others have overcome worse, and Heather had two chances.

In neither of those two performances did Heather do anything to really stand out and make fans want to call for her. Thus, she failed at the eighth rule, creating a fan base. Again, she was at something of a disadvantage, but she could have made up for it. She didn’t.

Heather did well to make it as far as she did. She’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination. But she’s not Idol awesome either. She needed a couple of really good performances to kick-start her into the finals. Instead, we got “average.” Average doesn’t sell records, average doesn’t get people dialing, average doesn’t make it to the finals. That is why Heather lost.

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

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

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