American Idol 6: Why Rudy Lost

Rudy Cardenas went from being a member of the Idol Hollywood supergroup (along with Chris Sligh and Blake Lewis) to being the out the door after one performance in the semi-finals. How did he fall so fast? Why did Rudy lose?

As discussed in the first column of this season, Why Paul Lost, we will answer these questions each week by looking back at What ‘American Idol 6’ Contestants Need to Know. So even though we’re right at the beginning – or maybe even more importantly because we are right at the beginning – let’s follow our guide.

First and foremost is to have singing and performing talent. From what we saw of Rudy early on, he definitely had potential – though Simon said in the final 24 cutoff show that he wasn’t impressed by Rudy in the beginning and he didn’t do too well in Hollywood. I guess Randy and Paula liked him more. But we didn’t really see enough of him to make a lasting impression of his talent coming into the semi-finals.

So how did he do in his first big performance? Well, he wasn’t terrible – certainly not the worst of the night. But he wasn’t great either. In that regard, he set the theme for the night.

Randy felt the performance was “really corny.” Simon said it showed why he’d been less than enthusiastic about Rudy. Paula thought it was great – but that’s Paula, so we can safely ignore it.

The Foxes On Idol panel at We’ll Be the Judge of That! came down more on the side of Simon than Paula. Bruce rated him above-average, but still felt the song didn’t fit well on Rudy. Kathy similarly thought his voice was better than that song. Tyler felt is was a good performance, though it had problems. And I thought he was trying too hard and gave a Martin Short-like performance.

One thing of note is that two of the four Foxes On Idol judges picked Rudy to go home. Even though he probably wasn’t the worst singer of the night, he just looked so goofy on stage. Remember, it’s not just the singing, but the performing as well.

The second rule was actually addressed somewhat already. It discusses song choice, and we saw that several of the Foxes On Idol judges liked his voice, but disliked the song. Simon called it dated as well. I don’t know that I agree “Free Ride” is dated – some of us like our classic rock, thank you very much – but Rudy didn’t bring anything new to the song, so it may be that’s what Simon meant. In any case, his voice was just not right for the song, and I’m not sure why he picked it.

The third rule tells contestants they need to be consistent. As I discussed in my column on Paul, some semi-finalists survived the first week not based on that performance, but on what we saw before. We didn’t see enough of Rudy to give him that kind of boost, which means it was crucial that he give a good, solid performance. But that didn’t happen.

Fourth is to be unique. I’m afraid Rudy fell short here. There was nothing that really stood out for Rudy – he fell into the background of many of the other guys. My fellow writer Sting7 has a term for the women who sing prettily but don’t stand out: Denim Skirts. Rudy is the male equivalent. He didn’t stand out – not great, not horrible, just there.

Which also leads into our fifth point of being memorable. I’ll be honest here – I did not remember that Rudy was a member of the Hollywood supergroup. I remembered Blake and I remembered Chris. And then there were two other guys. Rudy was one of them – but not a memorable one of them.

After his performance on Tuesday night, Rudy became memorable to me for only one reason: performing like Martin Short. Cheesy dancing, odd singing, just not a reason to vote for him. And Simon even noted the same, saying it simply wasn’t memorable and Rudy would get lost in the mix. Indeed he did.

Because he wasn’t unique or memorable, it made it difficult for Rudy to do anything about the sixth rule, which advises contestants that they need to be a complete package. I’m not sure what part of the package Rudy had – other than maybe a decent voice that we really didn’t get to see.

The seventh rule says not to argue with the judges. Rudy respectfully addressed them, saying he wanted to be able to change Simon’s mind about him. It was a good way to respond, and I don’t think he lost any votes because of it.

Eighth is to create a fan base. Considering what I’ve already said here about Rudy, it’s safe to say that at this point in the competition, he simply did not have a powerful base to ride until he could show people he deserved to stick around. Only a few of the singers have such bases ready-made from the early shows, but Rudy simply did not stand out enough to be among them.

That really sums it up right there: Rudy did not stand out enough. He was the male equivalent of a Denim Skirt. He was not unique in appearance, style, or singing ability; he fell into the background. The fact that he was the first singer certainly didn’t help him, as a night filled with boring performances only ensured that his would be even more forgettable. But I’m not sure he would have done any better going last. Rudy needed to stand out, and he failed. That is why Rudy lost.

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

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

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