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American Idol 6: Why A.J. Lostby David Bloomberg -- 03/02/2007
View Printable version of this article When Sanjaya and A.J. were standing center-stage with Ryan Seacrest, many people – including Sanjaya himself – thought Sanjaya was headed home. The look on Sanjaya’s face said it all. Well, all except that A.J. was the one leaving! So what happened? Why did A.J. lose? Thursday night, it seemed obvious that the answers to these questions were not simple ones. Even the judges seemed confused. But there is a way to figure it out: What ‘American Idol 6’ Contestants Need to Know. Let’s take a look. 
At its heart, as Paula noted after A.J. was voted out, American Idol is a singing competition. So it is extremely important to sing and perform well. How did A.J. do in this regard? A.J. said he wanted to show he could sing with this performance. And indeed, most people felt he did. Randy said he showed singing skills and it was “so much better than last week.” Paula said he had a “real, real, real, real good voice.” And Simon almost complimented him as well, saying it was “actually nearly very good” and he looked “strangely comfortable.” Recapper Betsy pretty much agreed, saying he sounded great once he got into the song. The Foxes On Idol panel at We’ll Be the Judge of That! agreed as well. Sandy liked it, Bruce said he was smooth and commanded the stage, Kathy really enjoyed it, and I felt it his voice carried the day. So it’s agreed: A.J. performed well. It seems similarly agreed that his song choice this time was pretty good, as it allowed him to do what he said he wanted to and show off his voice. So the second rule was satisfied. The third rule talks about the importance of consistency. A.J. wasn’t terrific the first week, and he was pretty good the second. So as far as that goes, he was fairly consistent – just not consistently great. And now we arrive at the fourth rule, where we need to address the second part of Paula’s statement referenced earlier. I noted that she said Idol is a singing competition. But she also said – and Randy agreed – that the results this week didn’t reflect that. She’s right. If they had, Sanjaya, not A.J., would have been seeing his Idol life flash before his eyes to the strains of “Home.” But here’s a difference: Sanjaya is unique in many ways (not even including his horrid performances!). A.J. was unable to show the same thing. When you look at the photos of the contestants on the Idol website, a few people are instantly recognizable: Chris Sligh, Sundance Head, Phil Stacy, Blake Lewis, and Sanjaya are those who stand out for me. A.J.? Not so much. So he had to work even harder to make himself unique. A.J. needed to show some personality. He did in the second performance (after a little bit in the first), but even Simon noted after the second that we finally saw some personality. By then, though, it was apparently too late. Because he didn’t stand out, it was difficult for A.J. to be memorable, per the fifth rule. Indeed, the main reason I picked A.J. to leave in my pre-show prediction article with Sting7 was that, as Sting said, “he is so unknown.” Somewhat like Nick (though not quite as much), he just didn’t stick in the memory. The sixth rule reminds contestants that they need to be a full package. A.J. had part of it – the singing. But he needed more. He needed to show more personality, more flare. What was in the package was good, if not great, but the wrapping just wasn’t there to make people want to open it up and see more. 
A.J. did fine in terms of the seventh rule. He didn’t argue with the judges and even specifically said he tried to learn from their comments. Both very good, but in the end neither helped. Because A.J. was neither particularly unique nor memorable, he did not come into the second semi-final week with a fan base to support him. When we look at who he was standing next to center-stage, we know that Sanjaya does have such a base (as do Sundance, Chris Sligh, etc. – we don’t know if Sanjaya was third-to-last in voting, I’m just using him as an example). Sanjaya performed poorly but his fan base pushed him through. A.J. performed well enough, but didn’t have the support. Paula was right in her comments (and how often do you see me saying that?!). The results Thursday night, especially as far as A.J. was concerned, were not based on singing ability (though I feel I must point out that Paula wouldn’t even criticize Sanjaya, so she bears some of the blame herself). A.J. certainly deserved to move forward more than Sanjaya did, and even a couple of the others based on the second week’s performances. But there are always other issues besides pure singing ability. A.J. wasn’t great enough to really stand out for his singing. Without showing enough personality and making himself memorable, sometimes good just isn’t good enough. That is why A.J. 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. 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! View Printable version of this article
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