American Idol 7: Why Colton Lost

Colton arrived on our TV sets Tuesday night having barely shown his face throughout the previous weeks of American Idol 7. He said he looked a bit like Ellen DeGeneres, but I didn’t see it. If he was hoping to win votes by comparing himself to the popular talk show host, it obviously didn’t work. For that matter, nothing he did worked, or else I wouldn’t be writing this column. But why not? Why did Colton lose?

Colton is the final contestant for us to discuss out of the four sent home in the first semi-finals week. We’ve already addressed Why Amy Lost, Why Joanne Lost, and Why Garrett Lost. So of course we’ll continue in that same vein by looking at What ‘American Idol 7’ Contestants Need to Know. Colton’s loss is probably the one that needs the most explaining out of the group, so let’s get to it.

Why does his need the most explaining? Because unlike the other three, Colton’s performance did not receive near-unanimous panning. The first rule, after all, says contestants need to show some singing and performing talent. Amy, Garrett, and Joanne all had pretty much horrible performances, so their losses were not terribly surprising. But what about Colton?

Paula did pan him a bit, saying “Suspicious Minds” was not his best performance, but adding that it was “eager and fun.” Randy similarly commented on the good time he had with the song. Simon called it okay and singled it out as being a better Elvis performance than Danny Noriega. But he didn’t think Colton has a future in pop music, pointing him towards the theater instead.

Recapper Betsy made a similar reference, saying the performance was a “big old pile of cheese” and adding that she could “tell he’s got a background in musical theater, because this performance reeks of it.”

The other Foxes On Idol writers had some better feelings about it. Among the We’ll Be the Judge of That! panel, Sandy gave him points for having a good time, while Kathy and I liked his vocals. Tyler was more in line with the on-site judges, calling it “karaoke.” Meanwhile, Sting7 ranked Colton in the middle of the pack, right at #6, saying, “Colton charmed me with his Elvis number.” But he also recognized the musical theater criticism as valid. And Joseph Banks, in his NGH Report, also had him in the middle, one lower at #7. He said Colton “seemed to show, yet again, that he has great potential,” adding that Colton “really sang it quite well.” But again, the musical theater problems were noted.

So where does all of this lead us? It seems obvious that he was not ranked as low as Garrett. Luke Menard and Jason Yeager were generally thought of as being at or near the bottom with Garrett. Colton’s name rarely came up in that regard. Yet Luke and Jason are still in the hunt, while Colton of course is not.

Did the second rule play a role in that? It warns of the need to be careful with song choices. Frankly, given the options they had, Colton seemed to do a pretty good job. So it doesn’t seem this was a particularly huge problem. And Danny Noriega sang Elvis as well (with most people appearing to think Colton did a better job at it), so it’s not just attempting to sing the King that did him in.

Most of the third rule is kind of a wash here, as it tells contestants they need to be consistently good. As this was the first time we’d seen Colton, there was not an opportunity to gauge his consistency. However, Paula did note that this wasn’t his best performance.

That does lead us to the one part of this rule we need to mention: “Be excellent every time.” While most people did rank Colton in the middle of the pack, nobody that I saw came out and said, “He was excellent!” or “That was great!” And when you’re a contestant with no previous face time on Idol, “great” or “excellent” are what you need.

The fourth rule tells contestants they need to be unique. Colton with his particular style and supposed Ellen DeGeneres looks was on his way to showing viewers how he could stand out in the crowd. Unfortunately, he never really had a chance.

The same is true of the fifth rule, which tells singers to be memorable. Frankly, the fact that I can remember what he looks like and his cracks about Ellen do tell me he was somewhat memorable. But I also have to add that until I went back and read my own judging comments, I really didn’t remember his performance. That’s not good. As I said, he was about average, and average doesn’t equate to memorable.

As with the fourth rule, I think Colton was on his way to potential success with the sixth, which reminds contestants that they are a complete package. Unfortunately, though, I think one part of Colton’s package was clear to everybody – his background in musical theater. With so many comments about it made by judges both on-site and off, that may have been what he was noticed for the most. If this were a restaging of the show, You’re the One That I Want, where they were looking for Broadway actors, that would have been great. But this is Idol, where they’re looking for a pop star (though, perhaps ironically, some of the most successful Idols have found that success on the theater stage!). In his one performance, Colton didn’t fit the pop star mold.

Since the seventh rule didn’t come into play here, we’ll skip right to the eighth and wonder how Colton could have created a fan base when he didn’t appear on the show earlier. The answer, of course, is that he couldn’t. It wasn’t his fault, but there’s nothing that could really have been done about it.

Indeed, the entire situation with Colton not appearing until we saw him being told he was in the top 24 was one he could not do anything about. However, once he was in the semi-finals, his fate was mostly in his own hands. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s possible to rise out of anonymity in these semi-final rounds. It’s not easy, but it can be done with a good enough performance. Colton, however, didn’t quite take it where it needed to be. He gave an average performance, maybe even a good performance. But he needed it to be great to attract enough attention to overcome the handicap he had with viewers. Sometimes, good just isn’t good enough. And that is why Colton 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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