American Idol 7: Why Amanda Lost

Last week, I began " target="_blank">Why David Hernandez Lost by pointing out that he was not the worst singer that week. And once again, I have to do so this week. Indeed, I don’t think Amanda Overmyer was anywhere near the worst of the week. And yet she is headed home while Kristyjaya remains. Maybe it was appropriate that Kellie Pickler sang on the results show, since Kellie overstayed her welcome on her season as well. But what happened? Why did Amanda lose?

Given that I’ve already said Amanda was not at all the worst singer, it makes it all that much more important for us to go through What ‘American Idol 7’ Contestants Need to Know to figure out what could be going through voters’ minds.

OK, so if Amanda wasn’t the worst, how did she do? Randy and Paula said it started out rough but got better. Simon thought it was too predictable and a bit of a mess at times. Recapper Betsy thought she lacked the energy she had shown in some of her past performances, and her voice was less than impressive this time around. “It’s okay, but not great.” Remember that last part, because it’s important.

In other Foxes On Idol news, Joseph ranked Amanda fifth in hisNGH Report, which is pretty good. But at the same time, he recognized that she was “not safe.”

One issue mentioned several times over was that Amanda needed to switch things up a bit and pick a different type of song. This leads us to the second rule, which is all about song choice. Joseph said, “Yes, Amanda, it is time for a ballad.” Tyler noted, “she should slow down just once.” Bruce added, “I’m growing very weary of hearing the same thing from her over and over again.” And of course, Paula and Simon said similar things. Oddly, Randy thought the song choice was perfect for her.

The third rule also plays into this somewhat. It says to be consistent and able to sing in different genres. It could certainly be argued that Amanda has been consistent, but she certainly has not shown the ability to follow the second part of the rule. She even argued against it when Simon brought it up (we’ll get to that later).

Also, even when she has been consistent, it has apparently gotten boring for some people. In addition to his comments already mentioned above, Bruce noted, “Thus far Amanda has only shown the capacity for one tone, one volume, and one style.” Simon talked about her becoming predictable and warned she could start to become boring. Alas, that warning came a bit late to actually help her.

It would have been a risk for Amanda to sing a ballad or do something else to change things up. But sometimes the biggest risk is not taking a risk. As this rule says, “there is something to be said for going out on that limb from time to time.”

Amanda certainly had the fourth rule down pat – she stood out as the most unique contestant on the show. Even those who only watched the show once knew who Amanda was. She was the most “real” rocker girl the show has ever had. She showed personality (most of the time, though there were a few times when she looked positively like a statue) and her hair alone was enough to make her stand out.

But at the same time, she failed this week in the fifth rule, which says to be memorable. How can that be? Remember what I said about recapper Betsy’s comment earlier, “It’s okay, but not great.” Well when you’re the contestant who is going first on a two-hour show, you need to be better than “okay.” Those who see you in the opening minutes of the show need to stick around for a full two hours and then remember to vote for you after seeing everybody else.

In general, of course, Amanda was memorable. She had a decent back story and her uniqueness certainly contributed. But she needed to be more than generally memorable – she needed it specifically this week. And it didn’t happen.

The sixth rule expands on both of these two last points by noting that contestants need to be a complete package, and that includes their personalities. Amanda had some things going for her in this regard, but others going against her. When she showed her personality, she could come off as a very nice person. But sometimes she didn’t show it well, as happened in the third semi-final round, when she just stood there appearing emotionless while the judges gave their critiques of her performance.

Then her personality came out more this week, but in a way that I believe some people took for a violation of the seventh rule. That one says you should not argue with Simon or the other judges, yet there she was, telling Simon essentially that he was wrong.