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American Idol 7: Why Carly Lostby David Bloomberg -- 04/24/2008
View Printable version of this article I don’t know if I’ve ever been quite so annoyed to be right about a prediction. I said before the performances that I thought Carly’s time was up, and for once this season, I actually got it right. But how could I have when she did so well in her performance? Why did Carly lose? I think we’ll find that I was able to finally get a prediction right is because there were indeed underlying reasons for Carly’s loss that had little to do with her specific performance this week. And how do we determine that? By looking through What ‘American Idol 7’ Contestants Need to Know, of course! 
Let’s blow through the first rule quickly. It says that singing and performing talent are the prime factor. And that’s still true, even if it isn’t the only factor. Simon, Randy, Paula, and recapper Betsy all thought Carly did very well. All four We’ll Be the Judge of That! judges similarly commented about how great a performance she had (I would have as well if I had participated, but I was taking the week off). And Joseph, in his NGH Report also loved it – though he had perhaps more critical comments than anybody else and deemed that she might not be safe. With that behind us, we can dig into more of the meat of the matter. The second rule tells contestants they need to pick the proper songs. Carly didn’t always do such a great job with that aspect of Idol, though she did this time. I think she even noted as much when she was talking to Ryan Seacrest shortly before he booted her off the show, as she mentioned that she hadn’t picked songs she could really have fun with, even though she chose songs that she felt would showcase her voice. Sometimes viewers don’t want to just hear a good voice, but see a fun overall performance. Just as important, though, is the third rule. It says you need to be consistent – and Carly didn’t quite pass muster here. I think she’s been more consistent than, say, Jason, but she hasn’t been consistently great. As the rule says, you need to “be excellent every time.” The fourth rule says Idol wannabes need to be unique. Considering we’ve never had a tattooed Irish girl on the show before, I think she hit the mark in that regard. And she also followed the portion of this rule that speaks to the need to differentiate herself from her fellow contestants. But she didn’t always hit the spot with the fifth rule, which says to be memorable. You might be asking, “Wait! How can you say she was unique but not memorable?!” Because as each week went by, Carly frequently did well, but not outstanding in a way that people talked about her the following day. In a sea of Idol contestants – even a shrinking one like we have now – Carly was rarely the performer whom people remembered afterwards. Similarly, she didn’t allow her personality to really come out as much as it could have – either in her performances or at other moments. As noted above, she even admitted as much in her final few moments on the show. If she had done so, that could have helped her under this rule. It also could have aided her with the sixth rule, which says contestants are a complete package. And in Carly’s case, I think she was a rather confusing one, with a wrapping that sent viewers in one direction and performances that sent them in another. To better explain, allow me to quote myself from an article going way back to the first time we saw Carly: I don’t know how well her tattoos will go over with the viewing public. Her overly-tattooed husband isn’t exactly pretty to look at either. Perhaps such things shouldn’t come into play when picking an American Idol, but we all know they do.Then, in last week’s We’ll Be the Judge of That! column, I said: First, let me comment on Carly’s outfit – I think it looked really good on her and did something important: It covered up her tattoos. This may seem odd, but I really think the giant arm tattoos are distracting, especially when she’s singing girl-next-door type songs.Note that she once again this week wore an outfit covering her tattoos. That was good. But I think it was too little, too late. Too little because she still frequently went sleeveless in her meetings with the stars of the week, and then again on results night. There are certainly many people out there who have no problems with this sort of body art. But there are also a lot of people who don’t want to Idolize somebody who has these sorts of giant, obvious tattoos. If this were Rock Star, it would be a totally different matter. Heck, if she were taking the rocker path, it would be very different too. But she wasn’t. She could rock, sure, but more often than not, she didn’t. And like I quoted myself saying above, it presented quite an odd situation when Carly sang like the girl next door but looked like the girl on the Harley. 
By the way, please don’t e-mail me and tell me the girl next door can have tattoos or that this particular issue didn’t bother you. I know. What I’m trying to do here, as always, is objectively look at how the general population of Idol viewers might view things. Moving on, I don’t think Carly had any real issues with the seventh rule. She might have joked about how Simon loved her this week, but she never got into it with the judges in a way that I recall. The eighth rule, though, brings us back to the discussion of a few paragraphs ago. Why? Because of all that I have mentioned, I think Carly might have had some trouble getting fans because it wasn’t really clear who she is. Is she a rocker, as her tattoos would seem to indicate? Is she a power balladeer like some of her song choices seemed to indicate? Or heck, is she a pop princess like her first album To gain fans, viewers need to know who a contestant is. Otherwise, who are they rooting for? As the rule notes, “You truly have to strike a chord deep within people.” But in Carly’s case, I think Jenn Brasler hit the nail on the head when she said in our pre-show prediction article a couple weeks ago, “Carly, too, seems to be slipping, and it doesn’t look like she has a very powerful fan base either. She’s been one of the more consistent performers, but that hasn’t helped her.” Like Michael Johns before her, Carly’s consistent performances now weren’t enough to overcome the earlier fan base lead accumulated by her rivals. I believe Carly will get another record deal, and I will be interested to hear what it sounds like. Because I have to admit that, like many other viewers, I’m still not really sure who Carly truly is. Time will tell, but she didn’t have that kind of time on American Idol. She did a good job in getting this far, but the field is filled with those who jumped to the front early and gathered strong fan bases who could save them when perhaps they didn’t have their best night and support them when they did. Carly didn’t have that on her side, mainly for the reasons detailed above. While she had gained some steam since then, it was just too late, and even one of her best performances of the season couldn’t save her. That is why Carly 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! 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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