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American Idol 7: Which Idol Will Fall Eighth?by Sting7 & David Bloomberg -- 04/29/2008
View Printable version of this article It’s been quite a week for American Idol. I’ve already discussed some of my thoughts in a post-results show article, while David gave us Why Carly Lost and a look at whether Carly’s exit was the season’s “shocking result”. We of course both have more tos ay, so remember that when I talk, it’s in plain type, and when David is speaking, it’s boldfaced. On Andrew Lloyd Webber week, we saw two performances that were worthy of dismissal, while one of the performers who seemed to perform up to her billing was sent packing. It left the remaining contestants reeling and much of the viewing audience perplexed. 
So, now that there are just five Idols left, who will be next to go? Seems like an easy answer, but maybe not… Should be easy for me – I’m on a roll! I got one ina row right! I’m celebrating over here, considering the way the season has been going as far as predictions! David Archuleta is suddenly treading water. He who looked like the heir apparent has allowed David Cook to sweep in and steal his thunder. Has Archuleta fallen so far that he could be the next to go? I don’t think so, not yet, but he is taking on water. I agree, no way Archuleta goes next. I won’t predict final two for him anymore, though. David Cook has captured all the buzz this season. I personally have received email after e-mail that says he is the only Idol of whom the sender would consider buying an album. While there is merit in that, it always makes me suspicious when I suddenly get e-mails all saying the same thing. You’re not suggesting an organized message board e-mail campaign, are you? Perish the thought! Cook is definitely the hot ticket right now, and if anyone is going to win this season, they will have to get past him. I see no chance of him going anywhere… not this week. Agreed. Next week, I would worry if I were a David Cook fan. Why? Next week is the week of the final four shocker. Tamyra Gray, Chris Daughtry, LaToya London, and Lakisha Jones were all (varying levels of) surprise eliminations during this week in the competition. Even Anthony Federov, despite his struggles, had one of his best weeks on this week, the week he was eliminated. I’ll make my prediction for next week right now as far as David Cook goes, and say that despite whatever happened in the past, he is safe this week and next. More on that will surely follow here at Foxes On Idol, but for now, Cook is okay. Now, the water gets murkier. Indeed. Syesha Mercado, who I have made no secret that I love, could be in real danger this week. In fact, I will go on and expect a bottom two appearance for her (thus breaking Nikki McKibbin’s record, which says more about the talent level of this season than any lack of talent from Syesha). Neil Diamond week could really present problems. I don’t know that many young women of 21 are particularly well-versed with the Neil Diamond songbook. And finding a Neil Diamond song that will mesh with Syesha’s big singing style will be a challenge for her. But I still believe that Syesha does have a growing fan base that comes to her rescue. And in the final weeks, the viewing numbers tend to go up. If Syesha can keep delivering and capture the casual votes, she could go on! I’m not such a big fan of Syesha – I don’t particularly dislike her, I just don’t like her or see anything all that great about her that we haven’t seen before. And I believe that while her fan base is growing, it’s not going to be enough to keep her out of the bottom two. Brooke White knows all about fan bases. One thing (among many) that Brooke has done well is stand out against the rest of the competition. She has done an excellent job of projecting her personality and her own musical style to the world. Not only does the audience tend to know who she is, but they like who she is (Syesha can’t say that). However, David and I have been to enough rodeos to know that there is a karmic element to Idol, in that the rough performance you give today might not get you eliminated tomorrow… it may be the next week. I call it the Ryan Starr Syndrome. My Stinger-senses are telling me that aftershocks for Brooke may play out this week. Especially if she has a good week. Her fan base might let their guard down. I certainly agree with what Sting said about the Ryan Starr situation possibly recurring here (for those of you who might not remember, Ryan Starr gave a painful performance of “You Really Got Me” in the first season – she wasn’t sent home that week, but was gone the next). And Brooke might well find herself in the bottom two. Like Sting says, it largely depends on how her fan base reacts. If she has a stellar performance, she’ll probably be okay (because people will want to keep her). If she has a horrible performance, she might be okay (because fans will want to save her). If she has just an okay performance, she might be finished. Jason Castro has also done a good job of standing out against the crowd. He likes to go for the unexpected, and usually, it pays off for him. I think he mentally checked out for Andrew Lloyd Webber week, (rightly) thinking it’s a genre that has no relevance to him. So he chose the most predictable choice of the song list. The lack of interest was evident to all of us. (Yes, I did notice that big yawn backstage, like many of you have mentioned to me. Honestly, I tend to yawn when I’m nervous, so I’m not ready to beat him up over that.) 
This week, with Neil Diamond, Jason will find something he can sink his teeth into. Like Brooke, if he can pull off a successful performance, his fan base may feel confident in their boy, and … poof. To me, Jason’s performance was worse than Brooke’s last week. Yes, she made a mistake, but his whole performance was a giant mistake. I mean, when even the guest star disses you? That’s just not good. That’s worse than Paula criticizing you. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, and the viewers might just reward him with that result. After all, he has the Ryan Starr Syndrome going against him as well, and just about everything I said about Brooke, above, applies to Jason also. I predict the bottom two will be Syesha (just because she’s always there) and Brooke. I’m going to go with Syesha and Jason. And I think the nanny who’s never seen an R-rated movie will be going home to rent a copy of Forrest Gump, which is rated R by the way. I’m a bit conflicted in my choice for the loser this week. Yes, there is the week-after curse, which could afflict both Brooke and Jason. But I also have noticed a trend that I think has one more week to play out. Michael Johns and Carly Smithson were both voted off in large part because they stumbled early and didn’t build a large enough fan base to support them to the end. They started getting better, but it was too little, too late. Syesha falls into this very same description. On the other hand, the remaining four – including Jason and Brooke – did well in the early rounds and built the fan base that has kept them around this long. So with that in mind, I have to pick Syesha to leave us. So there we have it, both of us say Syesha will be in the bottom two. I pick Brooke to join her and I pick Jason. I also say Brooke will go home, but I think it will be Syesha. We’ll find out how we did on Wednesday night! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent articles on Foxes On Idol:
Sting7 has been a respected published writer for many years, as a music editor, entertainment critic, columnist, and interviewer. He currently lives in Europe, loves cold lemonade, ice cream and kittens! You can email Stinger at stingseven@yahoo.com. 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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