American Idol 8: Why Allison, Adam, and Kris Moved into the Finals

As I noted last week, I normally follow up my article on What ‘American Idol 8’ Contestants Need to Know with columns each week on why contestants lost. And those columns will indeed begin when the finals do. However, I’m not writing nine articles each week during the semi-finals! Instead, let’s look at what each of the three successful semi-finalists did to make it to the finals in the second round.

That second group saw Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, and Kris Allen move forward. Adam was featured fairly heavily in early shows, but Allison and Kris were virtually nonexistent. Why did these three move into the finals?

This week, it seems the emphasis was on the first rule more than ever. It emphasizes that the contestants need to show singing and performing talent. Note the important of the italicized word, show. The rule used to say that contestants needed to have such talent. I changed it because it’s not enough to have talent – the contestants need to demonstrate such that talent.

We know from previous episodes, for example, that Matt Giraud has talent. Same with Kai Kalama. But neither of them really showed it in their semi-final performances. Indeed, there was a severe dearth of talent on display, which opened up the doors for those who hadn’t been featured but could show that they deserved to move on. Allison and Kris took advantage by putting forth exceptional efforts. For example, Randy said Allison did a great job, Kara said she was “serious” and doesn’t know how good she is, Paula made the old “you could sing the telephone book” comment (I think it’s a little early for that one, incidentally), and Simon sang her praises even higher than the other three. Kris didn’t quite get comments like that, but three out of the four judges (all but Kara) gave him high marks. I admit that I didn’t personally think Kris’ performance would lodge him in viewers’ minds, but I wasn’t upset to be wrong.

Of course, song choice played a major role in determining who had good performances and who did. For example, Matt Giraud made a horrible choice in going with Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” As I noted at the time:

First, it’s a very recent hit (indeed, right now it’s the #4 MP3 download on Amazon.com), which begs people to compare to what they’ve heard on the radio. I know I was comparing Matt the whole way through. And he didn’t compare well. Second, the song has a lot of musical interludes in it that had to be cut out in order to shorten it – meaning it sounded weird as he jumped from lyric to lyric. Third, as the judges said, this was not the song for Matt. Horrible song choice.

As I noted last week, the third rule, which discusses consistency and the ability to sing in different genres, doesn’t really apply yet – other than the way in which is coincides with the first rule. This was the first time we got to see the contestants perform live, so they really needed to show us what they could do. Too many of them failed to do so while Allison, Kris, and Adam succeded.

Two of the three also did well in terms of the fourth rule, which is to be unique. Adam has certainly stood out in this season to date. And Allison made the most of her appearance this time in showing off her unique look. Kris… well, he’s kind of bland. Or as Tyler Sandersfeld said in “We’ll Be the Judge of That!” he’s “pretty boring.” When the finals begin, he really needs to do something to stand out.

Why? So he can follow the fifth rule as well and be memorable. Because of Adam and Allison’s uniqueness, they will likely be memorable as well – though Adam more so than Allison because we know more about his back story. Kris will only be remembered as “that other guy from group two who made it to the finals.”

Adam is the only one so far who has succeeded in presenting himself as a complete package, in accordance with the sixth rule. Allison and (especially) Kris need to flesh out their personalities and backgrounds so viewers have more reason to vote for them – especially in case they don’t always perform up to their peak level once the finals hit.

All three of them seem to be okay in terms of the seventh rule, as none of them argued with the judges. Compare this to Jesse, who wouldn’t shut up, or Nick/Normund, who constantly irritates Simon.

The eighth rule discusses the need to create a fan base. Adam has certainly accomplished that already. Allison is probably on her way. Kris? Well, I think he has a lot of work to do. He needs to show some personality and do everything else I’ve already mentioned here in order to get those fans wanting to vote for him now. He has a steep hill to climb, but it’s possible to do.

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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