or those people just prefer her over mckenna 😉

abi addressed in a live she did on ig that she hasn’t released “more originals” bc idol is allowing each contestant to release only 1 original during the season to keep it “fair” so i’m pretty sure everything is fine and was talked it out w production itself. 

Three down and three to go this week.  So far I’ve analyzed why Jennifer, Quintavious and Odell all failed to make the Top 14.  But I still have three more contestants to analyze, and one of them is Mackenzie.  Nobody on IDF predicted that Mackenzie would make the Top 14 and sure enough, he didn’t.  But why was his elimination so expected?  A look at the rules that American Idol contestants should follow will explain what Mackenzie did right, what he did wrong and why Mackenzie lost.   The first rule states that contestants should show singing and performing talent.  Mackenzie was able to show more talent in Hawaii than either Jordan or Blake (especially Blake), and that got him into the Top 20.  But once he got there, he sang “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”.  How did he do?  Not nearly as well as he did “Jealous” in Hawaii.  While Brokenhearted, Persy and TaylorKat gave him decent scores on IDF, I gave him a 6 and said that he was better last week, while most of IDF gave him considerably lower scores.  MJSBIGBLOG thought that he overdid his runs and was somewhat messy as a result.   Unsurprisingly, Mackenzie failed to make the Top Ten in voting but had a chance to get a Wildcard spot with “False Alarms”.  And how did he do?  Not good enough either.  I gave him a 6.5, but I thought that Jordan Anthony was better, giving him a 7.  Still, some on IDF thought that he was better than Jordan, as did MJSBIGBLOG.  But nobody thought that he was as good as Roman, Odell, Jayna or Nya, all of whom were also going for Wildcard spots.  Thus it’s safe to say that Mackenzie struggled with the first rule.   I also think that Mackenzie had problems with the second rule, which states that song choice is key.  Mackenzie chose to sing a song Lady Gaga slayed in the film “A Star Is Born”, and I didn’t think that he was as good as Lady Gaga.  And Denton Davidson from Goldderby thought that he chose the wrong song for getting a Wildcard spot.  So Mackenzie also stumbled on this rule.   Mackenzie’s biggest problem might have been the third rule, which states that contestants should be either consistently great or consistently improving.  Mackenzie was middle of the road at best, which isn’t what this rule is about.  Thus Mackenzie struck out on this rule as well.   At least Mackenzie had enough confidence and thus followed the fourth rule.  He wasn’t a bundle of nerves like Blake.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save him, so I’ll move on.   Mackenzie had an artistic identity and thus followed the fifth rule, which states that the contestants must have a strong and current artistic identity.  Mackenzie was a pop singer akin to Nick Jonas.  Unfortunately, his artistic identity might not have been as strong as those of some others, but he still followed this rule, so I’ll move on.   Unfortunately, Mackenzie had problems with the sixth rule, which states that contestants must remember that they are a package.  Mackenzie had a relatively plain package when compared to Jordan, who had the fact that he was an international contestant and his backstory of having been formerly heavy.  Mackenzie didn’t have a similar package and thus screwed up this rule as well.   Mackenzie did take any advice offered to him and tried to follow it and thus followed the seventh rule.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save him but he still had no problems, so I’ll move on.   The final rule states that contestants should gather and sustain a fan base.  This is the final rule that Mackenzie had problems with.  His middle of the road performances and his plain packaging caused him to fall behind when it came to gathering fans despite his being a cute guy, and he began competing for the cute-guy pop star vote with Blake and Jordan, both of whom had better packaging.  While Mackenzie was able to get past Blake because Blake was so bad, he needed more help to get past Jordan and he didn’t get it.  Thus Mackenzie fouled up this rule as well.   Mackenzie had too many problems.  He was a cute male pop singer, but that was pretty much his package, and he didn’t have enough singing or performing talent to be more than a middle of the road singer.  He also was competing for the cute-guy vote with Blake and Jordan, both of whom had better packages than him.  Mackenzie was more confident than Blake, which got him past that guy, he wasn’t good enough to get past Jordan, especially since Katy Perry liked Jordan.  Mackenzie was just middle of the road and that is why Mackenzie lost.

Well Cammwess too, but he was technically an original Team Legend member

Because the judges anointed her the winner from her audition, and the female winner or bust crowd rallied around her as their savior.