CarmenSandiego

Last Sunday, we said good-bye to three contestants during Disney Night. I already analyzed why Emyrson Flora was one of those three, and now it's time to look at one more: Mike Parker. He did well enough to make it to Disney Night, but his journey ended there. Why did he fall short of the finale or the win? If we take a look at the rules that American Idol Season 20 contestants ideally should follow, we can see what Mike did well, what he failed at and why Mike lost. Show Singing and Performing Talent Mike had enough singing and performing talent to make the Top 24, and there were times when he showed that talent. But he didn't show that talent well in what turned out to be his final performance, "You'll Be In My Heart." The TooFab staff called his performance "surprisingly clinical". Crisis thought that while Mike did fine on the verses, he didn't do so well with the choruses. And I gave him a 7, with only Noah tied with him for last place, and said that Mike was a goner. Thus Mike failed the first rule. Song Choice Is Key Mike didn't do quite as badly with this rule as Lady K. or even Emyrson. But Crisis thought that he could've chosen a better song than "You'll Be In My Heart", which admittedly is overdone by this time. More importantly, Mike didn't always choose songs that showcased his artistic identity. As Crisis noted, he often went down a country route when he had more of an R&B voice, something which I'll talk about more later. Thus, Mike also had problems with this rule. Be Consistently Great or Better Yet, Consistently Improve Every Week This was another rule that Mike had problems with. Mike began his journey in the voting round with a mediocre performance but did manage to improve enough to get into the Top 14, albeit through a wildcard spot, the Top 11 and even the Top 10 although the Top 10 performance might not have been his best. Unfortunately, all that came crashing down with his final performance, which was a step backwards in many ways. Thus Mike also stumbled on this rule. Stand Out By Being Unique or By Being Memorable For Positive Reasons Mike was a mixed bag on this rule. On the one hand, he was one of three country guys, and one of four country singers overall. On the other hand, he was a Black Country singer, which certainly is rare if not unheard of, and thus made him stand out. And he was able to stand out more than Dan, a white country male singer who was boring and mediocre. Unfortunately, he wasn't as memorable as Noah Thompson, another white male country singer, as well as Huntergirl, a female country singer. Thus while Mike didn't do too badly with this rule, he failed in the end. Remember, You Are a Package This might have been the biggest failure Mike had. The TooFab Staff noted that Mike was trying to find his identity as an artist, while Crisis felt that Mike should have done R&B instead of country. While Crisis claimed that Mike was being pushed down the country route by the show, the fact that Mike looked up to Jimmie Allen, another Black Country singer who had tried out for American Idol suggests that Mike might have chosen to go down the Country route on his own, either because he felt it would help him stand out or just because he wanted to be like Allen. Either way, he was a country singer with elements of R&B in his voice, and he struggled to merge those parts at times. Thus Mike struck out on this rule as well. Never, Ever Argue With the Judges or Respond To Any Baiting From Ryan At least Mike did fine with this rule. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly enough to save him, so I'll move on. Gather a Fan Base -- And Sustain It This was the final rule that Mike failed at. As noted earlier, Mike was one of three male country singers, and four country singers overall. Sooner or later, the country singers were going to be trimmed down, and while Mike managed to avoid being the first country singer to go, he wasn't able to get enough of a fan base to get past Huntergirl or Noah, especially since he needed a wildcard spot to get into the Top 14 and they didn't. Thus Mike ultimately fouled up this rule as well. Mike was part of a quartet of country singers and while he was better than Dan and managed to outlast him despite his needing a wildcard spot and Dan's not needing one. But Mike wasn't memorable enough and he didn't have enough of an artistic identity to get past Noah or Huntergirl without doing a lot of things right. And on Disney Night, he had his worst performance in some time, ending his chances of getting past at least Huntergirl. That is why Mike lost.

True. Also, I prefer Fritz to many other WGWGs. Noah, on the other hand, is mediocre albeit earnest.

We've finally moved to a more reasonable pace of eliminations, with only three people going this week. One of them was Emyrson Flora. She did well to make it to the Top 10, but was eliminated then, failing to make the Top 7. Why did that happen? If we take a look at the rules that American Idol Season 20 contestants should ideally follow, then we can probably find out what Emyrson did right, what she did wrong and why Emyrson lost. Show Singing and Performing Talent Emyrson certainly had enough singing and performing talent to make the Top 24, and in the voting rounds, she showed it in her Top 24 group. However, there was one part of her voice that wasn't so good, and that was her upper register. When she sang songs that required a high upper register, her vocal limits were painfully exposed, such as in her rendition of "drivers license". That was her worst performance by a mile, and it showed. Fortunately, she recovered from that huge misstep the following week, but how did she do on Disney Night? She actually did pretty good. The TooFab staff put her seventh overall, with only fellow eliminated contestants Lady K. and Mike, as well as Leah, below her. However, Crisis noted that she spent too much time in her upper register, her weak spot, than she should have, despite saying that she had an above average showing in that performance. And most of the IDF people rated it above average as well, with me giving it a 7.5. Thus Emyrson usually followed this rule, but her weak moments hurt her in the end. Song Choice Is Key This is the first rule that Emyrson definitely had problems with. In general, several of her song choices required a voice that had a powerful upper register, and Emyrson didn't have that. But more specifically, the song she chose for Disney Night was from a rather obscure movie, "Onward", and thus wouldn't have encouraged a lot of people to vote for her performance the way that say, "Circle of Life" might have encouraged people to vote for Christian. Had Emyrson chosen a song from a less obscure movie, she'd probably still be here. Thus Emyrson failed this rule. Be Consistently Great or Better Yet, Consistently Improve From Week To Week This is another rule that Emyrson had problems with. She began well in the voting rounds, but stumbled badly on "drivers license" and wasn't able to recover in time to get very far. Her poor song choices in terms of her vocal limitations didn't help either. Thus, Emyrson struck out in this rule. Stand Out by Being Unique or By Being Memorable For Positive Reasons Emyrson had problems with this rule as well, as she was just one of a large number of girls who could play instruments or were singer/songwriters. She was able to stand out early on but as the weeks progressed, she became less and less memorable. And choosing an obscure song wasn't going to help her in this area. Thus, Emyrson stumbled with this rule as well. Remember, You Are a Package Emyrson also had problems with this rule as well. Part of it is due to her age, as she is only 16 and still trying to figure out who she is as an artist. But this hurt her when competing against girls such as Huntergirl, Leah or Nicolina, all of whom had definite packages. Emyrson didn't have all the parts necessary for her package, and it showed. Thus Emyrson fouled up this rule as well. Never, Ever Argue With the Judges or Respond to Baiting From Ryan Well, at least Emyrson succeeded with this rule. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly enough to help her overcome her other problems, so I'll move on. Gather a Fan Base -- And Sustain It This is the final rule that Emyrson had problems with. Initially, she did well with it. But after Emyrson stumbled on "drivers license", the number of people who liked her began to shrink, as seen on social media such as Facebook. It didn't help that she wasn't a country singer and thus would have had a built-in fan base. And singing an obscure song on Disney Night wouldn't encourage casual voters to vote for her. Thus Emyrson messed up this rule as well. Emyrson began the voting rounds well enough that she was able to get a fan base. But then she picked what turned out to be a poor song choice in "drivers license", and her consistency and her memorability for positive reasons were gone. She now had a hard time sustaining the fans she had, although she was able to give a much better performance in the Top 10 round, and she could have sustained her momentum with a good song choice during Disney Night. Unfortunately while she performed her song well, the song came from such an obscure movie that it ended her chances of winning. That is why Emyrson lost.

1. Which 5 singers will advance to the Top 5? (100 points) - Leah - Noah - Huntergirl - Fritz - Nicolina 2. Which 2 singers will not advance to the Top 5? (40 points) - Bye-bye, Christian - Bye-bye, Jay 3. Which female singer will be announced first by Ryan Seacrest to move forward to Top 5? (30 points) - Leah 4. Which male singer will be announced first by Ryan Seacrest to move forward to Top 5? (30 points) - Noah (gag) 5. Which singer will be announced last by Ryan Seacrest to move forward to Top 5? (30 points) - Nicolina 6. What will be the ratio of male and female singers in the Top 5? (20 points) - 3 females and 2 males Bonus Questions 7. Will Leah play any musical instrument in her performance this week? (50 points) - Yeah 8. Which singer in the Top 7 will perform last? (50 points) - Leah 9. How many platinum ticket holder will move forward to the next round (Top 5)? 2 or 1 or 0 (50 points)? - Just 1 Super Bonus Question 10. What is the gender of the third singer who will be revealed safe by Ryan and move forward to the Top 5? (100 points) - Female

Kenedi's audition was my favorite! What could have been ... Sigh.

The best performance belonged to Nicolina. As for who got robbed, it was Lady K.

1. Leah 2. Nicolina 3. Huntergirl 4. Fritz 5. Jay 6. Christian 7. Noah

Not Leah. I think that Nicolina is a decent candidate for going home next week, however. But I think that Christian will go home instead.

Lady K - How Far I’ll Go from Moana - 8. This was Lady K.'s best performance in some time. Noah Thompson - You’ve Got a Friend In Me from Toy Story - 7. Enjoyable but very predictable. Emyrson Flora - Carried Me With You from Onward - 7.5. She sang it well, but the obscure song choice probably hurt her. HunterGirl - I’ll See The Light from Tangled - 8.5. Her best performance in a long time, possibly her best one yet. Jay Copeland - Remember Me from Coco - 7.5. At least he didn't try to perform it as a cheesy over-the-top number. Leah Marlene - When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2 - 8.5. Not as good as Casey's performance last year, but still very good. Nicolina Bozzo - Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid - 9.5. Nicotine's best performance yet! Mike Parker - You’ll Be In My Heart from Tarzan - 7. Mike was a goner with this performance. Christian Guardino - Circle of Life from The Lion King - 7.5. A second view makes me like it more. Fritz Hager - Go the Distance from Hercules - 7.5. Surprisingly one of his weakest performances. But, he's still good.

My Top 3: 1. Leah 2. NIcolina 3. Huntergirl

I don't know the next lotto numbers -- but I do have an idea who goes next week. Bye-bye, Christian and Jay.

Another good performance from Fritz.

He's all that, but his song choices and tendency to over sing turns people off.

Agreed. I think Christian is a goner. Bad song choice.

I was focused on other things, but I think that Lady K., Huntergirl, Leah and Nicolina were the best. Emyrson and Jay were very good and Noah was vocally good but his song choice was rather predictable and his performance skills are still rather Mike was pretty good but I fear that he punched his ticket out of here. Vocally good but his performance skills still lag behind. He's getting better but Nicotine's performance skills are much better!

I'd be more upset if Lady K is eliminated than if Emyrson is.

I think that Lady K. and Mike are probably goners, although Lady K. might survive and it would be Emyrson who went home instead. I think that if either Lady K. or Emyrson is the one going home along with Mike, then Jay or Christian will be goners, especially since Christian is singing "Circle of Life".

After the Top 14 was cut to the Top 11, the Top 11 performed and Tristen wound up in the Bottom 2 along with Lady K. The judges chose to save Lady K., thus eliminating Tristen. While the Judges' Save is the immediate cause of Tristen's loss, I believe the seeds of his eventual elimination were planted much earlier. To explain what I mean, we'll look at the rules that American Idol Season 20 contestants ideally should follow in order to see what Tristen did right, what he did wrong (which was a lot), and why Tristen lost. Show Singing and Performing Talent Tristen had enough singing and performing talent to make the Top 24, and showed a lot of performing talent once he got there. In fact, the Too Fab staff actually preferred it to Lady K.'s performance, praising the amount of energy that he brought to the stage. However, he had problems showing his singing talent, and not just on this song. In the Top 24 round, Crisis said that "With a Little Help From My Friends" was too big for his voice, and also criticized his singing in the Top 20 round and the Top 14 round. In what was Tristen's final performance, Crisis said that his performance was a complete mess. IDF put Tristen in next-to-last following his Top 14 performance (only the unlamented Dan Marshall got a lower score), and Tristen got the lowest overall rating in the Top 11, with me giving him a 6.5 and outright saying that it was past his time to go. So while Tristen certainly was able to show his performing talent, he still failed this rule overall since he couldn't show enough singing talent. Song Choice Is Key This was another rule that Tristen failed to follow at times, most notably when he sang an Adam Lambert song in the Top 14 round. While I have openly mentioned my dislike of Adam Lambert''s tone of voice, even I have admitted that he's a fine singer and if someone wants to take one of his songs on, they need to have the voice for it. Better yet, they shouldn't even try one of his songs. His song was too big for Tristen, and the performance suffered accordingly, even if he somehow survived that round. Thus Tristen also had problems with this rule. Be Consistently Outstanding or Better Yet, Consistently Improve Tristen was consistent. Unfortunately, he was consistently entertaining, which isn't really what this rule had in mind. Tristen wasn't consistently great, nor did he consistently improve. Thus he ultimately stumbled on this rule as well. Stand Out By Being Unique or By Being Memorable for Positive Reasons Tristen was able to stand out by being an entertainer and by being the only real rock singer in the Top 24. This probably helped him get farther than he should have, especially when compared to Allegra Miles. Thus, this was the first rule that Tristen succeeded in. Remember, You Are a Package Tristen was able to package himself by being an entertainer and thus followed the fifth rule. Unfortunately, his package often came at the expense of his vocals, but at least it allowed him to get farther than some others in the game. Thus Tristen also succeeded in this rule. Never, Ever Argue With the Judges or Respond To Any Baiting From Ryan Tristen also followed this rule, and he actually followed it before the voting rounds. In his audition, the judges criticized him by saying that he was overly manic. He actually took their advice and toned it down in later rounds. This probably got him a lot farther than he otherwise would have. Gather a Fan Base -- And Sustain It This is the final rule that Tristen had problems with. He wasn't really able to gather a fan base that was able to help him get into the Top 14 by public vote, and thus he had to be added as a Wildcard. He was able to skate by in the Top 14 round, but when he wound up in the Bottom 2 along with Lady K. in the Top 11 round, his time was up as Lady K. had gotten into the Top 14 by public vote. The only chance he might have had to survive was if he was up against fellow Wildcards Jay or Mike, but he wasn't. Anyway, this was the final rule that Tristen struck out on. Tristen should have been eliminated in the Top 14 round, or maybe even in the Top 20 round, but he survived largely because he was entertaining and because he was a rock singer. But he was never going to win, because he was one of the weakest vocalists and because he made some very iffy song choices. He was able to get into the Top 14 by being saved by the judges once, but he didn't have enough fans in the Top 11 round to avoid being in the Bottom 2 and once he was there with Lady K., he was doomed. And that is why Tristen lost.

I'd probably agree with you on the analysis of Noah.

1. Lady K. (personal choice) 2. Leah 3. Emyrson 4. Nicolina 5. Fritz 6. Huntergirl 7. Jay 8. Christian 9. Mike 10. Noah (especially with his Disney song choice)

That's actually another fine way to interpret a song, actually. The point is that you need to connect with the song, whether it's the way that the original writer intended or through some other way.

I agree that her edit played a major role in her not going any further. She had a lot going for her, but the lack of air time put her way behind the 8-ball and it was just too big a hole for her to climb out of. What a pity.

Four people were eliminated this week: three from the Top 14 and one from the Top 11. I have already explained why Dan and Ava lost, so now I'll turn my attention to Allegra Miles, the final contestant eliminated in the Top 14. This is the hardest analysis of an eliminated contestant that I have yet to write about, because I really believe that Allegra should have gone farther than she did. Nonetheless, there were reasons why she lost, and if we look at the rules that American Idol Season 20 contestants ideally should follow, then we can see why Allegra lost. Show Singing and Performing Talent This was one rule that Allegra for the most part followed. Except possibly for her first performance in the voting rounds, she showed plenty of singing and performing talent. The Too Fab staff praised her final performance of "Ocean Eyes", saying that she gave some truly magical moments. Crisis thought that this was her best performance, and I gave it a 9, which was a tie with Leah Marlene's "Happy Together". That said, she did have problems with enunciation in at least some of her performances. Still, overall Allegra followed the first rule. Song Choice Is Key I believe that Allegra also did well with this rule, with the possible exception of "Adore You." Still, she moved on to the Top 20, so we can move on. Be Consistently Great or Better Yet, Consistently Improve Every Week This was another rule that I actually think that Allegra did well with. She started off well enough in the first voting round performance with "Adore You", but really took a huge stride with "Free Fallin'". Then she took another huge stride with "Ocean Eyes". However, due to a lack of exposure prior to the voting rounds, she needed to improve more dramatically, and she might not have been able to do so. Thus Allegra mostly succeeded, but didn't succeed enough, with this rule. Stand Out By Being Unique or By Being Memorable for Positive Reasons Sadly, this was the first rule that Allegra really stumbled on. She was probably one of a number of singer-songwriters in the competition, and there doesn't seem to have been anything memorable in a positive sense for her to use. Worse, she hadn't done too well when she appeared on The Voice earlier on, apparently being forgotten there as well. Thus Allegra struck out on this rule. Remember, You Are a Package Allegra also failed with this rule as well, especially if you consider the possibility that one of the reasons why she was featured so little before the voting rounds was because she was apparently pansexual, and the producers feared that it would not go over well with the people who watch the show. While I have had enough experience with LGBTQ+ characters to have little problem with pansexuality as long as the singer's good enough for me to root for (and if I don't have another strong favorite), I have to admit that middle-aged and older housewives would probably not go for a pansexual girl. This definitely hurt Allegra. Never, Ever Argue With the Judges or Respond To Any Baiting From Ryan Okay, so the odds of arguing Katy, Lionel and Luke are minimal at best, especially once the voting rounds begin, but still Allegra had no problem with this rule. Gather a Fan Base -- and Support It This was the final rule that Allegra had problems with. She'd been featured far too little before the voting rounds. She wasn't able to stand out from the other female singer-songwriters. Part of her package had to be concealed because of the conservatism of most viewers. And like with Ava Maybee, her voice wasn't really for everyone. While she was better than Ava, she couldn't gather enough fans in time to save her. Thus Ava missed the mark on this rule as well. Allegra should have gone farther than Tristen Gresset. However, Tristen was able to stand out by being a real entertainer. Allegra wasn't able to do so. Worse, she was barely featured before the voting rounds, in part due to an important part of her package being concealed. This put her in a huge hole when the voting rounds came, and while she was able to show more singing and performing talent in the voting rounds, she wasn't able to do so enough to overcome the huge hole she had to climb out of. That is why Allegra lost.

Top 7 Questions 1. Which 7 singers will advance to the Top 7? (70 points) - - Nicolina - Noah - Leah - Fritz - Huntergirl - Jay - Lady K. 2. Which 3 singers will not advance to the Top 7? (30 points) - Bye-bye, Christian - Bye-bye, Emyrson - Bye-bye, Mike 3. Which female singer will be announced first by Ryan Seacrest to move forward to Top 7? (30 points) - Nicolina 4. Which male singer will be announced first by Ryan Seacrest to move forward to Top 7? (30 points) - Noah 5. Which singer will be announced last by Ryan Seacrest to move forward to Top 7? (30 points) - Emyrson 6. What will be the ratio of male and female singers in the Top 7? (20 points) - 3 males and 4 females Bonus Questions 7. How many singer will play musical instrument in their performance? (50 points) - 3 8. Which singer in the Top 10 will perform last? (50 points) - Huntergirl 9. Will Luke Bryan wear Disney costume during the Disney Night? Yes or No? (50 points) - No Super Bonus Question 10. Which costume will Katy Perry wear during the Disney Night? You can give 5 answers to this question (100 points). In the previous seasons, Katy’s Disney costumes were Snow White, Ursula, Dumbo and Tinkerbell for Disney Night. - Ariel - Belle - Cinderella - Elsa - Rapunzel

That's not the only reason why his song choice worries me. "Remember Me" is an example of the need to properly interpret a song. The songwriter intended it to be a loving ballad addressed to his daughter, but the villain twisted it into a bombastic song about romance in general, not for a specific person. Jay needs to understand the context of the song, and if he doesn't, then he's doomed.