Why Allegra Lost

[CarmenSandiego]

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. 

[ikwonic]

Allegra didn’t go any further purely because of her edit. I don’t think Emyrson breaks any less rules than Allegra did, yet she’s still kicking. It’s clear that production was gunning for Kenedi as the girl-next-door pop teen girl for the season, with Emyrson as the alternate (who probably would’ve also been an early eliminee had Kenedi not left). Allegra had no open lane left for her this season and she ended up with a shitty edit with her Genre Challenge and Showstopper being completely unaired, and her audition being montaged. The most airtime she got was her duet, which was a shaky performance. The judges dragged Allegra along as much as they could (they knew how good Allegra was since they actually got to see her journey and performances), but they could only do so much. 

[CarmenSandiego]

14 hours ago, ikwonic said:

Allegra didn’t go any further purely because of her edit. I don’t think Emyrson breaks any less rules than Allegra did, yet she’s still kicking. It’s clear that production was gunning for Kenedi as the girl-next-door pop teen girl for the season, with Emyrson as the alternate (who probably would’ve also been an early eliminee had Kenedi not left). Allegra had no open lane left for her this season and she ended up with a shitty edit with her Genre Challenge and Showstopper being completely unaired, and her audition being montaged. The most airtime she got was her duet, which was a shaky performance. The judges dragged Allegra along as much as they could (they knew how good Allegra was since they actually got to see her journey and performances), but they could only do so much. 

 

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.