Why Emyrson Lost

[CarmenSandiego]

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.