Why PJAE Lost

[CarmenSandiego]

Last week, I wrote my latest analysis of the rules that American Idol Season 21 contestants will need to follow in order to make it to the end and possibly win, or at least make it to the next round.  Six people (three from Group 1 and three from Group 2) failed to even make it to the Top 20, so it's my job to analyze why they lost.  I will begin with PJAE from Group 1.  Just about everybody who made predictions figured that PJAE would lose, and sure enough, that's what happened.  But why was it so obvious that PJAE would lose?  Let's find out what PJAE did right, what he did wrong (a lot) and why PJAE lost.

 

Show Singing and Performing Talent

 

PJAE had enough singing and performing talent to make it to the Top 26, but he had definite problems showing that talent.  The fact that he and Malik had to do a sing-off to figure out who would make the Top 26 only for both of them to get in anyway at the expense of someone who was going to be in until the sing-off was a early warning sign that he didn't always show his singing and performing talent even before he made this point.  So how was his first time performing?  In two words:  not good.  Too Fab felt that he was at his best at the beginning and the end of his performance and lost them when he began walking away from the microphone and said that the performance aspects were a work in progress, indicating weak performance skills.

 

On IDF, Crisis thought that he failed to capture the soul of the original, noted that he allowed the background singers to carry him at times and thought that he was more interested in performing than in singing.  The people rating it on IDF were similar critical, with only a couple of people putting him at 6 or 6.5.  I gave PJAE a five and simply said, "Bye-bye."  It's pretty clear that PJAE fouled up with this rule.

 

Song Choice is Key

 

Another problem that PJAE might have had was with his song choice, or at least with how he chose to arrange his song.  One person on IDF thought that his choice of "Golden" was very poor and Too Fab thought that it was a bold choice while noting that it had mixed results.  Meanwhile, Crisis hated the arrangement and failed to even recognize it at first.  While he might have been a goner even had he chosen a better song or a better arrangement, his choices didn't help at all.  Thus, PJAE failed in this rule as well.

 

Be Consistently Outstanding or Better Yet, Constantly Improve Every Week

 

This was another problem that PJAE had.  He did a good job with his audition and his duet with We Ani was a major highlight, but his Showstopper performance was shaky enough that the judges had him do a sing-off with Malik, while his final performance was pretty bad.  Suffice it to say that PJAE struck out with this rule.

 

Have the Confidence to Believe That You Belong

 

This was one area where I think that PJAE did well in, or at. least did well enough in that it didn't cause him to lose.  I don't think that PJAE struggled with confidence.  In fact, Too Fab called his song choice "bold", suggesting that he had enough confidence to pick "Golden".  Unfortunately, it didn't save him from elimination, but at least he did well enough with this rule so I'll move on.

 

Know Who You Are As An Artist

 

I do think that PJAE might have had some problems knowing who he was as an artist.  The judges suggested that it was only towards the end that they thought they saw his artistic identity, which suggests that he didn't have a strong artistic identity yet.  So PJAE struggled with this rule as well.

 

Remember:  You Are a Package

 

This was another rule that PJAE had trouble with.  He wasn't a country singer.  He wasn't a rock singer.  He didn't have an outstanding voice.  And the only thing that was really interesting about him was the fact that he struggled with weight in the past.  In short, he had a relatively plain package.  Thus PJAE struck out with this rule as well.

 

Take Any Advice Offered To You And Follow It

 

At least, PJAE was able to take the advice that Allan Stone gave him and follow it.  Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save him, so I'll move on.

 

Gather a Fan Base -- And Sustain It

 

This was the final rule that PJAE failed to follow.  He wasn't a country singer.  He wasn't a rock singer.  He didn't have an outstanding voice.  And his package was too plain for him to get a lot of fans before he made the Top 26.  He needed to go out and hit a home run in his first performance to gather a fan base, but he struck out instead.  Thus PJAE failed in this rule as well.

 

PJAE had several strikes against him going into his first performance in the Top 26.  He wasn't a country singer, nor was he a rock singer.  He didn't have a voice that would make people really sit up and pay attention.  He had a plain package.  And the fact that he had to participate in a sing-off was an ominous sign.  But he could have come out and hit a home run in his first performance in the Top 26, like Nailyah did.  But instead, he struck out due to a bad song choice or a bad arrangement of his song and while Nailayh got herself in the Top 20, PJAE was left out in the cold.  And that is why PJAE lost.

Edited April 24, 2023 by CarmenSandiego

[kenboy123]

Why ______ Lost???…is this Survivor???

[CarmenSandiego]

1 minute ago, kenboy123 said:

Why ______ Lost???…is this Survivor???

 

When the Top 20 perform and we see the six who failed to make it there, then I'll edit the title to add PJAE's name.  Last season, Elliott advised me to remove the names because there are people who don't want to be spoiled before the show aired.  So I'm taking his advice and leaving PJAE's name out until after the next episode airs.  I'll do the same for the others.

 

And I got the idea from David Bloomberg back when he used to host a website called FoxesOnIdol, which was a sister website of Reality News Online.