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Why Lucy Lost


CarmenSandiego

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Thankfully, I have a more normal workload when it comes to writing my analyses of why American Idol Season 21 contestants lost this week, as only 4 contestants left this week and not 8 or even 6.  One of the 4 who were eliminated this week was Lucy Love.  I didn't really expect her to win, but I didn't expect her to need one of the judges' two wildcard slots in order to get into the Top 12.  But she did and after singing "All Night Long", she was gone.  Why did this happen?  As always, I'll turn to my rules that Season 21 contestants need to follow in order to figure out what Lucy did right, what she did wrong and why Lucy lost.

 

Show Singing and Performing Talent

 

Lucy had enough singing and performing talent in order to make the Top 26, but she began running into problems showing her talent in Hawaii, where she chose to sing "What's Love Got to Do With It", where I was one of those who thought that she'd done better in the past and the TooFab staff thought that she got too wild at times.  She did do better with "Boulders", but it didn't get her into the Top 12, so she had to sing "Radioactive", and I thought that her backstory got her in because I thought that Kaeyra was someone who did better than her.

 

So how did she do with "All Night Long"?  Generally, she was solid, with the lowest score on IDF being a 5, the highest being a 10 and most putting her in the 7-8 range.  I gave her a 7 and said that it was good but it wasn't good enough, sadly.  Crisis said that she was trying too hard to have fun in the beginning and that the song got away from her at times, noting that this was a problem for her throughout the season.  And the TooFab staff thought there wasn't enough fun in her eyes at the beginning, and thought that some of the runs she used didn't work.  All in all, Lucy did okay with the first rule but she definitely had problems.

 

Song Choice Is Key

 

Lucy occasionally had problems with this rule as well, most notably with WLGTDWI, since that was an iconic Tina Turner song.  Also, had she not done an original song when she sang "Boulders", she might have convinced more fans to vote for her.  Still, this wasn't a huge problem for her so I'll move on.

 

Be Consistently Outstanding or Better Yet, Consistently Improve Every Week

 

This was the first rule that Lucy definitely failed on.  She was either inconsistent or consistently solid but not outstanding and that wasn't enough, especially when she became a wildcard.  "All Night Long" needed to be outstanding and it wasn't.  Thus Lucy screwed up this rule.

 

Have the Confidence to Believe That You Belong

 

At least Lucy seemed to do all right in this rule.  Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save her, so I'll just move on.

 

Know Who You Are As an Artist

 

I think that Lucy knew who she was as an artist and thus followed the fifth rule.  Unfortunately for her, she was an old-school type of artist and that wasn't going to work out so well.  In fact, that's one of the reasons why I thought that she wouldn't win.  Thus Lucy stumbled with this rule.

 

Remember, You Are a Package

 

Lucy also followed the sixth rule by using her background as a single mother with kids and her determination to provide a better life for them to create an appealing package that fans could get behind.  Unfortunately, her package also included her old-school artistic identity, and that might have clashed with the sympathetic backstory.  And after she had to sing for her survival, people began complaining about her "angry face".  Lucy tried to correct it but struggled to do so.  Thus in the end, Lucy fouled up this rule as well.

 

Take Any Advice Offered to You and Follow It

 

At least Lucy  didn't have any problems with this rule.  Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly enough to save her.

 

Gather a Fan Base -- and Sustain It

 

Initially, Lucy did a decent job with this rule.  She had a sympathetic backstory that probably got her quite a few fans.  But she might not have had as many fans as I thought she did and her old-school artistic identity and her inconsistent performances prevented her from gaining more fans.  Meanwhile, after a struggle in Hollywood and then Hawaii, Tyson was beginning to get better and his Top 20 performance might have propelled him into the Top 10 instead of Lucy.  So in the end, Lucy struck out on this rule as well.

 

Lucy was a fighter.  She had a sympathetic backstory that could tug at hearts and that no doubt helped her begin to create a fan base.  But because she was an old-school singer, that hindered her ability to create a strong enough fan base to get her past more mediocre contestants, and her inconsistent performances became enough of a problem to ensure that she needed one of the Judges' wildcard picks in order to move on.  And while her performance of "All Night Long" was solid, it wasn't outstanding and she needed to be outstanding.  And in the end, all that explains why Lucy lost.

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1 hour ago, CarmenSandiego said:

Thankfully, I have a more normal workload when it comes to writing my analyses of why American Idol Season 21 contestants lost this week, as only 4 contestants left this week and not 8 or even 6.  One of the 4 who were eliminated this week was Lucy Love.  I didn't really expect her to win, but I didn't expect her to need one of the judges' two wildcard slots in order to get into the Top 12.  But she did and after singing "All Night Long", she was gone.  Why did this happen?  As always, I'll turn to my rules that Season 21 contestants need to follow in order to figure out what Lucy did right, what she did wrong and why Lucy lost.

 

 

Show Singing and Performing Talent

 

Lucy had enough singing and performing talent in order to make the Top 26, but she began running into problems showing her talent in Hawaii, where she chose to sing "What's Love Got to Do With It", where I was one of those who thought that she'd done better in the past and the TooFab staff thought that she got too wild at times.  She did do better with "Boulders", but it didn't get her into the Top 12, so she had to sing "Radioactive", and I thought that her backstory got her in because I thought that Kaeyra was someone who did better than her.

 

So how did she do with "All Night Long"?  Generally, she was solid, with the lowest score on IDF being a 5, the highest being a 10 and most putting her in the 7-8 range.  I gave her a 7 and said that it was good but it wasn't good enough, sadly.  Crisis said that she was trying too hard to have fun in the beginning and that the song got away from her at times, noting that this was a problem for her throughout the season.  And the TooFab staff thought there wasn't enough fun in her eyes at the beginning, and thought that some of the runs she used didn't work.  All in all, Lucy did okay with the first rule but she definitely had problems.

 

Song Choice Is Key

 

Lucy occasionally had problems with this rule as well, most notably with WLGTDWI, since that was an iconic Tina Turner song.  Also, had she not done an original song when she sang "Boulders", she might have convinced more fans to vote for her.  Still, this wasn't a huge problem for her so I'll move on.

 

Be Consistently Outstanding or Better Yet, Consistently Improve Every Week

 

This was the first rule that Lucy definitely failed on.  She was either inconsistent or consistently solid but not outstanding and that wasn't enough, especially when she became a wildcard.  "All Night Long" needed to be outstanding and it wasn't.  Thus Lucy screwed up this rule.

 

Have the Confidence to Believe That You Belong

 

At least Lucy seemed to do all right in this rule.  Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save her, so I'll just move on.

 

Know Who You Are As an Artist

 

I think that Lucy knew who she was as an artist and thus followed the fifth rule.  Unfortunately for her, she was an old-school type of artist and that wasn't going to work out so well.  In fact, that's one of the reasons why I thought that she wouldn't win.  Thus Lucy stumbled with this rule.

 

Remember, You Are a Package

 

Lucy also followed the sixth rule by using her background as a single mother with kids and her determination to provide a better life for them to create an appealing package that fans could get behind.  Unfortunately, her package also included her old-school artistic identity, and that might have clashed with the sympathetic backstory.  And after she had to sing for her survival, people began complaining about her "angry face".  Lucy tried to correct it but struggled to do so.  Thus in the end, Lucy fouled up this rule as well.

 

Take Any Advice Offered to You and Follow It

 

At least Lucy  didn't have any problems with this rule.  Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly enough to save her.

 

Gather a Fan Base -- and Sustain It

 

Initially, Lucy did a decent job with this rule.  She had a sympathetic backstory that probably got her quite a few fans.  But she might not have had as many fans as I thought she did and her old-school artistic identity and her inconsistent performances prevented her from gaining more fans.  Meanwhile, after a struggle in Hollywood and then Hawaii, Tyson was beginning to get better and his Top 20 performance might have propelled him into the Top 10 instead of Lucy.  So in the end, Lucy struck out on this rule as well.

 

Lucy was a fighter.  She had a sympathetic backstory that could tug at hearts and that no doubt helped her begin to create a fan base.  But because she was an old-school singer, that hindered her ability to create a strong enough fan base to get her past more mediocre contestants, and her inconsistent performances became enough of a problem to ensure that she needed one of the Judges' wildcard picks in order to move on.  And while her performance of "All Night Long" was solid, it wasn't outstanding and she needed to be outstanding.  And in the end, all that explains why Lucy lost.

I'm guessing someone here reads the former RNO (Reality News Online) and their sister site, Foxes on Idol.

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Just now, CarmenSandiego said:

Yeah — me.  That’s where I got the idea to analyze the contestants who made it to the voting rounds.

Yeah, that's what I figured.  I read that site years ago and loved it.  I use the Survivor version myself to recite to myself why certain Total Drama characters lost their seasons.

 

. . . Don't judge.😝

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She reminded me of a much, much, much better and more serious version of Zoanette lol. 
 

To me, her story felt very similar to LaPorsha’s and maybe the voters thought they’d already seen her journey done better before by someone else (not that it stops the WGWGs from thriving every season but whatever.) She also had a unique way of phrasing which isn’t for everyone. Finally, like someone mentioned above, the RBF. She bizarrely started putting on this tough face and act, and it made her less likable to a lot of viewers. She couldn’t recover from that. 
 

Overall, I think she just didn’t connect with the voting demographic and they chose Wé as their favorite “big voice” female. 

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42 minutes ago, Carrie_On said:

She reminded me of a much, much, much better and more serious version of Zoanette lol. 
 

To me, her story felt very similar to LaPorsha’s and maybe the voters thought they’d already seen her journey done better before by someone else (not that it stops the WGWGs from thriving every season but whatever.) She also had a unique way of phrasing which isn’t for everyone. Finally, like someone mentioned above, the RBF. She bizarrely started putting on this tough face and act, and it made her less likable to a lot of viewers. She couldn’t recover from that. 
 

Overall, I think she just didn’t connect with the voting demographic and they chose Wé as their favorite “big voice” female. 


Yeah.  The fact that Wé was consistently great or at least very good probably hurt Lucy as well since she would have been competing with Wé for the “big voice” female slot and Wé was much better.

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TPTB clearly wanted to try and make Lucy go far (her being in the premiere, her emotional moment with Jordin in Hollywood, her getting the wildcard, etc.) However, viewers just weren't receptive of that due to reasons that have already been listed in this thread. I'd even say she got the second biggest edit of the season, behind Iam. 

 

When spoilers dropped, I noticed she had a lot of cool covers of unique song choices on her insta (Say So by JoJo/PJ Morton, Lost One by Jazmine Sullivan, Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles.) She even had some rapping content! One would assume she would go down the contemporary R&B root, but instead, she only sang songs from the overdone powerhouse songbook (What’s Love Got To Do With It, To Make You Feel My Love, A Song For You, etc.) The only refreshing song choice she made was her original. Very disappointing imo. She has major potential but it was not showcased on Idol :(

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1 hour ago, m1key said:

TPTB clearly wanted to try and make Lucy go far (her being in the premiere, her emotional moment with Jordin in Hollywood, her getting the wildcard, etc.) However, viewers just weren't receptive of that due to reasons that have already been listed in this thread. I'd even say she got the second biggest edit of the season, behind Iam. 

 

When spoilers dropped, I noticed she had a lot of cool covers of unique song choices on her insta (Say So by JoJo/PJ Morton, Lost One by Jazmine Sullivan, Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles.) She even had some rapping content! One would assume she would go down the contemporary R&B root, but instead, she only sang songs from the overdone powerhouse songbook (What’s Love Got To Do With It, To Make You Feel My Love, A Song For You, etc.) The only refreshing song choice she made was her original. Very disappointing imo. She has major potential but it was not showcased on Idol :(


That gives me even more insight into why Lucy lost.  I can see now that Lucy was competing with Wé for the “big voice” female slot but Lucy made some poor song choices by choosing songs from the overdone powerhouse songbook while Wé made more risky and (usually) less overdone choices.

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