Why Warren Lost

[CarmenSandiego]

This week, I analyzed why Haven and Oliver had their American Idol journeys end in the Top 8.  Now it's time for one more person, and that person is Warren.  He was a country singer, but while he outlasted Marybeth, he couldn't outlast Colin.  Why was that the case?  As always, I'll look at the rules that Season 21 contestants should follow in order to figure out what Warren did right, what he did wrong, and why Warren lost.

 

Show Singing and Performing Talent

 

Warren had enough singing and performing talent to make the Top 26, but after that point, he needed to show it.  So how did he do?  Overall, I'd say that he had minor problems with this rule.  He began well with a unique interpretation of "Set Fire to the Rain", but after that, he began slipping towards the back of the pack, both with IDF and with the TooFab staff, although the TooFab staff enjoyed his performances of "House of the Rising Sun" and "Cold Weather" enough to put him in the middle of the pack, while Crisis enjoyed his performances at first but thought that Warren forgot the lyrics for HOTRS, but thought that he recovered.

 

So how did he do with his final solo of "All I Really Want" and his duet with Wé Ani in "Perfect"?  The TooFab staff put him in 8th overall with his solo, ahead of only Colin and Oliver and noted that he struggled to find his footing in the beginning but eventually recovered.  However, although they still enjoyed the duet, they put it in last, with Colin's duet with Megan coming in second.  Crisis had a hard time hearing him over the band and thought that he was flat in his solo and detested "Perfect".  And IDF for the most part rated him between 5.5 and the 7 range for his solo, with me giving him a 7 and saying that it was enjoyable and giving him higher scores for the duet, mainly because of Wé and less because of Warren.  All in all, I think that Warren was middle of the pack in terms of singing and performing talent, and thus he stumbled with this rule.

 

Song Choice Is Key

 

For the most part, I think that Warren had few problems with this rule, but for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame week, he chose a song that Haley Reinhart slew back in Season 10, and I thought that Haley was better than him.  His forgetting the lyrics didn't help.  Still, he survived that week. so I'll move on.

 

Be Consistently Outstanding or Better Yet, Consistently Improve Every Week

 

This was another rule that Warren had problems with.  He was consistently good but not great, which wasn't nearly what he needed to be even in the earlier stages of the competition.  It didn't help that his main competition, Colin, had two moments that were highly praised -- "Dancing on My Own" and his duet, while Warren didn't really have one.  Thus Warren fouled up this rule.

 

Have the Confidence to Believe That You Belong

 

Unlike Oliver (who was eliminated this week), I don't think that Warren had any problems with confidence, so I'll move on.

 

Know Who You Are As an Artist

 

Warren had no problems with this rule either.  He was a country rock singer and he showed it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly enough to save him, but at least he knew what type of artist he was, so I'll move on.

 

Remember, You Are a Package

 

Warren was somewhat successful with this rule.  He had the backstory of being in a Christian music group and then his struggles with alcoholism.  Unfortunately, he might not have used it as much as he should have.  So Warren struggled with this rule as well.

 

Take Any Advice Offered to You and Follow It

 

At least Warren had no problems 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 ultimately might have been the final straw for Warren.  As a country rock singer, he was probably able to gather a fan base and with his being a worship leader, he could also have gathered fans who liked Christian music.  However, he competed with Colin for the country vote and with Megan for the Christian vote, with Megan probably winning more from that group.  Then he and Colin probably faced vote-splitting and Colin wound up winning that war, possibly because Colin was cuter than Warren and middle-class American housewives have a weakness for cute country singers.  Another contributing factor might have been that Warren performed both his solo and his duet earlier in the evening, while Colin performed his duet with Megan towards the end and thus Warren might have been forgotten a little bit.  Therefore, Warren began well with this rule but sputtered on it at the end.

 

Warren did well to get to the Top 8.  He had decent singing and performing skills.  He usually made good song choices.  He was confident, he knew his artistic identity, he followed advice, and he could get a dedicated fan base because he was a country (rock) singer.  What did him in was that he was generally good but not great, and none of his performances were considered near the top of anybody's list, whereas Colin at least had a great performance of DOMO.  And he and Colin were competing for the same fan base.  And finally, Colin had one duet near the end that proved to be memorable, while Warren had two performances early on and they were forgotten more by the end.  When you add all that up, that is why Warren lost.

[xfactor22]

Tbh,  I think Warren was very great on some performances, but yeah not every performance. Though most of his performances have at least been good, minus “You Learn”.  I do wonder if he did follow the “know who you are as an artist” rule as you said he did, because he seemed to switched between being an intriguing country contestant who flipped well-known songs to a normal country singer covering country songs and back 

[CarmenSandiego]

12 hours ago, xfactor22 said:

Tbh,  I think Warren was very great on some performances, but yeah not every performance. Though most of his performances have at least been good, minus “You Learn”.  I do wonder if he did follow the “know who you are as an artist” rule as you said he did, because he seemed to switched between being an intriguing country contestant who flipped well-known songs to a normal country singer covering country songs and back 

You might be right about that.  He knew that he was country but maybe not if he was a regular country singer or a more intriguing one.