CarmenSandiego Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 Last Monday night, the Top 20 became the Top 14 as six contestants were eliminated! That means I have to analyze six contestants to figure out why they lost! Luckily, I’m up to the task, and I’ll begin with Jennifer Jeffries. She was one of four girls in the Bottom 10 in votes and after singing for a Wildcard spot, she was gone. But why did she fail to get a Wildcard spot? As always, I’ll look at the rules that American Idol contestants should follow in order to find out what Jennifer did right, what she did wrong and why Jennifer lost. The first rule states that contestants must show singing and performing talent. And this is where Jennifer first had problems. She was one of the weakest girls in terms of vocal talent. If you don’t believe me, last week IDF gave her an average rating of 5.57, which was only higher than the average scores of Kayko, Blake and K-Blocks and only K-Blocks had a lower average score in her group. Jennifer was able to move on thanks to K-Blocks being worse, Elleigh choosing a terrible song and to all three being in a group that didn’t have the heavy hitters in terms of vocal and performance talent. So how did Jennifer do when she sang after making the Top 20? Perhaps even worse. Most of those on IDF gave her a rating lower than a 5, and only one gave her a score higher than a 6. I gave her a 5.5 and said that she was worse than last week. Denton Davidson from Goldderby also said that this wasn’t his favorite performance, and even the judges were somewhat critical. Unsurprisingly, she failed to get into the Top Ten in votes, so she sang “All I Want”. She did a little better this time on IDF, as she got a couple of 7’s and a 6.5, but I gave her a 5.5 and said that it wasn’t good enough, especially with singers like Jayna and Nya (both of whom got Wildcard spots). Thus Jennifer struck out on the first rule. What about the second rule, which states that song choice is key? I think that Jennifer did better on this rule. While her Top 20 performance wasn’t good, there’s no indication that it was because her song choice was bad. And Denton Davidson thought that she chose a good song to sing for her survival. While it didn’t help her survive the Top 14 cut, at least she succeeded with this rule, I’ll move on. But Jennifer had problems with the third rule, which states that contestants should be consistently great or improve every week. Jennifer was consistently near the back of the pack, which is not what this rule states should be the case, so she screwed up this rule as well. The fourth rule states that contestants must be confident. While nowhere near as bad as Blake, Jennifer did have this problem with “Grave Digger”, as Katy thought Jennifer wasn’t so confident. But Jennifer did recover nicely with “All I Want”, but it was too late. That said, the fourth rule wasn’t a major reason for her elimination, so I’ll move on. The fifth rule states that contestants should know what their artistic identity is, and have a current and marketable one. I think that Jennifer did a better job with this rule than say, Hailey, but she still wasn’t great with this rule. She didn’t have as clear of an artistic identity as most of the other women. That said, the fifth rule didn’t play a major role in Jennifer’s elimination, so I’ll move on. The sixth rule states that contestants must remember that they are a package. Jennifer had some problems with this rule as well, since although she had a very distinct tone of voice, she wasn’t as memorable as most of the girls in the Top 20. Thus, Jennifer struggled with this rule as well. At least Jennifer didn’t have any problems with the seventh rule, which states that contestants must take any advice offered to them and follow it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly enough to save her, at least she followed that rule, so I’ll move on. The final rule states that contestants should gather and sustain a fan base. Jennifer had problems with this rule as well. She didn’t have the vocal chops to compete with most of the other girls, and she wasn’t a country singer, so she couldn’t get votes from that group of voters. And her performances weren’t good enough to help her gain more fans. Thus in the end, Jennifer fouled up this rule as well. Jennifer had too many strikes against her. She had possibly the weakest vocal talent among the women; she wasn’t a country singer so she couldn’t compensate for her vocal weaknesses by getting a dedicated fan base that way, and the only thing she was memorable for was having a distinct tone of voice. Without anything else to help her, a distinct tone of voice could only take her so far, especially when she couldn’t do a decent performance in the Top 20 round. Jennifer did recover in her final performance, but Jayna and Nya were both better than her, which sealed her fate. Jennifer just couldn’t keep up, and that is why Jennifer lost. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persy Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 I agree completely about this. I think part of my issue with her was also her enunciation which made it hard to understand. I had trouble with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Sammy 463 Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 Jennifer may not have been the best performer, but I think that she deserved the Top 14 Spot over Jordan Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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