Why Will Lost

[CarmenSandiego]

Will Moseley came very close to winning American Idol, getting all the way to the Top Two.  But in the end, he fell short, seeing Abi Carter be named as the winner.  Why did he come so close only to fall just short in the end?  As always, I’ll look at the rules that American Idol contestants need to follow in order to find out what Will did right, what he did wrong and why Will lost.

The first rule states that contestants must show both singing and performing talent.  Will showed more singing talent than say, Colin from last season, but IDF never had him at or very near the top, with his highest ranking being in fourth place with “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” and “Folsom Prison Blues”.  I think that one of the reasons why is because Will didn’t show enough performing talent, something that Bon Jovi noted when he mentored Will by telling him to improve his stage presence.

 

So how did Will do on his final three performances?  While his fan base might disagree, I thought that Will was behind both Jack Blocker and Abi on his first song, I thought his performance skills needed work and gave him a 7.5.  I gave him a 7.5 as well, but put him in a tie with Jack and right behind Abi.  Finally, I gave him an 8.5 for his single “Good Book Bad”, saying that it was his best performance in the competition, but I still put him below Abi.  All in all,  Will struggled with the first rule due to weaker performance talent, although he wasn’t as bad as some others.

 

Will did a decent job with the second rule, which states that song choice is key.  With one exception, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”, his song choices weren’t overdone and they generally suited his voice.  While it didn’t help him get the win, at least Will followed this rule, so I’ll move on.

 

The third rule states that contestants must either be consistently great or consistently improving.  But while Will was consistent, he was only consistently good to very good, and that’s not what this rule requires.  Meanwhile, Abi was great most of the time and very good a couple of occasions while Jack was improving, although not fast enough.  I often noted that I saw Will as coasting, perhaps due to weak stage presence, and while he was able to improve enough that I saw him as very good, he was unable to improve enough to be seen as great.  Thus Will screwed up this rule.

 

I thought that Will did a good job with the fourth rule, which states that contestants must be confident.  Will’s stage presence might have been weak, but I don’t believe that lack of confidence was the reason for it.  Thus I believe that Will followed this rule.

 

Will did a very good job with the fifth rule, which states that contestants must have a strong, current and marketable artistic identity.  Will was a country singer, an identity that was very current and marketable, the vast majority of his songs were sung in a country style, so his identity was strong as well.  While it didn’t get him the win, he still followed this rule.

 

Will had a bit of a mixed bag with the sixth rule, which states that contestants must remember that they are a package.  On the one hand, he was a country singer and he was able to package himself well enough to appeal to that crowd.  On the other hand, he had some stuff in his package that was off-putting, especially the fact that he played with a guitarist who apparently had molested a girl when she was younger, and when she tried to tell Will, he initially didn’t even respond to her.  But he later got a different guitarist, and the whole situation might not have mattered to the people who would vote for him, so in the end I think that Will followed this rule.

 

Will also did a good job with the seventh rule, which states that contestants must take any advice offered to them and try to follow it, within reason.  Case in point, he tried to improve his stage presence when Bon Jovi mentioned that he needed more stage presence for his song.  While it didn’t get him the win, at least he followed this rule, so I’ll move on.

 

The final rule states that contestants must gather and sustain a fan base.  As a country singer, Will naturally gathered a huge fan base of country fans, and was able to pick up more fans from fellow country singers Mia and Triston, as well as some fans of Emmy, whose grandmother was a country star.  But when he got into the finale, he needed to get undecided and casual voters on his side more than ever, since more people would probably watch the finale than usual.  Unfortunately for him, his weak stage presence couldn’t help him get many casual voters.  Meanwhile, Abi’s performance skills were better and this made her performances stand out more and get more casual voters on her side.  Thus in the end, Will stumbled on this rule.

 

Will did several things right.  He was a country singer and this got him a huge fan base, which increased as other country singers and Emmy Russell were eliminated.  But he had one big problem:  lack of stage presence.  Without a good stage presence, he couldn’t improve his performances enough to be more than just very good, and he couldn’t get enough casual voters on his side.  Meanwhile, Abi was killing her performances and getting a lot of buzz over them, and her final performances got a lot more applause from the audience in the studio than Will’s did, which ensured that she would get more casual fans.  In the end, Will lacked the stage presence to compete with Abi, and that is why Will lost.

Edited May 22 by CarmenSandiego

[TeamAudra]

I’m not going to debate about “stage presence” because it’s pointless, since country singers who play the guitar on stage don’t need to move around, dance, or whatever. Look at Stapleton. 
 

However, the remark about his apparently former guitar player is an unnecessary cheap shot for reasons that have already been pointed out. This is an example of toxicity among Abi’s fanbase that makes me less likely to support her in the future, or even care how her career goes. 

Edited May 22 by TeamAudra

[m1key]

Will losing is weird to think about, because at the end of the day, he didn't do anything to actively tank his chances with the voters imo. yes, his stage presence was awkward, but nobody every commented on that outside of IDF really and it's not something country voters tend to care about anyways due to reasons TeamAudra stated. 

 

i do think he suffered from not having a "moment", whereas Abi had MANY performances that could be considered "moments." some recent WGWG's have had moments by flipping pop songs (Colin had "Dancing On My Own", Noah had "Stay", etc.) i think Will could've/would've won if he stepped outside of his comfort zone just a bit more just for the sake of proving he has the artistic ability to flip a pop song. Idol is a strategic game when it comes down to it and sometimes you have to pick certain song choices to generate buzz. 

Edited May 22 by m1key

[RTV]

20 minutes ago, CarmenSandiego said:

her final performances got a lot more applause from the audience in the studio than Will’s did

It's important to note that the finale took place in Abi's state, so it's not surprising that she appeared to have more support from the studio audience than contestants who are not from California did. She basically had the "home advantage" in this situation.

[wildestinvegas]

18 minutes ago, TeamAudra said:

I’m not going to debate about “stage presence” because it’s pointless, since country singers who play the guitar on stage don’t need to move around, dance, or whatever. Look at Stapleton. 
 

However, the remark about his apparently former guitar player is an unnecessary cheap shot for reasons that have already been pointed out. This is an example of toxicity among Abi’s fanbase that makes me less likely to support her in the future, or even care how her career goes. 

carmensandiego makes threads analyzing each contestants runs and why they won or lost every american idol season (even pointing out in their opinion where their fav went wrong if they happen to lose and developing on their shortcomings). you’re new to the idol part of the forum but this is a tradition they do it every season. some of the topics can come across as a bit harsh (i already read their analysis about favs of mine from past seasons) but i don’t think it was supposed to come across as a cheap shot against will. it’s just a general “analysis” this user in particular does season post season contestant per contestant.

Edited May 22 by wildestinvegas

[TeamAudra]

7 minutes ago, m1key said:

Will losing is weird to think about, because at the end of the day, he didn't do anything to actively tank his chances with the voters imo. yes, his stage presence was awkward, but nobody every commented on that outside of IDF really and it's not something country voters tend to care about anyways due to reasons TeamAudra stated. 

 

i do think he suffered from not having a "moment", whereas Abi had MANY performances that could be considered "moments." some recent WGWG's have had moments by flipping pop songs (Colin had "Dancing On My Own", Noah had "Stay", etc.) i think Will could've/would've won if he stepped outside of his comfort zone just a bit more just for the sake of proving he has the artistic ability to flip a pop song. 

I actually think the opposite. He sang way too many rock songs, and never really got a chance to show a softer side. There are numerous county songs that would have resonated better with fans of the genre than any of the rock songs. I think “crossover appeal” is overrated. 

Edited May 22 by TeamAudra

[TeamAudra]

1 minute ago, wildestinvegas said:

carmensandiego makes threads analyzing each contestants runs and why they won or lost every season (even pointing out in their opinion where their fav went wrong if they happen to lose and developing on their shortcomings). you’re new to the idol part of the forum but this is a tradition they do it every season. don’t think it was supposed to come across as a cheap shot. 

If she puts up a post, it’s fair game for critique. 

Edited May 22 by TeamAudra

[TeamAudra]

3 minutes ago, RTV said:

It's important to note that the finale took place in Abi's state, so it's not surprising that she appeared to have more support from the studio audience than contestants who are not from California did. She basically had the "home advantage" in this situation.

Maybe they held up “Applause” signs after her performances. 

[wildestinvegas]

3 minutes ago, TeamAudra said:

If she puts up a post, it’s fair game for critique. 

no yeah i know LOL just thought i should point that out because in this particular case, this post doesn’t have anything to do w them liking abi and she would prob get one pointing out where she went “wrong” and how she “failed” in certain aspects if she had lost but i get the feeling cause i already had carmen doing this sort of analysis about snowflakes of mine in the past  

Edited May 22 by wildestinvegas

[QueenKalie]

You can improve your stage presence even if you just stand their with a guitar like Stapleton and Will do. Your facial reactions are a big part of your stage presence. That's something that Stapleton does really well with he really makes you feel what he's saying. That is something Will could improve on in the future but I'm not sure that had much of an impact on the voting. And like TA said he could have picked some better songs to sing as well.

[TeamAudra]

As for the rock songs…he proved he could do that with the first one, and didn’t need to go back to that well repeatedly. He sang two soul songs in a country style, which I preferred to the rock songs. For Bon Jovi, there are better choices for his style/genre than the one he sang, even though he killed it. 

Edited May 22 by TeamAudra

[m1key]

6 minutes ago, TeamAudra said:

I actually think the opposite. He sang way too many rock songs, and never really got a chance to show a softer side. There are numerous county songs that would have resonated better with fans of the genre than any of the rock songs. I think “crossover appeal” is overrated. 

i get what you are saying, since it is sorta unfortunate that artists have to stray from their true vision just to appeal to certain demographics.

 

however, in a competition like Idol where you want to expand your appeal as much as possible, you need to be strategic to pick certain song choices to ensure voters view you as more than just one stereotype. otherwise, they may get tired of you and not vote for you since the competition is so long and your act could become repetitive (which is a difference from The Voice).

 

All of the Top 3 were very complex in their artistry by the end of the season - Abi had flavors of pop, rock, and folk. Will had flavors of country, rock, and soul. Jack had flavors of folk, pop, and country.  

[TeamAudra]

8 minutes ago, QueenKalie said:

You can improve your stage presence even if you just stand there with a guitar like Stapleton and Will do. Your facial reactions are a big part of your stage presence. That's something that Stapleton does really well with he really makes you feel what he's saying. That is something Will could improve on in the future but I'm not sure that had much of an impact on the voting. And like TA said he could have picked some better songs to sing as well.

There are always things to improve on. I just don’t think country fans care about stage presence. He was only doing that to keep the judges and mentors happy. He’ll go back to the guitar and mic stand for sure. I do think he improved on the facial expressions as the season went on.The moving around the stage just isn’t his thing, but it doesn’t need to be. 

Edited May 22 by TeamAudra

[CarmenSandiego]

1 hour ago, TeamAudra said:

I’m not going to debate about “stage presence” because it’s pointless, since country singers who play the guitar on stage don’t need to move around, dance, or whatever. Look at Stapleton. 
 

However, the remark about his apparently former guitar player is an unnecessary cheap shot for reasons that have already been pointed out. This is an example of toxicity among Abi’s fanbase that makes me less likely to support her in the future, or even care how her career goes. 

I think that in retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the former guitarist, but I was trying to analyze whether or not it could have affected his chances of winning.  I don’t think that it did, at least not enough to seriously damage his chances of winning.  There were bigger factors involved, such as the fact that he didn’t have enough “moments” to get more casual voters on his side.  I’m sorry if my mentioning the former guitarist came off as a cheap shot at Will, because it wasn’t meant to be that way, and after the results were revealed, he was a class act, which means a lot.

[CarmenSandiego]

5 hours ago, wildestinvegas said:

no yeah i know LOL just thought i should point that out because in this particular case, this post doesn’t have anything to do w them liking abi and she would prob get one pointing out where she went “wrong” and how she “failed” in certain aspects if she had lost but i get the feeling cause i already had carmen doing this sort of analysis about snowflakes of mine in the past  

Yeah, had Abi lost, I would have put up an analysis of why she had lost — after about a week to get over the heartbreak.

 

5 hours ago, m1key said:

Will losing is weird to think about, because at the end of the day, he didn't do anything to actively tank his chances with the voters imo. yes, his stage presence was awkward, but nobody every commented on that outside of IDF really and it's not something country voters tend to care about anyways due to reasons TeamAudra stated. 

 

i do think he suffered from not having a "moment", whereas Abi had MANY performances that could be considered "moments." some recent WGWG's have had moments by flipping pop songs (Colin had "Dancing On My Own", Noah had "Stay", etc.) i think Will could've/would've won if he stepped outside of his comfort zone just a bit more just for the sake of proving he has the artistic ability to flip a pop song. Idol is a strategic game when it comes down to it and sometimes you have to pick certain song choices to generate buzz. 

 

In retrospect, maybe I should have emphasized that Will stayed too far in his comfort zone and didn’t take enough risks.  As you said, he did nothing to actively tank his chances with voters, he just didn’t do enough to get past a contestant who was having a lot of moments; namely, Abi.

Edited May 22 by CarmenSandiego

[Persy]

Yeah I understand about the stage presence. I agree on why he lost and what rules he followed. I'm not saying he needed to move around the stage to improve his stage presence. He just came across as very awkward and stiff. In the earlier rounds he didn't come across as that to me. I think he could have improved his stage presence better while still standing there. Like maybe smile more, connect with the audience, make people feel what he's singing. His song choices are the main problem for me. They were too predictable and safe for me. I've been hoping he would do something unexpected like what Julia did by picking a country song like Need A Favor or Something In the Orange. Something to shock people with. Another example is Colin singing Dancing On My Own, Emmy covering Beautiful Things and Coal Miner's Daughter into her own arrangement, or Noah covering Stay. Imagine what Will could do with Texas Hold Em by Beyonce or Will covering WAP.