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| Bye Pia! | Credit: American Idol |
A month ago, I attempted to predict two things: the “American Idol” elimination order and the NCAA March Madness results. Both started well with me getting three out of four correct picks in “American Idol” and eight out of twelve in NCAA March Madness. Then, everything went south. I will discuss “American Idol” in bigger detail later since it is the main topic of this write-up. In my NCAA picks, I had all #1 seeds reaching the Final Four. It was a safe choice because it seemed a sure thing that at least one of them would advance since they are quite consistent. Whenever Duke defeats UNC in the ACC Championship, they reach at least the Final Four. Pittsburgh seemed to have an easy road to the Final Four as they have a sucky bracket. The only teams that I liked in there were Michigan State and Butler because they had experience. However, they are so lowly seeded. Kansas and Ohio State appeared to be powerhouses. It was a sure thing, right? No. All first seeds got eliminated before the Final Four. In the usual words of Internet people, it was “EPIC FAIL” for me. I was not even close to beating Obama’s bracket. Even my friends who filled their brackets for the first time edged my bracket. OK, let’s stop discussing about NCAA…
Now is the time to put “American Idol” into the spotlight.
Now is the time to put “American Idol” into the spotlight.
This is the time of the year when the “American Idol” experience is at its peak for me. My favorites are usually not yet eliminated in a shocker. This is also the time when someone breaks out of complacency and produces a wow moment during the pimp spot. For instance, we had David Cook’s “Billie Jean,” Adam Lambert’s “Mad World,” Kris Allen’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and oh wait… Season 9 did not happen. This year, we were treated to Haley Reinhart’s “Bennie and the Jets.” NCAA is done while NBA is not yet in the playoffs. Yes, we are having a great NBA regular season but if the games on TV are something like Indiana vs. Charlotte, I would rather switch it to a replay of “American Idol” that I have not watched yet.
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| Credit: American Idol |
Last week was arguably the best week of the season. The Elton John Night was awesome even if it was Thia’s last performance night. I am not even an Elton John fan. I have five studio songs (Bennie and the Jets, Candle in the Wind, Daniel, Your Song and Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me) from that theme on my iPod because their renditions were well-done. This week was supposed to be an awesome follow-up as it was about Rock and Roll. It was actually great in the first part of the show. Haley was able to ride on her newfound momentum. I have forgotten about Casey’s botched “Smells Like Teen Spirit” rendition because of his new gentle style. That bass playing was cool! James’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was the performance of the night until he belted the unnecessary high note in the end. The second part was a bit shaky because Pia appears to be singing a ballad while performing an uptempo song. Don’t get me wrong, I still like a bit of it because technically she is really the best of the bunch. She makes belting look easy. And that’s where the problem was, she does not seem to connect with the audience quite well. Her vocals are too smooth and perfect that the audience can find it hard to relate to. In some ways, she also comes across as not that charismatic because she concentrates too much on hitting the notes instead of having some effort to work the audience. Either way, I still voted for her since she is still the most consistent of the batch.
After Pia was Stefano. He is not a trainwreck like Tim Urban or Sanjaya were but he is the weakest contestant right now. Stefano actually has the skills and he can hit the notes but the problem is, he has this weird phrasing and he seems serenading the girls while singing sad songs. The biggest crime that the judges did to Stefano was the fact that they lambasted Pia and Thia for doing the same ol’ ballads week in and week out while Stefano gets away for mesmerizing JLo with the same old sssss…tuff.
Last month, I predicted the girls to get eliminated in the early rounds. I had it four girls in a row then Stefano then alternating between a girl and a guy just like what happened in the past two years. I predicted a sausage party by the Top 3 because I just could not see a female winning this year since majority of the guys are legitimately great. That and females never win “American Idol” anymore since they introduced the text message vote. Lo and behold, my prediction was right. The girls dropped like flies. The only thing I got wrong was predicting Haley to get eliminated by the Top 11 week. I knew that she is going to hang around because she is a cute blonde like Kristy Lee Cook and Megan Joy. However, I did not anticipate that she will be shockingly good.
I never complained on any elimination the past few weeks because they were either bland or it was understandable that they will be booted out. However, a guy contestant was due to get eliminated this week because the remaining females were great. If I am going to make my power rankings BEFORE the Top 9 Performance, it goes like this: 1) Pia 2) Casey 3) James 4) Haley 5) Scotty 6) Lauren 7) Jacob 8) Paul 9) Stefano. However, I always knew that this is also the time of the year when my favorite gets shockingly eliminated so I took up the fortitude to vote since I am not working on mornings (I’m on shifts this week). I was afraid that Haley might get booted out (she effed up my predictions but I do not want her to go either). This is because she is on a bad spot (2nd to perform) and contestants who once had the pimp spot falter the week after (like Alexis Grace who was once my favorite). I ended up splitting my 50 votes to Pia and Haley.
When I watched the Results Night yesterday via live streaming, I was hoping (not expecting) an all-guy Bottom Three. Stefano went to the seats. Good! I predicted him to get the boot this week. When they had Scotty, Pia and Paul, I knew that it was either Pia or Paul. It was tricky because Paul got the praise in the pimp spot. Shockingly, Pia was the one who fell to the Bottom Three. At first, I felt reacting to it but I remembered that it’s April – everything gets effed up in my “American Idol” experience during this month. That and Pia is not going to win anyway. I expected Jacob to pick up the last stool (although I would have blasted in anger if they put Haley there). After that, everything went downhill. Ryan delivered the bad news. It’s not Jacob. It’s not Stefano. (WTF?!) It was Pia. Yes, the main frontrunner just got eliminated. The crowd stood in shock. It was meant to be a stomach punch to fans like me but because this has become so normal every year, I had my guard up.
After Pia was Stefano. He is not a trainwreck like Tim Urban or Sanjaya were but he is the weakest contestant right now. Stefano actually has the skills and he can hit the notes but the problem is, he has this weird phrasing and he seems serenading the girls while singing sad songs. The biggest crime that the judges did to Stefano was the fact that they lambasted Pia and Thia for doing the same ol’ ballads week in and week out while Stefano gets away for mesmerizing JLo with the same old sssss…tuff.
Last month, I predicted the girls to get eliminated in the early rounds. I had it four girls in a row then Stefano then alternating between a girl and a guy just like what happened in the past two years. I predicted a sausage party by the Top 3 because I just could not see a female winning this year since majority of the guys are legitimately great. That and females never win “American Idol” anymore since they introduced the text message vote. Lo and behold, my prediction was right. The girls dropped like flies. The only thing I got wrong was predicting Haley to get eliminated by the Top 11 week. I knew that she is going to hang around because she is a cute blonde like Kristy Lee Cook and Megan Joy. However, I did not anticipate that she will be shockingly good.
I never complained on any elimination the past few weeks because they were either bland or it was understandable that they will be booted out. However, a guy contestant was due to get eliminated this week because the remaining females were great. If I am going to make my power rankings BEFORE the Top 9 Performance, it goes like this: 1) Pia 2) Casey 3) James 4) Haley 5) Scotty 6) Lauren 7) Jacob 8) Paul 9) Stefano. However, I always knew that this is also the time of the year when my favorite gets shockingly eliminated so I took up the fortitude to vote since I am not working on mornings (I’m on shifts this week). I was afraid that Haley might get booted out (she effed up my predictions but I do not want her to go either). This is because she is on a bad spot (2nd to perform) and contestants who once had the pimp spot falter the week after (like Alexis Grace who was once my favorite). I ended up splitting my 50 votes to Pia and Haley.
When I watched the Results Night yesterday via live streaming, I was hoping (not expecting) an all-guy Bottom Three. Stefano went to the seats. Good! I predicted him to get the boot this week. When they had Scotty, Pia and Paul, I knew that it was either Pia or Paul. It was tricky because Paul got the praise in the pimp spot. Shockingly, Pia was the one who fell to the Bottom Three. At first, I felt reacting to it but I remembered that it’s April – everything gets effed up in my “American Idol” experience during this month. That and Pia is not going to win anyway. I expected Jacob to pick up the last stool (although I would have blasted in anger if they put Haley there). After that, everything went downhill. Ryan delivered the bad news. It’s not Jacob. It’s not Stefano. (WTF?!) It was Pia. Yes, the main frontrunner just got eliminated. The crowd stood in shock. It was meant to be a stomach punch to fans like me but because this has become so normal every year, I had my guard up.
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| The Italians' reaction after the announcement | Credit: American Idol |
After all, I predicted Pia to not even reach the Top Five. I was right in that regard. But predicting her to go this early? I was wrong. Chalk it up to one of my failed predictions. This was easily the biggest shocking elimination in Idol history. Main frontrunners usually stay for a while. They don’t get the boot in the Top 9. Yes, Michael Johns got an early elimination before but David Archuleta and David Cook were already the Top 2 guys then.
Aftermath
Several celebrities were outraged by the elimination and it was evidenced by their numerous tweets. Pia should not have gone home this early but it is what it is. If you were following “American Idol” in recent years, you might have expected this to happen. Heck, I almost quitted watching “American Idol” because of the flawed voting system. The reason I have tuned in again this season was because I have accepted that fact. It would not even surprise me if we have a sausage party in the Top Five.
What Went Wrong?
Events like this always bring to this cliché-ish question, “what went wrong?” Who are supposed to be blamed? Off the top of my head, these are the people who were responsible for Pia’s early ouster: the judges, Pia’s voters and Pia.
Aftermath
Several celebrities were outraged by the elimination and it was evidenced by their numerous tweets. Pia should not have gone home this early but it is what it is. If you were following “American Idol” in recent years, you might have expected this to happen. Heck, I almost quitted watching “American Idol” because of the flawed voting system. The reason I have tuned in again this season was because I have accepted that fact. It would not even surprise me if we have a sausage party in the Top Five.
What Went Wrong?
Events like this always bring to this cliché-ish question, “what went wrong?” Who are supposed to be blamed? Off the top of my head, these are the people who were responsible for Pia’s early ouster: the judges, Pia’s voters and Pia.
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| Credit: American Idol |
As much as I like Nigel’s vision of bringing optimistic judging in order to prevent disasters as stunting the growth of some contestants (just like last year), the judges were too nice to the point that they are irrelevant. Steve Tyler has not offered any constructive criticism. His main value is to throw awesome punchlines. (thus making him a better judge than Ellen Degeneres… what? Ellen was a judge? When?!) Randy Jackson has stopped giving any criticism in the past two weeks. Jennifer Lopez was busy gushing over Stefano’s horrible phrasing. It befuddles me that she ends up weeping the night after she criticized Pia but she praised Stefano as if he is the best of the bunch. JLo, don’t blame America, you also contributed to it. In turn, he continues to sing that way instead of actually improving. Collectively, they praised every contestant to high heavens thus making the audience a bit clueless on who is actually great. No one nudged the audience towards the right direction.
Do I miss Simon Cowell? Not totally. He lost the passion to judge the past two years and was stunting the growth of the contestants. Do I miss Kara DioGuardi? Nope. She had the same problem that Jennifer Lopez has – gushing too much on the cute male fodder. The judge that “American Idol” seemed to miss the most is… wait for it… (not Ellen DeGeneres) Paula Abdul. Two years ago, I would be laughing at this statement. However, it seemed that Paula was the most helpful to female contestants. As Bill Simmons dubbed it in one of his podcasts last year, Paula Abdul had the reverse Patrick Ewing Theory. For those who do not know, Ewing was the Knicks star player in the 90s. They always came up short with him at the helm but when he succumbed to injury, his team surprisingly got better and even reached the NBA Finals. Paula was touted as the weakest judge two years ago but the show went down fast when she left last year.
Do I miss Simon Cowell? Not totally. He lost the passion to judge the past two years and was stunting the growth of the contestants. Do I miss Kara DioGuardi? Nope. She had the same problem that Jennifer Lopez has – gushing too much on the cute male fodder. The judge that “American Idol” seemed to miss the most is… wait for it… (not Ellen DeGeneres) Paula Abdul. Two years ago, I would be laughing at this statement. However, it seemed that Paula was the most helpful to female contestants. As Bill Simmons dubbed it in one of his podcasts last year, Paula Abdul had the reverse Patrick Ewing Theory. For those who do not know, Ewing was the Knicks star player in the 90s. They always came up short with him at the helm but when he succumbed to injury, his team surprisingly got better and even reached the NBA Finals. Paula was touted as the weakest judge two years ago but the show went down fast when she left last year.
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| Paula Abdul | Credit: American Idol |
I know it is contradictory to my previous statement because Paula was never the bad cop. However, she became the beacon of female power in the show. Kara and Jennifer could not judge properly when the attractive males start singing. They both showed subtle signs of insecurity or jealousy towards the females. Judges nudge the audience towards a certain direction. Thus, it was easy to see females getting the boot early in the past two to three seasons (for the record, Paula did not exist in 2009 because Kara overshadowed her most of the time). I am not saying that Paula never had male crushes, but at least she championed for the females.
Pia’s voters are much to be blamed for this. Voters like me. I only get to vote 50 times and I even split it. This was how Didi Benami got eliminated last year. But more importantly, I think a lot of Pia’s fans never even bothered to vote at all because they assumed that she was safe. Complacency kills in the new voting system because the Internet voting system just adds more voting power to rabid fans.
I am not blaming the female tweens and gays for mass voting for Stefano. That is the system and they have a right to do such.
Lastly, Pia – even if she was actually great week in and week out – was also the cause to her own disaster. She might be the most technically competent and consistent of the contestants but I can see how she rubs people the wrong way. I have already mentioned the lack of charisma and performance. Another reason for her downfall was that, she did not show much personality. “American Idol” has always been a popularity contest and we all know that you cannot win the show on talent alone. As much as I liked her song choice strategy, Pia was not able to get a lot of new fans from the eliminated contestants (even if they were girls). Performing “River Deep, Mountain High” like it was a ballad lost Pia’s opportunity to pick up new fans. As you go through the later stages, the ability of picking up new fans is very integral.
Haley’s emergence probably hurt Pia as well. I thought that the producers made a very good buffer for Pia by making Haley stay because Pia can get Haley’s votes when she gets eliminated. The problem was, Haley seemed more refreshing than Pia. Heck, I was even more thrilled to watch Haley’s performance this week.
UPDATE: Nigel mentioned in an interview that Pia was never the frontrunner in votes. She was just the frontrunner in the judges’ eyes. Not a surprise to me, Scotty has always appeared to be the highest vote getter. If I am going to make a hunch, the contestants with the highest votes in the previous rounds are: Scotty, James, Casey (because the save brought a lot of buzz), Lauren, Pia. Pia never topped Dial Idol even during the “I’ll Stand By You” week. Because she does not seem to be connecting with non-Pia fans, it just made perfect sense that she was at least heading near the bottom three.
Pia’s voters are much to be blamed for this. Voters like me. I only get to vote 50 times and I even split it. This was how Didi Benami got eliminated last year. But more importantly, I think a lot of Pia’s fans never even bothered to vote at all because they assumed that she was safe. Complacency kills in the new voting system because the Internet voting system just adds more voting power to rabid fans.
I am not blaming the female tweens and gays for mass voting for Stefano. That is the system and they have a right to do such.
Lastly, Pia – even if she was actually great week in and week out – was also the cause to her own disaster. She might be the most technically competent and consistent of the contestants but I can see how she rubs people the wrong way. I have already mentioned the lack of charisma and performance. Another reason for her downfall was that, she did not show much personality. “American Idol” has always been a popularity contest and we all know that you cannot win the show on talent alone. As much as I liked her song choice strategy, Pia was not able to get a lot of new fans from the eliminated contestants (even if they were girls). Performing “River Deep, Mountain High” like it was a ballad lost Pia’s opportunity to pick up new fans. As you go through the later stages, the ability of picking up new fans is very integral.
Haley’s emergence probably hurt Pia as well. I thought that the producers made a very good buffer for Pia by making Haley stay because Pia can get Haley’s votes when she gets eliminated. The problem was, Haley seemed more refreshing than Pia. Heck, I was even more thrilled to watch Haley’s performance this week.
UPDATE: Nigel mentioned in an interview that Pia was never the frontrunner in votes. She was just the frontrunner in the judges’ eyes. Not a surprise to me, Scotty has always appeared to be the highest vote getter. If I am going to make a hunch, the contestants with the highest votes in the previous rounds are: Scotty, James, Casey (because the save brought a lot of buzz), Lauren, Pia. Pia never topped Dial Idol even during the “I’ll Stand By You” week. Because she does not seem to be connecting with non-Pia fans, it just made perfect sense that she was at least heading near the bottom three.
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| Casey Abrams | Credit: American Idol |
Should the judges regret saving Casey than reserving it for Pia?
No. Casey deserved the save. However, it did sway the balance in favor of the males. That’s pretty much it. I would have used the save on Casey if I were in their position.
Final Thoughts
This is “American Idol.” What do you expect? As long as the voting system encourages more abusive multiple voting, more talented female performers will get eliminated earlier. As for me, I will still continue to watch because there are still a lot of talented performers left. I won’t mind if the Top Five is filled with male contestants. At least, they are really good/entertaining unlike last year. The only way I quit watching is if we end up having a Top Three composed of Stefano Langone, Paul McDonald and Jacob Lusk. I will stop watching “American Idol” if Stefano ends up winning.
As for my failed predictions, all I can say is, I will still keep predicting. After all, my main pick to win – Scotty McCreery – is very much on pace in getting the coveted title. I always read about failed predictions from supposed know-it-alls in ESPN. As bad as Pia’s shocking elimination is, it also showed that nothing is sure in this life. No matter how much intelligent your guess is, there is a possibility for it to fail. Because life is unpredictable. That is the beauty of it.
No. Casey deserved the save. However, it did sway the balance in favor of the males. That’s pretty much it. I would have used the save on Casey if I were in their position.
Final Thoughts
This is “American Idol.” What do you expect? As long as the voting system encourages more abusive multiple voting, more talented female performers will get eliminated earlier. As for me, I will still continue to watch because there are still a lot of talented performers left. I won’t mind if the Top Five is filled with male contestants. At least, they are really good/entertaining unlike last year. The only way I quit watching is if we end up having a Top Three composed of Stefano Langone, Paul McDonald and Jacob Lusk. I will stop watching “American Idol” if Stefano ends up winning.
As for my failed predictions, all I can say is, I will still keep predicting. After all, my main pick to win – Scotty McCreery – is very much on pace in getting the coveted title. I always read about failed predictions from supposed know-it-alls in ESPN. As bad as Pia’s shocking elimination is, it also showed that nothing is sure in this life. No matter how much intelligent your guess is, there is a possibility for it to fail. Because life is unpredictable. That is the beauty of it.
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