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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > April > 12
Saturday, April 12, 2008
4/13: My CNN Radio guest spot, most shocking departures in Idol history
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I did CNN.com’s weekly “Idol Chat” last year during its final weeks. Unfortunately, we were cancelled this year. But CNN Radio has been doing its own audio version this season with Michelle Wright and Richard Benson. Benson was on vacation so Michelle invited me to sub in this week. Listen to our commentary here.
And before we get to the heart of this entry, I’ve been watching MTV’s ‘Rock the Cradle,” featuring the kids of Olivia Newton John, Bobby Brown, Joe Walsh and others. Sadly, most of the kids are nowhere near as good as their parents vocally or charismatically. MC Hammer’s daughter, as one judge noted, looks about 40 even though she’s 19. And Bobby Brown’s son strikes me as old and rather dull, too. The only one who stood out last week and has by far the best vocal ability is Joe Walsh’s daughter Lucy Walsh. Dee Snider’s kid Jesse isn’t half bad either. Olivia Newton John’s daughter Chloe is just strange.
The Michael Johns surprise cut Thursday enters my top 5 most shocking “Idol” exits ever. Here’s my list:
1- Chris Daughtry, fourth place, season five. That angry look on Daughtry’s face when he was given the boot is forever implanted in my brain. (I tried to find it online but couldn’t for some reason.) He was still peeved the day after during interviews. But he’s not angry anymore. Success does mitigate such pain. He was a favorite to win though there were plenty of Soul Patrol fans who slagged him for being a Nickelback ripoff. Daughtry’s rationale for his exit was complacency on the part of his fans, not any particular bad performance. Perhaps the rocker contingent wasn’t as enthusiastic to vote hundreds of times.
2- Clay Aiken, runner up, season two. Clay fans are still peeved about this one and his post-“Idol” sales at least gave them some solace. His success also proved that victory isn’t necessary to do well after “Idol.” Interestingly, Nigel Lythgoe, the producer, said Clay was far ahead of the others in votes throughout the season. One technical issue may have made it closer than it could have been and may have tipped the balance for Ruben: busy signals. So many fans couldn’t get through that the lines were packed with votes the entire time, thus ensuring a very very close final vote count. This was also before texting was a regular phenomenon, which might have helped Clay. I do believe Clay would have won if there had been more phone lines available. Nonetheless, Ruben was a force to be reckoned and few could deny his skills.
3- Michael Johns, eighth place, season seven. This is the earliest “shocker” the show has ever had. He’s a truly talented stage performer with solid vocals. And he’s never had a really bad day. But he didn’t always look totally comfortable on stage and lacked a certain edge to be a true rock star. And he didn’t mine the bluesy soul stuff enough. If you look at office pools and commentary before the results show. I doubt anybody pinned him to be going home Thursday. I was one of the few to even place him in the bottom three. And I did so out of default. We’ll miss you, Michael!
4- Jennifer Hudson, seventh place, season three. This was the classic week of the top 7 season when the bottom three were the divas: Jennifer, LaToya London and future winner Fantasia. Ultimately, any of their departures would have been construed as surprising but they did cannibalize each other at this early stage. I always found LaToya bland and Fantasia the most heartfelt (and the most deserving winner). But nobody could deny Jennifer’s vocal skills. In fact, I felt Jennifer’s final performance was one of her best (Barry Manilow’s “Weekend in New England”) Hudson carries a certain histrionic sadness to her being, which worked perfectly in “Dreamgirls” three years later but may not have helped her in voting circles. She did go home too early so even though she has yet to release her own album, that Oscar I’m sure looks great on her mantle!
5- Tamyra Gray, fourth place, season one. At the point of the final four, many had figured it would be a Kelly Clarkson/Tamyra Gray finale. Tamyra (who used to live in Norcross and is now on the Broadway production of “Rent”) already had great stage presence and incredibly mature chops. She lacked the gee-whiz freshness of Kelly but was far less cheesy than Justin Guarini. And nobody really could take Nikki McKibbin seriously. How she got as far as she did (third place, ahead of Tamyra) remains a mystery. So Gray’s departure still hurts. And just think: if Tamyra had made the final two, the film “From Justin to Kelly” would never have been made!
And just to show not everybody was shocked, this Newsday blogger was surprised, not shocked.. Here’s his interesting theory on why Johns is gone:
Michael Johns was good, but not great. His last few outings have been blah. Aerosmith on Tuesday? Blah blah. Kristi Lee, who effectively LIVES in the bottom three, has actually gotten better - or better at getting more clever in song choice. Brooke - one of my early favorites - has gotten worse, to the point of awful. Yet she has so completely conned her fans with that sweet lil’ ol’ me act that they don’t even hear her performances.
But Johns never seemed to work his fans, never worked the judges. He was a bit of a cypher, really, unreadable, inscrutable. The Great Sphinx of the seventh season.
Sometimes it’s not just about the singing. Sometimes it’s about selling yourself too. Johns never learned that little secret. That’s why he’s gone.
Do you agree? Did he not sell himself properly? I do think he should have loosened up more during his performances, showed his goofier side at some point. And stop being so earnest when defending himself with the judges. And it’s true: talking back to the judges, even in a calm way is seldom good. Brooke tries to talk over the judges. Michael always felt obligated to defend his song choices. It’s probably best just to shut up. This is a weekend entry so I’m not expecting a lot of comments so I’ll problaby make that an entry sometime in the future. Talking back to the judges? Good or bad?
