Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

We were about due for a shocker on American Idol, and we got one last night when Mandisa, the resident diva, was sent home.

She has a lot of raw talent, and early on people predicted she would win, but she has been somewhat unpredictable in the quality of her performances. That ends up hurting in the long run. People who were originally in her corner probably stopped supporting her for that very reason.

Just like judge Simon Cowell said, you're only as good as your last performance. On Tuesday night, as part of country week, she chose a song that didn't show off her vocals and was hard to follow.

I voted for her, along with other contestants I wanted to see advance, including of course, my favorites, Taylor Hicks and Chris Daughtry, and I noticed that it didn't take as long to get through for her as it did for others.

I also wouldn't have been surprised if Paris Bennett went home, because she has also had somewhat uneven performances from week to week.

While many viewers believe that either Ace Young or Bucky Covington deserved to go home before Mandisa, both of them turned in very good performances, much improved over previous weeks, and viewers rallied for them. By contrast, Mandisa sort of phoned it in. Anyone tuning in for the first time would not have been impressed.

Every year at about this time, a contestant formerly favored to win gets sent home. It creates a lot of buzz, a lot of stir, but it's usually because, for one reason or another, that singer, though talented, has failed to win the loyal fan bases that other contestants have won. Personality is important, and I believe Mandisa alienated many viewers last week when she not only sang a gospel song but also seemed driven to use her moment of glory to try to turn folks towards Christ. Nobody likes to be preached at.

What's more, on American Idol, nobody likes anyone who's too full of themselves. Week after week, Mandisa seemed to get cockier, and frankly, her performance on-stage was not stellar enough to back it up. It was bad enough that she chose to identify herself only by her first name, as if she was already a star, but she just didn't have the consistency to prove she was worth worshipping. She may be a diva, but she's no Fantasia Barrino. She's not even a LaToya London.

This does not, however, spell the end for Mandisa. Many American Idol finalists go on to produce records. Even redheaded crooner John Stevens now has an album of standards, called "Red". I'm not going to buy it, but his fans will. So she might not get all the attention of this year's winner, but it will still give her a boost.

Maybe she can make a gospel album.

More on American Idol:

Musings on American Idol Season 5 (2006)

Musings on American Idol Season 4 (2005)

Musings on American Idol Season 3 (2004)

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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