March 11, 2004 - Power to the Pen Salesman

One of the ways they padded the show was a special performance by last year's winner, Ruben Studdard, who sang his new single.

Each of the judges got to choose one finalist, and then the fourth one came from America's vote. Now, I'm not certain how exactly this was figured out. But perhaps what they did was after they knew who America has picked, the judges made their selections so that they knew their choices wouldn't overlap.

At any rate, Randy Jackson went first and announced his selection. There was really no surprise when he went with Jennifer Hudson. After all, he'd said the previous night that she had the strongest performance of the evening. It really would have been a crime if she hadn't been picked to move on.

But Paula Abdul really surprised me with her choice. She picked Leah LaBelle, despite her wobbly performance the night before. When Simon was asked for a reaction to this, he told Leah she was lucky she had a "fairy godmother" in Paula. I really don't think her performance had justified her moving on, but we'll see how she does in the remaining weeks of competition.

At this point, I would be flabbergasted if she managed to come out on top, unless she really grows as a performer.

Then it came time for Simon to make his choice. He announced that he made his choice based on who he thought the audience would like to see. His choice: George Huff. Now this surprised me, because I thought George would have received the most audience votes. So I'm guessing he must have placed pretty high in the voting for Simon to be so certain people wanted to see him.

George, of course, was flabbergasted, almost speechless. He said he hoped he wouldn't start crying when he'd begin to sing. But he knocked it out of the park once again, getting the entire audience moving.

Drum roll please: it was time to find out who America had chosen to move on. They brought out the five remaining contestants to announce the winner. I really wasn't certain who it would be, but I should have known because of the five remaining contestants (Elizabeth LeTendre, Katie Webber, Jon Peter Lewis, Susie Vulaca, Matthew Metzger), there was really only one that people would have had strong feelings about. Unless the teenybopper vote had come in for golden boy Matthew Metzger, it had to be our one and only pen salesman.

When Ryan Seacrest announced that Jon Peter Lewis was, indeed, the audience choice, he collapsed on the stage as if he'd fainted. But after the shock, he got comments from the judges, all of whom congratulated him. Simon, though he said he'd stand by his assessment that Jon Peter's performance had been horrible, had a smile on his face.

Jon Peter Lewis did an encore of "A Little Less Conservation" with great enthusiasm, with the rest of the finalists joining him.

Now all 12 finalists have been chosen, and from this week on, the competition will intensify. This is a very strong finalist pool and it's hard to say who will be successful. There are terrific vocalists like Fantasia Barrino and Latoya London, and then there are crowd favorites like Jon Peter Lewis and Matthew Rogers.

Any one of these 12 could be a contender if they don't bow to the pressure in the weeks ahead. And if they keep on smiling and enjoying themselves, as Jon Peter will certainly do.

 

Other Musings by Alyce on American Idol:

American Idol Index

 

Moral:
A big personality trumps strong but forgettable singers any day.