April 29, 2004 - Ciao, Crooner

Then of course, there was a lot of dramatic tension while you waited to see what happened, especially because Ryan had Group B remain on the couch, which made you think they were the ones who were safe again this week.

But no, Group B was the bottom group. After assuring Jasmine she was safe, it was down to the two guys. Drum roll please. Who would be the one to go?

After a commercial break, Ryan announced who would be leaving: John Stevens.

I'm a little ashamed of it now, but at the time I cheered. I like John Stevens, I really do. But as I said yesterday, it would have been a travesty of justice if George Huff had gone and John Stevens had remained. I really don't know how many more weeks George has left in him, but he certainly is a better singer and performer than John Stevens.

It looks, once again, as if Fantasia or LaToya will take the top honors and for the first time, the two two singers could be women.

But nothing is guaranteed. Both Diana and Jasmine have grown as performers over the weeks. Both were faced with the same problem of being immature: picking songs that teens would want to sing and giving mechanical performances. They both, in recent weeks, found ways to turn that around, to loosen up on stage and make sure their personality came through.

Jasmine's transformation was symbolized when she finally stopped wearing her characteristic flower in her hair. Maybe she finally took somebody's advice who told her that cheap gimmicks were not going to take her to the top.

I can honestly say now that everybody who remains in the competition clearly deserves to be there. We're down to the best singers and performers. And while there are still singers who really overshadow the rest, Diana may prove to be a tougher competitor than anybody thought. She may well pick up the teen vote, now that John Stevens is gone. Teenyboppers won't have a crush on her, but they may identify with her.

I don't know how much longer George and Jasmine will last. It really depends on whether they can raise the stakes, bring their A-game to the competition, show that they have range and simply wow the audience. That's what really matters, after all. The judges may not like a risk that somebody takes. But the audience may view it as a risk worth taking, even when someone falls short. The only problem, of course, would be if some other competitor takes a risk and succeeds.

Everybody would acknowledge this was not the strongest week, performance-wise, for Fantasia and LaToya. But people decided that their performances so far have outweighed one weak week. So from now on, it seems, individual performances don't matter as much as proving you have the skills, the confidence, the personality and the range to deserve to be crowned American Idol.

May the best performer win.

Other Musings by Alyce on American Idol:

American Idol Index

Moral:
Nice will only get you so far.