Article published April 15, 2007
What's going on with American Idol?
Some of the better singers are getting bounced, while Sanjaya stays
By ERIKA RAY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
It’s inevitable — you either love him or you hate him.
There’s no in-between when the topic of conversation is Sanjaya Malakar, the 17-year-old soft-spoken American Idol contestant with the megawatt smile and diverse ’dos.
Since surpassing hundreds of thousands of Idol hopefuls and landing in the top 24 contestants of Fox’s pop-culture phenomenon, he’s almost consistently garnered negative feedback from the judges, but enough votes from viewers to keep him alive in the competition.
It’s a stark contrast to a number of rave reviews directed at several other top 24 contestants — many of whom have already been sent home, including Gina Glocksen, Stephanie Edwards, Sabrina Sloan, and A.J. Tabaldo.
But Malakar, among others whom the judges have deemed less than stellar in the singing arena, is still walking on the path that leads to becoming the next American Idol.
Judge Randy Jackson has said his voice and song choices were “weak,” “weird,” and “not that great,” but gave him props on making up for it with entertainment. Meanwhile, judge Simon Cowell has called some of his performances “boring” and a “waste of time.”
“I don’t think it matters anymore what we say. I genuinely don’t,” Cowell told Malakar after listening to his rendition of “Bathwater” by No Doubt on March 27. “I think you are in your own universe, and if people like you, good luck.”
Similarly, Haley Scarnato had escaped elimination for two consecutive weeks before her luck ran out Wednesday and she got the ax. She also remained on the show longer than some had expected, even after Cowell had branded the 24-year-old brunette bombshell with the scarlet “F” for “forgettable” throughout the past few weeks.
Though the pair may not be the strongest singers in the top 12, there’s a reason for their success, said Robert Thompson, professor of pop culture at Syracuse University.
“Once you get to that top 24 and you give it over to voters, it becomes something considerably more than a singing contest,” he said. “It essentially becomes a popularity contest. We always like the idea of an underdog and like the idea to protect it.”
Though Malakar has fallen from her list of favorites, Hailey Nusbaum, 12, said she’s still rooting for him to stay on the show.
“I’m hoping he’ll stay on,” said the Elmhurst Elementary School sixth-grader. “He’s not trying as hard as he was before, but if he tries harder like he was at the beginning, I think he could go all the way through. I want him to stay on the show for that reason.”
That could be why some of the talented contestants were given the boot in earlier rounds, while others who haven’t gotten as much praise are still crooning on the show.
Take one of the show’s most recent casualties — Glocksen, the rocker girl.
For two consecutive weeks leading up to the end of the road for her on April 4, she had regular kudos from the judges. In fact, Judge Paula Abdul called her April 3 rendition of “Smile” “a flawless performance.”
And remember Sloan? She narrowly missed making it into the top 12, though the judges agreed that her voice belonged there.
“Sabrina should be in the top 12,” Jackson said on March 8 when it was announced that she was voted off. “I think America got that one wrong.”
Though Idol is marketed as a singing contest, the contestants’ voices are just one aspect that garners votes, Thompson said. There are other factors, like charisma, charm, looks, and personality, that are just as important.
These other elements are integral to the group that has organized to derail the voting process, led by the Web site www.VoteForTheWorst.com. Web site founder Dave Della Terza writes that since 2004, the goal of the site has been to “choose the contestant that we feel provides the most entertaining train wreck performances” and start voting for that contestant.
“The bottom line is that they have to be entertaining and they have to go against what AI wants to produce in a winner,” the Web site states. “Our aim isn’t to win every single week, but to get a bad contestant as far as possible.”
But that site is competing against traffic generated from an opposite online campaign — www.VoteAgainstTheWorst.com — that has a mission to “make this American Idol results show filled with a little more integrity.”
Shock jock Howard Stern has even taken up his own campaign to keep Malakar in the competition to “ruin American Idol.”
“We’re corrupting the entire thing,” Stern told listeners during his March 29 broadcast. “The No. 1 show in television and it’s getting ruined.”
Even though Cowell has said that he would leave the show if America chooses to name Malakar as the next Idol, Thompson doesn’t believe that statement one bit.
“He wouldn’t walk away from this,” he said. “He’s having too much fun and making too much money.”
And it would take a lot more than an average contestant making it to the top to cripple or destroy the Goliath that is the highest-rated TV show, Thompson said.
“It won’t be the end,” he said. “I don’t think this damages the credibility of American Idol at all.”
After all, he said, the show has an unquestionable reputation for discovering raw singing talent, and has churned out instant sensations that include Jennifer Hudson, who was voted off in seventh place in Season 3, yet recently brought home an Academy Award.
Those who have made it to the top 24 each season were placed there by the judges, though there were tens of thousands of hopefuls who could have been chosen instead, so it’s obvious they can sing, Thompson said. Some contestants are simply weaker than others.
If Malakar is voted off the show, Thompson is convinced that it would quickly become a lot less interesting because the buzz surrounding Season 6 as a whole would be gone.
“The show is going to be a lot less fun when he goes off,” he said. “We’re going to miss him. He’s an amusing part of this whole thing. … This has been a fun season, and I think we have Sanjaya to thank. There’s something to talk about again.”
Contact Erika Ray at: eray@theblade.com or 419-724-6088.
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