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American Idol Season 7 Cuts to 7 Finalists
By Jeff | April 15, 2008
And then there were seven.
Now that the shock of Michael John’s elimination has worn off, I feel I can finally post my elimination thoughts. American Idol Season 7 held another elimination round for the remaining finalist on Thursday, April 10th, 2008. And all I can say is “Wow!” I had picked Carly Smithson for elimination and you could see it all over her face that she was even expecting to go home. Maybe she reads the ol’ ThinkBox. Maybe not. In a complete shocker, Michael Johns was eliminated from American Idol Season 7. Unbelievable! I thought Paula was going to conduct a violent protest right then and there.
If you are keeping up with my contest with Jason of Pop Critics, Jason and I remained tied with both guessing incorrectly. We both had Carly as the worst performer and the one to be voted off. It was a huge shock that we were wrong and that Michael Johns was one actually eliminated from American Idol 2008.
Jason and I are still tied with a predition record of 8-9 or 47%. For the first time this season, I have gone below a .500 record. With four straight weeks of wrong predictions on my part, I’m beginning to realize how difficult it truly is to predict the voting of millions. Here was my ranking for the performances of the 8 finalists just to refresh:
- David Archuleta - “Angels” by Robbie Williams
- Kristy Lee Cook - “Anyway” by Martina McBride
- Jason Castro - “Over The Rainbow” by Judy Garland
- Michael Johns - “Dream On” by Aerosmith
- Brooke White - “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor
- Syesha Mercado - “I Believe” by Fantasia
- David Cook - “Innocent” by Our Lady Peace
- Carly Smithson - “The Show Must Go On” by Queen
My bottom three were Carly, Syesha, and Brooke. I didn’t actually expect David Cook to be in the bottom three of the show so I removed him from that list. I had predicted another all female bottom three as well as a female elimination. Well, I was wrong and that appears to becoming a trend. Anyway, let’s discuss my thoughts on the bottom three - which were Carly, Syesha, and Michael.
Why Michael Johns?
I really don’t have an answer for this one. I was shocked, surprised, dumbfounded, and totally freaked out by the elimination of Michael Johns. I have a feeling this is one of those times when the culmination of events resulted in this unbelievable ending. Here is my theory as the way I see it.
Michael Johns was one of my favorites to have a chance to win American Idol 2008 Season 7. What went wrong? Well, several things. First, Michael Johns sort of plagued himself by not listening to the judges. They tried to tell him to stick to a more “bluesy” sound rather than “imitation rock”. They were right. There were times, although they were pretty good, that it sounded like he was going to win a karaoke contest. Second, Michael John’s true fan base are not dedicated Idol voters. The “Rock-blues” crowd is not near as strong a voting group as the “teeny-bopper pop” crowd. Thirdly, David Cook did a horrible job on his performance so the voters that enjoyed the “rocker” sound saw that David might be in trouble and used their votes on him to make sure he was safe because they assumed Michael would survive. Finally, for some reason, people hate to see contestants eliminated. Carly was in obvious trouble and her supporters worked extra hard to get her the votes she needed.
So there you have it. That’s ultimately why I think Michael Johns was eliminated. It was the culmination of all the events above the led to the exit of one of the favorites. Michael Johns should not have been eliminated, but this kind of thing happens every year and is being compared to when Daughtry was eliminated. Although, I would rank this higher due to when Michael left and the fact that it came from left field. That’s debatable I’m sure. Sorry, Michael.
Why not Carly or Syesha?
Carly expected to go home. We saw her even raise her hand during a backstage shot when Ryan Seacrest asked who may be going home. I have no true answers as to why she is still here other than I guess her support is a little higher than I realized. It seemed she was destined to go home as I felt confident in that prediction so her supporters worked over-time to get her enough votes to stay in. Unfortunately, Michael took her place on the chopping block. Shame on you America. Shame.
Syesha could have gone home and I would not have been that surprised if she did. Syesha has a beautiful voice and a beautiful face. She is also the lone African-American remaining so it’s possible she will get votes based upon that fact alone. Even though I picked her to be eliminated last week, I think she still deserves to be in the competition. If she can avoid diva songs from diva artists that she can’t compete with, she could easily become the longest surviving female. But song selection is going to be huge for her.
The Remaining Finalists
- Brooke White, 24, Van Nuys, CA
- Carly Smithson, San Diego, CA
- David Archuleta, 17, Murray, UT
- David Cook, 25, Tulsa, OK
- Jason Castro, 20, Rockwall, TX
- Kristy Lee Cook, 24, Selma, OR
- Syesha Mercado, 21, Miami, FL
Top 12 Eliminated Contestants
- Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles, CA (04/10/08)
- Ramiele Malubay, 20, Miramar, FL (04/02/08)
- Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood, CA (3/26/08)
- Amanda Overmyer, 23, Mulberry, IN (3/19/08)
- David Hernandez, 24, Glendale, AZ (3/12/08)
I previously stated that only the two Davids (Archuleta and Cook) and Michael had a chance to realistically win American Idol this year. Well, obviously Michael doesn’t have a chance so that leaves the two Davids. I haven’t considered finding a third replacement yet and I may not find one at all. We’ll see how the next few weeks play out.
For a quick recap from a slightly different perspective, swing by American Idol 2008 Results - Top 7 Announced and see what Jason had to say about Michael getting eliminated.
American Idol Pick Off 2008: Jeff 8-9 Jason 8-9
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Topics: american idol audition, american idol contestants cut, american idol girls, american idol guys, american idol judges, american idol season 7 |