by LauraBelle
Every American Idol season so far has been full of controversy, and this year's was sure not to disappoint. Everything this season was covered from contestants dropping out, to wrong vote phone numbers, to a judge being accused of being involved in a sex scandal.
Season Four started out like all others – two nights of auditions, both good and bad, until a total of 193 contestants were sent to Hollywood. Yet unlike other years the guest judges were included in the auditions instead of the finals, as we heard from Mark McGrath, LL Cool J, Gene Simmons, Brandy and Kenny Loggins.
There were many stunning voices heard that became early favorites. Anwar Robinson was called Milli Vanilli by Mark McGrath, but all agreed he sounded much better. Vonzell Solomon practiced her martial arts in the hallway, and once she sang, we found martial arts wasn't the only thing she did with ease. Farm girl Carrie Underwood did one thing well – she sang beautifully. Mario Vazquez did as well, and was picked as an early heartthrob.
Some of the good voices became known for other things as well. Anthony Federov became known as "Miracle Boy" because when he was a young boy he had a tracheotomy and was told he would probably never talk again. Yet when he sang, it was one of the purest of voices, drawing early comparisons to Clay Aiken.
Osborne Smith II had an interesting childhood as well, as the son of baseball great, Ozzie Smith. The judges were as impressed with his voice as they were of Scott Savol. Instead of his father being a sports hero, Scott's father told him he wouldn't go anywhere in life.
Already going somewhere in his life was rocker Constantine Maroulis, the lead singer for band Pray For The Soul Of Betty. The cameras followed him as he said his goodbyes to surprised bandmates. Just as cool as Constantine was Mikalah Gordon whose personality and unique voice won the judges over, as Paula Abdul compared her to Bette Midler. We're not quite sure why we liked another unique voice, Lindsay Cardinale, but we did.
Also totally cool, but without a stellar voice, was Leroy Wells, complete with krunk teeth. We couldn't understand a word he said, other than asking us if we could dig it. After singing James Brown and telling Simon Cowell to put Jesus first, Leroy admitted he just wanted to get on TV. He left, happy, saying it was all good. We can dig it!
It was certainly not all good for Mary Roach. All of her many voices were rejected by the judges, and not taking the rejection well, she proceeded to have a long on-camera conversation with herself about possibly abandoning music for cosmetology school.
Also refusing to bow to the rejection were twins Rich and JP Malfetta in New Orleans. JP was outright rejected, but Paula argued to keep Rich, only to lose out. Rich showed up again in the next audition city of Las Vegas, was allowed to go to Hollywood, only to be cut again there.
Other memorable characters were sent home from Hollywood as well. No one could blame the judges for sending Shunta home. She barely made it on stage in Hollywood with not a lot of time to rehearse after getting on the wrong bus at the hotel. Regina Brooks wouldn't have gotten on the wrong bus after pawning her wedding rings to get there. Nonetheless, she was rejected in Hollywood as well. Marlia didn't give the judges the satisfaction of rejecting her. She quit, being too stressed out missing her kids.
We met some new voices as well. Singing The Letter along with Constantine was another rocker, Bo Bice. Just the few lines he sang of that song made us sit up and take notice. We also noticed Jessica Sierra, singing Boys Are Back in Town. We may never forgive the American Idol editors for keeping these two a secret from us.
We saw more sides to the personalities of contestants. Mikalah Gordon told Simon if he didn't let her through after she missed her Homecoming for this, he'd have to take her to her prom. Scott Savol refused to practice with his groupmates, but all was forgotten in the end when Randy called his group Da Bomb. Innocent Carrie Underwood had to go ask ultra-cool Constantine Maroulis what "knocked it out of the box" meant; he assured her there were complimenting her.
To cut down the remaining contestants to the semi-final quota of twenty-four, the judges pull a strange guillotine maneuver, having the singers ride up in an elevator alone, to sit in a chair alone, facing the judges, to be told either that they are going home or are moving on. Simon Cowell called Bo Bice "Harold", and told him it was a split decision, but he was still moving on. But Jaclyn Crum, who spent part of her time in Hollywood attending to her mother in the hospital, was cut. Oswald Smith, trying to distance himself from his famous father by changing his name to Nikko, got through.
Another switch-up to the blueprint of the show is that instead of having four semi-final groups of eight, voting in two, and later adding in four more wild cards, the contestants were split up twelve males and twelves females. Each week two males and two females were voted out, leaving us with a final twelve, where the groups were then combined and one contestant was voted out each week.
Bo Bice sang Drift Away so incredibly, we couldn't believe they kept him a secret for so long. Music teacher Anwar Robinson sang Moon River uniquely beautiful, making it a pop tune. Carrie Underwood sang Could've Been and was called a breath of fresh air. Someone who we had seen little of, Nadia Turner, owned the stage, singing a rocking Power of Love.
On elimination night, the show was expanded to one hour to eliminate the four contestants. To stretch the time, Ryan played with the contestants telling them to stand here, sit here, you're safe, no you're not, etc. Eventually Sarah Mather, Melinda Lira, Jared Yates, and Judd Harris were eliminated. Melinda complained that she was eliminated simply on the fact that she didn't get much airtime until semi-finals.
The following week Anwar Robinson sang with perfection again singing What's Going On and being called the best vocalist in the competition. Simon told Nikko Smith he was 1000% improved with his version of Let's Get It On. Bo outshone all with his performance of Whipping Post, which some, even up til the end, would consider his best performance. Mikalah Gordon gave herself some wiggle room in the competition singing God Bless the Children and Jessica Sierra was told her performance was the best so far singing Broken Wing.
Leaving this week were Celena Rae, who judges say never "clicked" and Aloha Mischeaux, with the "Jasmine Trias" flower in her hair. Note to female competitors: no flowers in your hair. It hasn't worked now twice in a row. Joseph Murena and David Brown both came into the competition as great singers, but always left us scratching our heads wondering where the spark was and were promptly eliminated.
The theme the following week was Astrology, with Anwar Robinson playing up the theme singing What A Wonderful World, which Randy said gave him chills. Scott tried to ditch his "thug" personality singing Sugar Pie Honeybunch, and did quite well. Nadia Turner sang an amazing rendition of Try A Little Tenderness, and admitted to never hearing it before choosing it that week. Jessica Sierra was called best of the night once again by Randy, singing The Boys Are Back In Town again.
It was simply not in the stars that week for Travis Tucker, Nikko Smith, Amanda Avila, and Janay Castine, as the group was narrowed to the final twelve. Some would say Janay lasted far too long. But the final twelve didn't hold long, as in an alarming movie, Mario Vazquez, an early frontrunner, quit the competition for "personal reasons". Getting a reprieve at the eleventh hour was Nikko who replaced Mario.
The first week of finals brought us Sixties music. Scott Savol did as ample of a job on Ain't Too Proud To Beg as Ruben Studdard, and Simon Cowell told Bo Bice it looked like he'd been doing this for twenty years. He also told Nadia Turner that in a competition of hamburgers she was a steak, as she channeled Dusty Springfield. None of the other females stood out much, and it fact it was Lindsay Cardinale that was dismissed after her performance of Knock On Wood.
The vague theme of Number On Billboard Hits brought us to week two of finals. Carrie Underwood stunned everyone, ditching her farmgirl roots, and singing a rocking version of Alone. Bo Bice also stunned doing a ballad, Time In A Bottle, for his mom. Vonzell Solomon emerged from her previous "Classics of Divas" mode and sang Best Of My Love, prompting Simon to say people will remember her now. Constantine Maroulis showed he was more than a rocker, pulling off The Partridge Family classic, I Think I Love You.
The editors of the show made a grievous error and printed the wrong voting phone numbers on the screen. American Idol decided the best thing to do was a re-vote. The performances are shown again the next night, and the phones open again for a revote. Ultimately, Mikalah Gordon was the loser after singing Love Will Lead You Back.
The vague themes continued as we were brought to a Celebration of Nineties music. Constantine continued to move away from the heavy rock, singing I Can't Make You Love Me, and received a standing ovation from the audience. Carrie Underwood sang the song she would eventually do on the American Idol Showstoppers CD, Independence Day. Simon told her after this she had the "It" factor. Although Jessica Sierra had a great voice, she usually seemed to take a backseat to Carrie, and was eliminated after her performance of On The Side Of Angels.
Week four of Finals brought us, finally, a theme they could do something different with – Classical Musicals. Constantine Maroulis sang My Funny Valentine, and sounded like he belonged in that era, drawing on his lessons learned at the Boston Conservatory. Anthony chose oddly, Climb Every Mountain, originally sung by the Mother Superior in Sound of Music.
Week four also bought us an interesting disclosure about Scott Savol. He had been arrested for domestic violence against the mother of his child. Eventually the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. We wondered if this would be enough to oust him from the show, but it wasn't. It was Nikko Smith that, after singing One Hand, One Heart from West Side Story, left the show for the second time. Two times is not the charm.
Week five and yet another ambiguous theme gave us Songs From The Year You Were Born. Bo tackled Lynyrd Skynyrd and Anthony sang Paul Young. With Hall and Oats in the audience, Scott Savol did a daring rendition of She's Gone. Vonzell Solomon put on a great show singing Let's Heart It For The Boy, but it was Constantine Maroulis who reigned this night, singing Bohemian Rhapsody. The next night it was Nadia Turner's turn to leave after coming up a little short in her odd song choice of When I Dream.
We knew it was coming, but instead of being called "Disco Week" we were treated to "Seventies Dance Music Week." Carrie Underwood chose MacArthur Park and admitted after the performance she had no idea what the lyrics meant. Vonzell Solomon went back to her Diva song roots, but it doesn't matter, as she did well with I'm Every Woman. How fitting it was to the theme was questionable, but the song choice of Vehicle definitely fit Bo Bice. Amazingly, after one of his best weeks, it was Anwar Robinson's turn to go after finally showing his personality singing September.
Back to the ambiguous themes; it's songs of the new millennium. Bo made us forget about the smokinggun.com disclosure that he had been arrested twice for possession of drugs, and pulled off a Lenny Kravitz look singing I Don't Wanna Be. Everyone suspected it would be Scott Savol leaving this week after singing Dance With My Father. Yet in this year's first shocker, after singing Nickelback, it was Constantine Maroulis that left. Website votefortheworst.com that had been promoting Scott took the credit for this.
ABC released the news that it would be airing an American Idol exposé. Past contestant, Corey Clark, alleged that he had a secret affair with Paula Abdul. In the end, he had no concrete evidence to back up his claims, and it seemed Corey was only trying to sell his new book and CD, and using ABC for the publicity.
The following week brought another loose theme of songs form the Billboard Top 40 charts, and since each contestant would now sing two songs, a second theme of songs by Leiber and Stoller was used. With such a loose theme to choose from, oddly Vonzell picked the American Idol Four single, When You Tell Me That You Love Me. Bo sang Heaven even better than Los Lonely Boys. Carrie Underwood took the opportunity to go back to her roots, singing some Rascal Flatts. Despite the fact that many thought he had one of his best weeks, singing On Broadway, Scott Savol was finally released from the show.
Thankfully a narrow theme was finally used for Final Four week, and the contestants were to sing two songs, one originating from Nashville and another from Philadelphia. The country queen, Carrie Underwood, didn't do as well with Sin Wagon as Amy Adams did last year. Bo Bice exuded cool as he sang For The Love Of Money, and Vonzell Solomon sang Thelma Houston effortlessly. Despite the fact he was told he did If You Don't Love Me By Now was better than Carrie's version, Anthony Federov is voted off.
For the final three week, each contestant chose one song, the judges chose another for them, and music mogul Clive Davis chose a third. To our surprise, Clive's choice of Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me totally worked for Bo Bice. But when he owned the show, Bo pulled off an a cappella version of In A Dream. It was truly the song of the year. Carrie sang Crying very well and tried to throw in a little personality singing some Shania Twain. Vonzell had done everything they asked, singing some Dionne Warwick, and also singing On The Radio so perfectly if we closed our eyes we would have thought it was Donna Sommer herself. Yet, she was voted out, giving way to Bo and Carrie for final two.
For the Finale, Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood each sang the new American Idol single, Inside Your Heaven, a song clearly more suited to Carrie. Bo did the best with what he was given with another new song, The Long, Long Road. Carrie sang a very emotional Angels Brought Me Here. For their favorite performances of the year, Bo chose to re-do Vehicle and Carrie chose Independence Day. Simon told Bo it was a pleasure to work with him, and told Carrie she had done enough to win.
On results night, Bo and Carrie did a long-awaited duet, singing Up Where We Belong, and they truly were. All of the finalists were brought back to sing with their own idols. Clearly the two best of those are Constantine Maroulis, Jessica Sierra and Nadia Turner singing Walk This Way to the guitar playing of Kenny Wayne Shephard, and Bo Bice sining his hometown classic Sweet Home Alabama with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A few rejected idols were brought back. A young woman that had done a bad rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was brought back to sing it live on stage at the finals. Adam and Dirk, who had met at the St. Louis auditions, were brought back together again, along with Dirk's Idol David Hasselhoff. We were even treated to parody, making fun of ABC's exposé. After it aired, Corey's publicist issued a statement asking American Idol to leave him alone. Huh?
The final minutes of American Idol drew to a close and our new American Idol was crowned. It was none other than Oklahoma sweetheart, Carrie Underwood. Simon had predicted after auditions that she would win. Some says it's fixed solely because of of that. I say perhaps Simon knows what sells.
We know after Clay Aiken, it doesn't matter if you win or not; the point is showcasing your talent. Several of the top twelve will land on their feet with contracts. Clive Davis all but guaranteed Bo of getting one.
All in all, I do feel the talent in this season was the best ever. Whether it was because of the age limit change or just happenstance, it was clear that some of the singers eliminated earlier would have lasted much longer in the earlier seasons of American Idol.
All of the controversy, criminal records, alleged flings, websites encouraging people to vote for the worst will only serve to bring American Idol more success as people tune in to see what the fuss is about. Next year I expect more of the same. More talent, more controversy, more fun.
I welcome all questions and comments at LauraBelle@realityshack.com
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