AI:5 - Razor thin
Three became two, and by the thinnest of razor-thin margins, Elliot was sent home.
Of 50+ million votes cast, this was the breakdown:
- Taylor: 33.68%
- Kat: 33.26%
- Elliot: 33.06%
That’s pretty darned close, eh?
And so, the denizens of the Yamination (aka Yaminiacs) darned near exploded in rage. They didn’t like seeing the E-Train derailed - no, not one bit.
I don’t buy into the whole conspiracy theory thing, that the producers sabotaged Elliot. Why? Well, if for no other reason than this — Elliot Yamin had become this season’s heart-tugging phenom story. Taylor & Chris were both very powerful stories (Kat slightly less so, but she brought other things to the party…), but they didn’t generate the emotional impact that Elliot has. I haven’t noted a connection this visceral since Clay’s with the Claynation/Claymates. Elliot’s health issues (hearing & diabetes) and his relationship with his mother have created very powerful emotional connections between Elliot & his fans. And these connections have only been strengthened by the fact that he can sing his little funky booty off (note: while I don’t like/”get” Elliot’s style, I recognize & give props to his obvious talent…).
In short, Elliot became a bankable & marketable artist who appealed to a wide range of folks. Quite honestly, I think the producers would have a better idea of what to do with Elliot than with Taylor, as evidenced by Simon’s attitude throughout the competition re: Taylor.
Did the producers try to screw Elliot over by giving him less screen/song time on Tuesday? I don’t think so. Besides, even if they did, I’m not sure how it could really end up getting him fewer votes. Outstanding performances will get votes no matter how long they are, and more screen/song time is just more time in which to mess up.
To me, the most interesting thing about the voting margins was how Taylor “came back to the pack” — not how Kat leapfrogged Elliot. Taylor could easily have been eliminated last night. Think about that. Given his run of the past few weeks, it’s almost too incredible to believe, IMO. If I had to guess why, I would say that it’s a combination of two things: 1) how Chris’s fanbase dispersed, and 2) a slight change in Elliot’s fanbase.
- Daughtry’s Fanbase: I was wondering all week how his fanbase would react to Chris’s elimination. In the end, I think that most of them just opted out - i.e., they didn’t vote any more. The fans of Chris’s genre (hard/alt rock) aren’t, I think, usually fans of the typical AI genres (diva/contempo-pop). So once their guy was out, they didn’t really have another horse in this race & they just stopped caring. For those few who did care enough to hang around, it looks like some/most might have jumped over to Kat, thus enabling her to leapfrog over Elliot.
- Elliot’s Fanbase: I think there was a slight splintering that happened amongst the part of Elliot’s fanbase that had also been sending a lot of votes Taylor’s way (and up until the past week, there had been a not-insignificant overlap between the Yaminiacs & the Soul Patrol). I think that this sub-group stopped splitting their votes & concentrated solely on Elliot, which resulted in Taylor losing his clear lead.
In addition to these changes in voting dynamics, we also saw that the remaining fanbases seriously mobilized & got the vote out (here’s an interesting look at the voting math — I don’t necessarily agree with the conclusions, but it does go to show that there was a serious effort to drive the vote by 3 very motivated fanbases…).
It’s been written that, because the phone lines seem to have been overloaded/maxed out (purposely, some would argue), it’s somehow an inaccurate result. That’s been argued in the past, several times IIRC. It was an argument that the Claymates used to explain just how Ruben beat Clay. I don’t think it that it’s a reasonable claim. Should FOX ensure that it’s easier to get through (e.g., by using more phone #s for each singer)? Sure, but not doing so doesn’t invalidate the results. Unless, of course, some lines are purposely made “busy” while others are not — but if that’s the case, then the whole competition is a scam & a fraud, and I’m not ready to say/believe that.
Besides if “accurate” results were the true goal, then some mechanism would be developed & used so as to ensure that only one vote per person/household/phone# was given. No more of this voting as many times as your dialing finger allows crap. 50+ million people didn’t vote this week. In fact, I would (only semi-seriously) argue that it’s more likely that 1 person voted 50+ million times than it is that 50+ million individuals voted once apiece! In short, then, the excuse that busy signals disenfranchised folks & somehow invalidated the results is just that - an excuse. And a lame one at that.
In the end, even though I don’t buy in to the conspiracy theories, and I’m certainly not devastated (or even disappointed) by Elliot’s elimination, I can certainly sympathize with the disappointment that his fans are feeling. It’s not the most “unjust” elimination in AI history (that still belongs to Tamyra and/or LaToya), or even of AI:5 (that belongs to Chris). But it certainly is an understandably disappointing result for all his fans.
Neither do I buy in to all of the Kat-hating that’s going on out there. I honestly don’t get it. Was she happy that she made it through last night? Were her parents? Sure, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think she’s basically a sweet, kinda goofy 22 y/o who has been groomed for a looooong time to be a singer. She’s good and she knows it — again, nothing wrong with that. We’ve seen egomaniacs this season (Brenna Gethers, please pick up the courtesy phone…), and Kat is nowhere near being in that group.
As of this moment, I think that we’re going to see a landslide victory for Taylor. My feeling is that enough of the Yaminiation will jump over to join the Soul Patrol so as to guarantee that Kat doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning next week.
And AI:5 will have as the winner the most deserving singer/performer — Taylor Hicks.
-ghp
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