American Idol Preview 3-14-06Â
 By Craig Berman
 March 14, 2006
With the “American Idol†finals set to begin Tuesday night, the 12 contestants remaining already have reached a critical stage in their musical careers. They’re the last dozen standing among 90,000-plus auditioners, and have impressed both the judges and the voters.
That means that all 12 have demonstrated the ability to get millions of votes each week, whether from dedicated fans waiting to buy their albums or jokesters who are just looking to mess with the system. It doesn’t mean that they all have a legitimate chance to win. Most would do well to set a smaller goal: avoiding last place for as long as possible.
That’s because as some of the older finalists know all too well, there’s only a small step between singing before Ryan Seacrest and millions of Americans, and playing random bars in South Carolina for beer money. The longer a contestant can stay on the show, the more likely that at least some sort of record deal comes out of the experience.
Each week’s individual results aren’t always predictable, but the eventual winner usually is. Scott Savol may have lasted a long time last year for reasons impossible for mortal man to understand, but what have you heard from him lately?
It’s impossible to win without a lot of talent and a personality that’s strong enough to secure dedicated supporters who will burn up the phone lines even if the singer has a down week or three. Of course, most people with talent and personality already are set with record deals, so these contestants tend to have more of one and less of the other.
While it’s still too early to be betting the mortgage on anyone, but here’s a look at where the field stands as the final round begins.
The longshots: Kevin Covais, Bucky Covington , Melissa McGhee, Elliott Yamin
As Ryan Seacrest points out dozens of times each and every week, anything can happen when America votes. But it would be a huge upset if any of these four got to the point where they were serious threats to win the competition.
Covais is one of the most likeable contestants on the show, but that doesn’t hide the fact that he’s 16, looks 11, and doesn’t have anywhere near the vocals of the other singers in the final 12.
That doesn’t mean he’ll be the first to go, but it means he won’t win. If nothing else, Simon will get meaner and meaner the longer he lasts, because he won’t want to think about marketing a Kevin Covais album. It would make the Backstreet Boys look like hardcore rappers, and would be found next to the Harry Potter audiobooks in the kids’ section.
As Simon Cowell suggested a couple of weeks ago, Bucky Covington is more of an opening act than a diamond in the rough. He doesn’t rock as well as Chris Daughtry, doesn’t pull off the Southern charm as well as Kellie Pickler, and isn’t as quirky as Taylor Hicks. Covington’s likely to struggle once he gets away from his comfort zone in country rock. But even if he was allowed to pick his own music every week, it would be hard to see him winning. Is anyone out there ready to pay good money to see Bucky Covington in concert?
To Purchase any American Idol I-Tunes Singles and Help Support Idol-Mania Blog - Click on any of the I-Tunes Banner Or Link Below
American Idol - Celebrity Playlists - Download It Now on iTunes
Get Your American Idol CD’s, DVD’s and Merchandise
American Idol
American Idol News
Related posts:
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...What are your American Idol Related thoughts? Start off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment