DaveChung.com - Blogging Entertainment | American Idol: Michael Johns Goes Home

American Idol named its Top 7 this week, as Michael Johns was sent home on Idol Gives Back week, with Syesha Mercado and Carly Smithson joining him in the Bottom 3. This was probably the most shocking elimination that we’ve seen in a while, going back to when Danny Noriega went home in a showdown against Chikezie (before Chikezie started being pretty good), but it was still likely only off by a week or two at best.

There are a lot of Idol fans who are pretty upset about this elimination, saying that Brooke, Jason, or perhaps most commonly, Kristy Lee Cook should have gone home instead. However, the real question for these angry fans is, “Were you actually voting for Michael Johns?” Clearly, a lot of people were for him to make it this far in the competition, so if those fans are the ones complaining or mourning the loss of “their” Idol, then that’s completely fine. The week Alaina Whitaker went home, I was guilty of not voting for her and I was pretty devastated (relatively), but I didn’t vote for her that week, so I wasn’t allowed to complain.

A lot of fans are beginning to drop the “P” word - Popularity - as in “Popularity Contest,” at this point in the competition, just like every year. Around the Top 6 or Top 7 or so, people start complaining that the show isn’t about talent, but that it’s about popularity.These arguments coincidentally seem to coincide with the time that everyone’s favorite Idol goes home.  

The reality is that only one person wins American Idol. There can only be one Idol and there always will be one Idol. We have an extremely talented Top 7, who have come from the most consistently good Top 12 that I think we’ve ever seen on American Idol, and if we’re being honest, there’s probably three people out of this group who have a chance at winning the competition. Every week, we’re going to see someone “good” going home from this point forward, so while there will be surprises, they’re inevitable surprises.

Tonight, Kristy Lee Cook sailed into the Top 7 because her fans voted for her, not necessarily because she’s the best singer, but because fans voted for what was her best performance of the season and a great performance overall. While I was a Brooke White fan earlier in the competition, I found her performance this week to be so painful that I thought that she deserved to be in the Bottom 3 if we were going on a straight singing competition based on this week only. The reality is that this isn’t the way American Idol works, nor Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, and any other competition reality show. Popularity obviously matters, but  performers can earn popularity with consistently good performances (see: David Cook), even if they didn’t start as a front runner.

Has David Archuleta really been the best every week? If we’re being honest, he hasn’t. However, David blew everyone away with his “Imagine” performance, which gave him the fanatic fanbase that will continue to put him through until at least the Top 3, if not the finale. Yes, popularity matters. But popularity can be earned with good singing. In the immortal words of Simon Cowell, “This is a singing competition.”

Do I think Michael Johns should have gone home? No, I don’t.

However, if I didn’t vote for Johns, as clearly a good amount of people weren’t compelled to do (nor do I think his spot of going first helped him at all), I have no reason to complain about the results because it is that type of complacency that leads to surprising results. It’s part of every American Idol season and it’s something that is inevitable every year.

Michael Johns was really starting to grow on me as I felt like he was getting better and better every week. His growth was truly a lot of fun to watch and he’ll be missed this season. With Michael Johns going home, David Cook is left as the lone member of the “Four Horsemen” who made the Top 24 this season, and suddenly, it’s impossible for us to have an all-male Top 4 this season.

Also, by Michael Johns going home, the TiVo predictor has officially been proven wrong, after four straight weeks of predicting Idol eliminations based upon the performances that were rewatched and skipped by TiVo users. Syesha Mercado lives to see another week, so take that TiVo. You are no match for voting complacency.