Wayne, I liked Christi myself, but I knew she was doomed when she failed to blossom after making the top 10. The other gals obviously "got it"--that they had to stand out to make the cut. A good voice is the first requirement, but for the girls, glitter and glitz are almost equally important.
Christi is so pretty, yet she was, in Simon's caustic words, "forgettable" because she didn't have stage presence. I thought my students would like her, because they loved Carrie Underwood, but they didn't because she didn't look like a star. Look like? Sound like? It
is a singing competition, not a beauty pageant. But for the gals, it's a dress/hair/stage presence thing, too, and Christi didn't seem to understand that except for the night she wore the sequined and beaded tank top with her jeans. For all her other appearances, her outfits were more appropriate for a covered-dish supper instead of a stage performance. Carrie Underwood, on the other hand, came straight off a tractor and knew right where to head with her terrific voice--to makeup and wardrobe.
Most of the final 10 will undoubtedly get a record or acting deal, so not winning the competition isn't the end for them. (Carly, you should NEVER have been cut, but we'll be seeing a lot of you, I feel.) On the other hand, I can think of two winners who haven't done a thing--Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks--yet most of the 9 kids who were sent packing during each of those two seasons are doing very well. Both Taylor and Ruben, I think, were "popularity contest winners," not talent winners.
I don't know how much longer teeny-boppers can keep Jason afloat, but I can tell you that the girls I teach think he is HOT--"Those eyes, Mrs. Mathews!!!! His dreadlocks!!!!" I'm not sure they are even aware that he sings. They also like David Archuleta, but think he might be a bit squeaky-clean . . .Go figure.
Now, about Simon . . . I guess I've gone on about him a bit much around my place, because the other night my husband got in a snit and said, "Well, why don't you just write and tell him that you're a devoted SENIOR CITIZEN fan and ask if he would send you one of his smelly old black t-shirts?" I think Simon is the "bad boy" my mother never let me date. You know--forbidden fruit and all that jazz . . .
OK, enough. I have to find Simon Cowell's address . . .
Carolyn