FOXES ON IDOL
American Idol 3: Why LaToya Lost
by David Bloomberg -- 05/13/2004

Yes, it was another shocker! It was obvious to one and all that Jasmine should have gone, but instead LaToya went home. What happened to cause her to leave us early? Why did LaToya lose?

I wish I could tell you all that I’m surprised LaToya was sent home this week. Indeed, when I was pressed for an answer by several radio stations on who I predicted to win it all, I favored LaToya. However, I just can’t bring myself to be shocked. I plan to address all of that in a later article, so for now we’ll just take a look at what happened to cause LaToya to have the fewest votes and why LaToya lost.

As always, we will enter into our investigation based on the guidelines laid out in What American Idol 3 Contestants Need to Know. And again as always, that means we start with the most important rule: Have some singing and performing talent.

In LaToya’s case, singing isn’t even an issue. She has been showing us how it’s done week after week after week. As Simon said a little while ago, LaToya was the best singer in the competition. Note what he said: Singer. Not performer. There is a difference that we will address a bit more further on down in the article. But suffice it to say, her singing ability has never been in doubt, which is why so many people are upset about her leaving.

The second rule is to always keep an eye on your song choice. LaToya did have occasional issues with this, especially this week. Her first song, “Love You Inside and Out,” was a bit dull. Viewers – and the judges – expected her to really let loose on disco night, and she came out with that. She did better in her second song selection, but it wasn’t enough. Again, this also falls in with the performance aspects that we’ll discuss in a bit.

Third is to be different. LaToya, while often compared to Fantasia and Jennifer as part of the Three Divas, really was rather different from them. She is older, more experienced, and more mature. This was especially true in the Final 4, where she was the only non-teenager! However, in some ways that set her apart in a not necessarily positive way. She was often much more reserved than the more emotional teens, and that may have been interpreted by some as not caring as much.

Another problem with being so reserved comes forward in the fourth rule, which says to be memorable. Don’t get me wrong – LaToya was memorable for her voice. But that’s pretty much all she was memorable for. Simon said several times that we didn’t really know anything more about her in her last week than we did in her first. Off the top of my head, I know that she sang at weddings with a band, she’s married, and she has two step-children. That’s pretty much it. I can’t even remember where she’s from, but I can for all the other three who are left. (Please don’t e-mail me to tell me – the point is not to find out, but to point out that many of us just didn’t know that much about her.)

However, the other three are all memorable. Whether you like her or not, there is no way anybody can forget Fantasia. Diana is the teenage sensation with a huge voice and a giddy personality. And Jasmine is the young Hawaiian girl who cried when the judges criticized her. LaToya is… the other Diva. That’s about it.

Furthermore, LaToya isn’t a really chatty person, so she didn’t get bonus points for interaction with Ryan Seacrest or the judges. She said on the Final Five special that she is just a reserved person, and that’s understandable. However, contestants need to understand that they are being judged on everything they do. In fact, we’ll skip right down to Rule 8, which says just that – you are a package. Quoting from that rule: “personality plays a big part in your success.” And: “Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard are both affable and charismatic.” I don’t think anybody could really say that about the LaToya we saw on our television sets each week. For all I know, it might be true in her real life, but she didn’t let it shine through.


Which brings us to the aspect of her performance that I said we’d get to. LaToya was often seen as just being a bit dull. I love her singing, and even I thought her first disco night attempt was boring. So did the judges. And so did many other fans. This was not the first time we’d heard that criticism, and eventually it can add up. She often didn’t show much personality either while singing or in the portions of the show where she could just chat and talk. Bad combination.

Going back to our usual order, the fifth rule says to avoid karaoke. No problem there. Moving on. The sixth rule says that no matter what, you should not argue with the judges. In general, LaToya did fine here. She occasionally made a comment in response to them, but nothing major.

The seventh rule says that contestants should treat every performance as their last. LaToya was great from the very first time we saw her, so how do we know if she treated each one as her last? Well, in a way, she told us. On Tuesday’s show, Ryan asked her if she was feeling any pressure and she made a comment in response that annoyed Simon and, I think, many viewers. She basically said that each of them in the Top 4 is going to be successful, so there really wasn’t any pressure. That was the wrong thing to say. To some, it said that she wasn’t acting as if each performance was absolutely necessary to continue, because it didn’t matter to her if she continued or not. I have a feeling that many voters heard that comment and said, “Hell, if you don’t care too much about it, then I don’t care enough to vote for you.”

We’ve already addressed the eighth rule, so let’s go to #9, creating a fan base. LaToya did indeed have a good fan base that supported her throughout. However, I do not think they were as vocal, or as rabid, as the fan bases for the other three who remain. Part of it may be related to her age – teenagers are more likely to go to extremes to support their favorites, and as we have discussed, the other three are teens. Also, looking back to the previous paragraph, it may have been hard for some of her fans – or other more casual viewers – to get up the urge to dial and redial for LaToya after her comment.

Of course, another major factor here had less to do with LaToya and more to do with Jasmine, but it goes back to the fan base issue. Jasmine’s fans were spurred into action by her rather poor performances this week, not to mention by the judges’ critiques. But what really put it over the top was the site of poor little Jasmine crying into the camera as Ryan Seacrest put his arm around her for support. How could anybody resist? Her fans were obviously going to vote until their fingers bled. And if the others didn’t have fans who would do likewise, they weren’t going to succeed.

So as we look back at LaToya’s time on Idol, there can be no doubt that she is a great singer who will indeed have a future in the recording industry. However, she never should have said that they would all have such a career and therefore there was really no pressure. Because her personality did not often shine through, she did not have as big, nor as dedicated, a fan base as the other three young ladies. And while Jasmine’s fans were inspired to redouble their efforts, LaToya’s could have been put off by her comments. It was a bad combination, but that is why LaToya lost.

posted by Yee 10:54 PM

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