Shock and disbelief were not strong enough words to describe the emotions I felt after
Ryan Secrest (in his most
unkempt look ever) announced this week's bottom three vote-getters:
Mandisa,
Elliot and
Paris. These three are possibly this season's strongest vocalists and considered to be the frontrunners of the competition eversince the unveiling of the top 12 finalists; and Mandisa, with her dynamic range and powerhouse vocals is easily
the contestant to beat this season.
I concede that her performance this week (
Shania Twain's
Any Man Of Mine) is possibly her weakest to date but this is only after a string of stellar accomplishments -- Who can forget her rousing
I'm Every Woman which practically brought the house down or her sensitive rendering of
Aretha Franklin's
I Don't Hurt Anymore during the Fifties-themed night?? Moreover, Mandisa had never been in the bottom three spots before; an elimination, therefore, was totally unexpected.
With the trusty help of
Google and
Yahoo!, I've come up with some theories why Mandisa's booty got the boot this week...
Theory 1. Obese-ismDiscrimination against fat people.
Especially extremely fat people. Let's face it, the more beautiful/good-looking/cute you are, the more popular you'll become -- Isn't this one lesson we all learn the hard way (even more so for the less-pretty people) as we go through life?? Talent and personality take secondary precedence. Look what happened to Ruben Studdard -- vanished without a trace. Still don't believe me?
This site says it all...
Theory 2. Splitting of the minority voteA large portion of American Idol voters are tween girls with mommies and daddies who can afford to foot for their exhorbitant phone bills. And with tween "heart-throbs" like
Ace Young,
Chris Daughtry and
Bucky around, that equates to fewer tween votes for the rest of the contestants. Moreover, since I have this assumption that the only people who would vote for Afro-Americans are Afro-Americans themselves, it would be highly likely that this demographic group is split between Paris and Mandisa. And minority being
minority means there isn't alot of votes to go around. Nevertheless, since both of them turned out to be in the bottom three, I suspect there may be other factors that might have shifted the minority vote toward the other contestants...
Theory 3. The preaching diva and losing the gay-voteAfter last week's ardent cry of "
This song goes out to everybody who wants to be free. Your addiction, lifestyle and situation may be big, but God is bigger" before launching into a passionate rendition of
Mary Mary's gospel hit "Shackles", Mandisa's faith (and its over-zealousness) has been under study by media-watchers and idol viewers alike.
Gay idol viewers to be exact. Observers claim that the "lifestyle" she was referring to was in fact, the
gay lifestyle (two words jointly used by Christians as a term to denote gay culture and activities). On her (now defunct) website and even the
American Idol website, Mandisa's ardent support for anti-gay Christian speaker and author,
Beth Moore, was quite apparent. More of this
here.
I have nothing against Evangelical Christians but before last week, Mandisa has never been overtly promoting her religion on national television, although net-savvy idol fans are aware of her gospel roots and her assiduous participation in church activities. I'm certain many people such as myself watch AI for its entertainment value and to mar it with such an "indulgent" (quoting Simon Cowell) demonstration of one's religious belief, is to detract from the performance its escapist merits. Is it not enough that the headlines are inundated daily, by news of some group of religious extremists/fanatics or another, that we have to witness the same kind of religious fervour from a wannabe-Idol on prime-time television??? Being a diva is one thing -- but being a
preaching diva, is another matter altogether. Honestly, the idea of the latter, is quite a turn-off.
**********************Personally, I have nothing against Mandisa and I think she is by far, the best vocalist this season of AI; her exit this week was definitely abit premature. However, the votes had been cast, and she had lost. No big deal -- I'm sure she'll land a record deal and start making a gospel album in no time at all. Perhaps next week, we'll see someone of
less talent, being voted off the show for once...
