I agree that there are voters whose thoughts are not captured by the internet and itunes numbers. I also agree that Syesha held out as long as she did because she never had a truly terrible performance, because some of the others faltered, and because she had no competition in her niche of R&B, except, to an extent, David A., who was kind of in his own category this year. I suspect that from the outset, he was getting a huge amount of the vote, and then the others were fighting for the remainder. As the season wore on, and particularly by Top 7, both Davids had big numbers, and the others were fighting for the remainder. Someone on some site (and I wish that I could remember which one) said after Michael was voted out that we should not be surprised to have a strange pattern of eliminations, because if the Davids were really sucking up that large a proportion of the votes, then the question of who got the least of the remainder would end up kind of random.

Is it ok to put up Chrisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s latest blog, I was looking for the thread that had his new video on it but couldnt find it and this is about that? If this works even

It is, but it’s been posted twice already.

ETA:

Despite rumor mill, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ life good for Utahns

And this one was posted yesterday…

Is it ok to put up Chris’s latest blog, I was looking for the thread that had his new video on it but couldnt find it and this is about that? If this works even

Jeff and the rest of the family kept all of this from David as best they could. When he was occasionally questioned about the reports by reporters granted the rare interview, David, without exception, declared all the stories to be false.

“David is such a black-and-white type of person, that I think it would have really troubled him to know that people were saying that kind of stuff,” Jeff Archuleta said. “The only time it really became an issue was the last week or two. It’s like it was everywhere. It was on TV, it was on the (Associated Press).

“That’s one thing that’s weird, too. The AP releases something based on a TMZ article? And then it’s in every newspaper, and it’s on the talk shows. It was on the ‘Today Show,’ ‘Good Morning America.’ All these shows were bringing it up. Unbelievable. Why would the AP use TMZ as a source and not even verify it?”

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700243037,00.html?pg=1

Why indeed!

…So I decided to look at another popularity contest: American Idol. Sure, like the presidency, this is held under the veneer of being a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“talentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  competition, but the reality is that ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s run by a record company who desires to find an artist with built-in popular appeal. It legitimately should be the ideal method for finding a pop star, because the audience of voters self-selects as the logical group of people most likely to buy the album. In the last season, the finale saw over 97 million votes cast (to be fair, with multiple voting that doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t mean 97 million people voted).

How have the results turned out? Well, not so stellar…

In the meantime, I’m catching up with the reviews. Happily, most posted are positive. However, this made me chuckle.

BOTTOM LINE: A fairly stout debut, but because Mr. Young tackles too much he fails to stand up à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ or out. Hey, Blake Lewis: You have company.

Hahaha. Obviously, I don’t have an issue with that. If I didn’t already like Ace, I might have been tempted to buy his album based on that, especially after Blake pimped him on a myspace blog recently.

So, yeah. Not the desired effect.

Ace’s CD release party is tonight. I hope for some recaps.

ETA: This is discouraging, but no shocker.

Where’s your niche now?

Radio isn’t what it used to be. I’ll say that right off … For some reason or another they’re not allowed to play it with me being on an indie label. They’re not responding to it like they would something coming directly from Clive Davis. There’s no urgency.

The internet fans only make up a small portion of the AI viewing audience. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve said this before, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll say it again. There are people who pick up the phone who vote who DONà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢T frequent message boards, download iTunes songs or wait outside of studios to meet Idols theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve become invested in.

Thank you mj – I agree whole-heartedly – in fact no one that I know frequents Idol messageboards or any of that. They all vote on AI every year – I made fun of them in the past – what do I know – here I am – now more involved than any of them.

However, they all have some very very different opinions about the Idols than the ones that I read online. Once the show is over – they just wait for the next one – but they vote regularly and discuss it constantly when it is on. Now I’m the one letting them know what is still happening with their favorites.

Lefty, Archie has been sick with bad allergies over the past few days.

Thanks for the info. I’m a little too sentimental, evidently. Poor guy. How in the world is he managing to sing so well?

I find Syeshaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s situation very interesting. How is it that the 3rd place contestant never really seemed to have a fan base? On the AI forum, the internet or anywhere? And now, she canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t find any fans on the tour? And according to an earlier comment on this blog, her local events consist of family & friends. Also, her Idol visit home looked sad compared to The Davids. It all leads me to believe what I have already thoughtà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ there is some à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“fixingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of the results.

I went to the San Jose concert and there was quite a sustained, very organic standing O for Syesha after her last song. So in the SF Bay Area at least, there are definitely some Syesha fans. As I was walking out, I heard one person say that her last song was the best performance of the evening.

Frankly, I think Syesha managed to hang on despite being B3 numerous times by never actually having a trainwreck performance (like Jason and Brooke), belting out songs in a style that is expected by the casual AI viewer, and basically singing a genre (R&B) that the other remaining contestants weren’t in, thus keeping that particular fanbase all to herself. (And also, what mj said.)

tawnilady — Exacty *who* voted for her? Where are they? There’s no evidence of any fans at all. Rickey over at Rickey.org went to something (radio interview?) right after idol ended, and he was *the only* fan that showed up — and she still managed to ignore him completely.

The internet fans only make up a small portion of the AI viewing audience. I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. There are people who pick up the phone who vote who DON’T frequent message boards, download iTunes songs or wait outside of studios to meet Idols they’ve become invested in. There are MILLIONS of these people. That’s who voted for Syesha.

I don’t think the show is fixed.

I’ve always suspected that Shyesha’s finance’ works for the telephone company, somehow sending millions of calls her way on competition nights.

It’s a real mystery. Or a real eye opener to those who still think the entire thing isn’t fixed.