Those of you unfamiliar with the spoilers may have been surprised when David Osmond, son of Allen and nephew of Donny Osmond, was eliminated after the Hollywood group rounds during Wednesday’s American Idol Season 8 episode.
I got an email tip that David said, in a radio interview yesterday, that the judges knew he had laryngitis, and that his other group members made it through, despite forgetting their lyrics.
David explains what happened to him that day in this blog post. Read the excerpt below:
The night before, we organized ourselves into groups. We picked our song from a short list, I choreographed a dance routine, and we rehearsed like crazy until we had it down. I was stoked with how our song turned out. It sounded REALLY good, and everything was great. Even that next morning at a 6:30 AM breakfast things were totally fine. We rehearsed together and it sounded awesome. Well ¦ at least until that afternoon.
I was sitting in the second row of the Kodak Theatre, the judge table was to my right. I was sitting with my …group, and we were waiting hours and hours just for our turn to go on stage. We were group number 26 out of 28 to perform, so we didnt take the stage until about 10 oclock that night. It wasnt until around lunch that the freaky thing started to happen’ something that has never happened to be before in my career’ I lost my voice! Not just kind of ¦ or halfway ¦ but full-blown laryngitis ¦ GONE!
From midday on, I felt my voice just start slipping and slipping away, and I couldnt do a thing about it. I didnt feel sick at all, my voice just stopped working. It was so weird. I couldnt even get a tone out.
Well, I was hoping they would at least give me another chance to. In fact, just like the song we sang said, …If you hold on for one more day, things will go your way. I hoped to stick around for one more day and sing for them the way I really wanted to. The judges even asked me, …Dude what happened dawg!? I explained that I was fighting laryngitis, but I dont make any excuses. I was in Hollywood to sing, and asked for exactly that opportunity ¦ to sing for them the way I knew I could. But in my gut I knew it was inevitable.
We went offstage for about 30 minutes while the last 2 groups went and the judges deliberated. During that time, the words of Barry Manilow kept running through my head. He spoke to us on the first day of the week. He said, first, …Dont get sick! Whoops! But he also said something profound. He said, …There is no luck in success. None at all. The definition of success is: Preparation meets opportunity! And here is your big opportunity. Are you prepared for it?
I thought about how Ive worked so hard and prepared my whole life, waiting for this type of opportunity to share my talents. And in that short moment, my voice was taken. I have to tell you, the way it happened was too coincidental and too freaky for me not to believe there was absolutely a reason for it. I believe everything does happen for a reason, and I am at such peace with how everything turned out.
After the judges deliberated and our group was asked to go back on stage, they simply said, …Sorry David, it the end of the road for ya. That was it. No explanation or drawn out dramatics. Just a simple finish.
Ha ha, they chose to sing a Wilson-Phillips song? That might have done him in right there.
All kidding aside, I don’t think the judges necessarily make their decisions about who to advance during the group rounds based on singing. I think it’s a combination of how well the contestant holds up under pressure, their stage presence and creativity. Vocals are one factor.
And less face it, if somebody like front-runner Adam Lambert had developed laryngitis, he would have been given a big honkin’ pass. By now, I think the producers know, in a general sense, who is going to make the cut and who isn’t. I suspect David might have been eliminated even if he’d been in fine voice.
What do you think?
