Country singer Skylar Laine was just eliminated in 5th place on the 11th season of American Idol. Hollie Cavanagh was in the bottom 2 with her. There was no bottom 3 announced, so Jessica Sanchez, Philip Phillips, and Joshua Ledet were the top 3.
Skylar was in the bottom 3 once earlier in the season, but then the past two weeks saw her in the bottom 3 and now the absolute bottom vote getter. While some people predicted this, I find it pretty surprising. While Skylar seemed to be peaking, the votes just weren’t reflecting that.
There were a couple of negatives about Skylar’s singing. The first is that she has a very strong twang. Some people didn’t like that. For me, she also needed to add more vocal stylings to her performances. In particular, Laine would abruptly cut off her big belting notes. Compare that to someone like Jessica, who has developed a bit more finesse.
But there were many positives, as well. Skylar has a very versatile voice. It has country characteristics but is serviceable enough for other genres. And while some people don’t like the twang on non-country songs, I felt it made her performances unique. Most singers with that kind of twang just don’t have that much power and versatility.
The last thing to consider is how close the competition is now. Most Idol seasons have at least one or two singers in the Top 5 that seem out of place. For me, only Hollie doesn’t fit. Of course, some people love Hollie, but how many weeks should someone get to improve when she should have been gone a long time ago?
At this point, it may be that the contestants are just swapping places. It is going to take some luck to win American Idol 11. Skylar could have improved and can improve with more coaching. I think she never got good feedback from the judges while Hollie did get good feedback. Hollie fans moaned about the feedback cause they saw it as only negative comments.
Truthfully, Hollie has improved to some degree over the past two weeks. And maybe that is because she got honest critiques from the judges. Skylar was somewhat overpraised when she should have been given advice about making her performances more refined instead of the excellent but simplistic screaming notes that she employed on a regular basis.