Elimination Took Gina Glocksen by Surprise
April 7, 2007 by Jeanne
Well, at least I know I wasn’t alone. Gina was also shocked by her dismissal from American Idol last week. In an interview, the rocker revealed that as she went to bed following her performance, right through to the beginning of the elimination show, she never thought that she would be the one going home. She felt comforted, however, by the fact that the audience booed and protested loudly when her name was called.
Why Did She Get Voted Off?
Gina was in the bottom three with Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey. Of the three, Gina was the only one to receive praise from any judge (in her case, both Randy and Paula) and the lone judge who voiced criticism, Simon Cowell, only said that he could not rave about her vocals as he could about some of the other female singers. Phil was berated by all three judges who also refused to even comment on Haley’s singing at all. Why would Gina leave before Phil and Haley?
Some have suggested that Sanjaya fans are keeping Phil Stacey around so that his subpar performances will keep Sanjaya around at least one more week. Others have claimed that Haley’s shameless flaunting of her legs and other “assets” are to blame. Finally, one other theory has revolved around Gina’s tongue ring. Some have offered that this may not have set well with the more conservative viewers and resulted in a lack of votes. Indeed, I did see her tongue ring a lot more during that last performance since it was a slower song, she was sitting still and had to open her mouth wider. The producers of Idol initially told her that they did not want her to wear it on the show and she took it out, but eventually put it back saying that it is a part of who she is. I sincerely hope that this is not the reason because it is completely ridiculous.
By the way, I know that picture of Gina is not representative of how she actually looked on the show. That shot makes her look more like Gene Simmons from Kiss. I just couldn’t find a tongue ring shot from an actual performance so if you have one, send it over!
Gina was the best singer out of the causasian singers. I had no objection to her tongue ring,however, did you happen to hear what that wimp Ryan Seacrest said after he announced Gina’s name as the Idol of elimination? After Gina sang, he said something like this: ” Of course we wishe you the best of luck, Gina and that also goes for your tongue-ring as well” or something like that. The viewers don’t have the final say ove who wins….the producers do. They told her about the tongue ring and a few times I didn’t see it, but like she said…..it is part of her and what she is about” Whatever happened to freedom of speech…..even non-speech but being hip? Please note the black singers and their big loppy earrings because it is part of their heritage of being AFRO-American. In the movie “Philadelphia”, while the black employee of the law firm was on the stand, she said that the “suits” mentioned to her that she needed to change the style of her earrings to be more “American” ,she politely told them that they were “American” , “Afro-American”. Why is it that causasians always are told to tone down their clothing and bling-bling,yet blacks are seen in professional offices wearing garish earrings, nose rings, lip rings, etc? What ever happened to the so called “racial equality?”
There are a lot of older people that vote as well, so maybe they didn’t take too kindly to the tongue ring. Gina clearly has more talent than Phil Stacey, Sanjaya, and Haley, so she should be ok in the future.
Barbara,
I did catch Ryan’s flippant remark. It did annoy me as well. I have to say that I think I understand what you were saying on the black vs. white issue, at least to a degree. Gina sported a style that many white young adults are in to and I think it is unfair to ask someone to remove their tongue ring when hootchie-mama Haley has put her bootie up for sale.
Read more of my response to Shawn (see below) since I think they go together.
Jeanne
Shawn,
I agree with what you said. I thought Gina was great, in all honesty. My grandmother was not fond of her saying that she did not know the songs she was singing. That makes me wonder if there were more viewers like my Granny. It’s interesting because Evanescence won Best New Artist a couple years ago, beating out favorite, 50 Cent. Evanescence’s lead singer, Amy Lee, is absolutely incredible and to hear her live is amazing. But she sings “dark music” and right now, everything has a real hip-hop slant to it. Even the pop music (yes, Justin Timberlake, I’m talking to you). It really eliminates the beauty of diversity in music.
I don’t know if, because of this current trend towards hip-hop and R&B music has led to greater support for the three female singers who seem more than able to deliver. I don’t know if it is a black/white issue. It certainly feels that way with my grandmother but I’m not sure about society at large.
I am not that fond of Jordin Sparks, I think her vibrato is annoying, she never looks into the camera and her weird yodel-type affectations get under my skin to no end. I don’t think she is better than Gina but I guess it depends on how willing you are to accept music and artists from all genres.
With that said, Carrie Underwood did get crowned the Idol winner with her country style. However, the power and size of the country-loving audience cannot be underestimated either, especially with more and more country (Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, etc…) filtering into the mainstream.
*Sigh* it is so complicated. I still would not be thrilled to see Jordin in the top 3, but what do I know?