America Gets it Right: Kristy Lee Cook Leaves American Idol

After watching the results show last night, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. For weeks, I had expected it to be Kristy Lee Cook's turn to be eliminated from American Idol. Stronger, better contestants had gone before her, and every week I questioned the result. Last night, America finally got it right.

It wasn't that Kristy was all that bad, really. She had a pretty voice, and seemed like a nice enough girl, but on stage, she lacked charisma and was never particularly convincing. Though she was talented, she was by far the least talented contestant remaining in the competition, yet somehow she continued to hang on. I'd compare her run on American Idol to Sanjaya's uncanny ability to hang on longer than necessary, but that would imply that she was as bad as Sanjaya, which is far from the truth. While Sanjaya had appeal but lacked talent, Kristy had talent but lacked appeal.

As far as Kristy's niche goes, the week's Mariah Carey theme could have either been helpful or a hindrance to her. She liked to stay within the vein of country music, which is fine -- that is where she belonged. Many country artists have been able to successfully take pop songs and turn them into country music chart-toppers, so it isn't too far-fetched to think that she could have done the same this week.

Instead, Kristy Lee Cook gave just a "pretty good" performance of Mariah Carey's Forever. At this point on American Idol, where there are so few contestants left, the last thing you want to be is "pretty good," and I think that's what ultimately caused her elimination.

That's not to say that the other two who were in the bottom three aren't left at risk next week. Though I think Syesha Mercado is a great singer, she has wound up in the bottom three several times, likely because she does well for the performance portion, connecting with the song and giving a convincing performance, but not really having much personality outside of that.

Ultimately, it was finally Kristy Lee Cook's time to go and I think it was the right decision this time. Of the remaining competitors, especially standing next to the more talented David Archuleta and David Cook, her lack of charisma and consistently "good" performances made it obvious that she had no chance of being the winner this year.