Carly Smithson Screeches Broadway's Jesus Christ, Superstar

For weeks, I've been trying to put my finger on the exact reason why I'm not rooting for American Idol Season 7 powerhouse contestant Carly Smithson. Ireland-born Carly has the vocal prowess and proficiency to rival past Idol divas such as Kelly Clarkson, Melinda Doolittle and Carrie Underwood, so it's a mystery to everyone (not the least of which, I suspect, include the producers of the show, who seemed to push her as an early front-runner) why she doesn't have hordes and masses of vocal, enthusiastic fans to rival the Claymates. From the perspective of technical proficiency, she is easily the best female singer, if not the best singer overall, that this season has proffered up for our voting scrutiny. Covered in tattoos with jet black hair and luminous beauty, she doesn't look like a cookie-cutter starlet, either - she should stand out from the crowd. Based on talent alone, she should be what all the buzz is about this season. She should have Carlymates.

And yet, the fact is that she doesn't. She's been in the bottom three several weeks, though she's been spared that lately due in large part to other contestants' weaknesses getting the best of them. Despite the producers' best efforts, she isn't the front-runner anymore - that title has been deftly stolen by Davids Archuleta and Cook. It is now dubious whether she will even make it to the final three. How is it possible for this to happen to a girl who can, ostensibly, sing anything, and sing the hell out of it?

I believe that her performance of the titular "Jesus Christ, Superstar" on Andrew Lloyd Webber night provides some valuable insights. Yes, this is a song that requires a great deal of vocal power and control in order to navigate its difficult, powerful melody, but it's also a song whose lyrics are filled with irony, anger, admiration and pleading. In the Broadway show, the character singing the song commits suicide over the uncertainty that he repeats in the song - namely, "Jesus, are you what they say you are?" I.e., "Are you really God?" It is, and in fact, was, enough to drive someone insane. The frenzied energy of the song is that of desperation, guilt and an unquenchable longing, of one person's impossible existential wrestling with the idea of divinity in human form.

Did any of that come through in Carly's performance? Not one whit. Yes, she sounded nearly pitch-perfect, and she delivered a performance that I suspect watching live must have been nothing short of deafening. Yet it was so self-indulgent that I questioned whether Carly even needs the audience there anymore. During this performance, I just decided she's happy to stand there and scream, regardless of song content, regardless of audience reaction. It was almost, dare I say it, a vocally masturbatory performance, and frankly, it's no different than any other night has been for her.

This contest is about finding the best undiscovered recording talent in America. I love the song she sang, I love the musical itself, and I think there's no question that Carly can sing it (and just about anything else) well enough, but would I listen to a whole album of her mechanically screeching her heart out at me, just because she can? Of course not.

I would be very surprised if Carly wasn't in the bottom three on results night. She will probably make it another week based on the fact that other people with equally shaky fan bases gave much weaker performances than she did, buther days on the show are numbered, and unfortunately for Carly, no amount of screaming is going to change that.