Sanjaya Safe? America Misses the Mark Again

Unfortunately it was Chris Sligh's last night on American Idol's Wednesday result show. And even more unfortunately that means that Sanjaya Malakar is still on the show. All of us watchers ask for your help. A vote for Phil is not a vote for Sanjaya and that's a good thing.

Was it the ponytail Mohawk hair? Is the cute 17 year old boy look? Or is it a joke amongst the junior high kids across the nation to laugh about the next day on the playground? I don't know who's voting for this guy, but please, please do all of our ears a favor and stop. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out American Idol next week, you'll see.

This week on American Idol, it was a very typical show. Superstar contestant Melinda Doolittle performed like a seasoned veteran again, Chris Sligh was off-beat with the music again and Sanjya Malakar was horrible yet again. And another bit of bad news, he wasn't voted out. I am getting a little annoyed at this. All you young teenage girls out there who think Sanjaya's cute and sweet need to turn off Brittany Spears on your radios and open up your ears. The boy is not a performer. Let him be a host like Ryan Seacrest, or let him be a dancer or something but please stop letting him perform.

And of all the performances on Tuesday night, Sanjaya's was by far the worst. Better singers like Chris, Phil Stacy and Hayley Scarnato were in the bottom three last night while Sanjaya sat safely in his little corner. This is getting out of control. Stop voting for people based on what they look like. Vote for them on performance and voice. If America had done that weeks ago, Sanjaya would not have even been in the top 12. Now all of you have to go to the American Idol concerts when the season is done and listen to him sing again. Believe me, you'll be kicking yourselves then.

Now Sanjaya is not an altogether bad singer in general, but as everyone can see with their own two eyes and hear with their own two ears, he is not a good performer. He doesn't have the experience or the voice to perform with yet. His voice needs to be trained for a few years and he needs to learn how to perform on stage. He reminds me of our old friend William Hung. He's got a great personality and he's naïve and sad but that doesn't mean you give him a singing contract. He got a lot of hype because he wasn't a good singer. And what boiled me up was that instead of people making him famous based on his talent, they laughed behind his back. And now that's happening to Sanjaya and I think it's hateful.

All of you that vote for him should be ashamed. Wouldn't you feel bad if he won American Idol over someone like Melinda who will probably go down in history as one of the greatest recording artists ever? If he makes it to the final, I will sorely be disappointed with the youth of America. It would mean that young girls in High School and Junior High, who are the majority of voters on American Idol, don't have enough education on what artistic talent is. I can see it now, the youth of America laughing and joking about how cute the dogs playing poker (Sanjaya) is and passing over the Mona Lisa (Melinda). It's atrocious.

The original idea for the show is to find talented singers and have America vote for one person who they believed to be the best. It should be a fun show but also showcase people who may one day be spectacular recording artists. But now many people have a problem with the show because they don't think some of the people have talent. Well, America, with your votes you are proving them right.

I implore you America to bring American Idol back to its roots. Make this a program again that is based on giving a talented person recognition for their hard work in vocal and stage performance rather than a popularity contest. Make them reputable again.
Let this show be about the artists who have a God given talent for voice and who have trained themselves to be performers. Let the people who deserve to be there be there. And let Sanjaya have his time off stage so that he can train himself to be a better performer. Please, if not for me, do it for Sanjaya.

American Idol airs on Tuesday nights at 8pm and the results show airs Wednesday nights at 9pm.