American Idol - Explaining Bikini Girl
I have to give it up to American Idol this season for listening to us and giving us what we want. They made changes in the past few years that were really nothing more than what Fox figured would get them better ratings, by giving them two-hour-long shows as often as possible, and giving us lots of bad auditions, to the point of seeing only a few each audition show of who got through, followed by Hollywood week jammed into just one day, and the rest of the season with performance shows.
This isn’t to say that they probably aren’t worried about ratings, but they aren’t manipulating the show to get that and sacrificing its purpose in the meantime. We only had three weeks of auditions this time, and saw more good than bad auditions, and now we have Hollywood week stretched back out into two weeks. After, we’ll go back to having the old style of semi-finals with two voted in from each group, and wild cards then added in as well, of the other people that were good enough to make it, but didn’t for one reason or another.
One of the promises made was that they would be giving us a chance to get to know the contestants again, instead of just thrusting them into performances. It gives us a chance to bond with these artists, so that we know what they’re about instead of just seeing them audition, then a moment or two from Hollywood.
To me, that’s what the Group Night is always about. Tonight, watching the groups prepare, it gave us a chance to look behind the scenes and find out who the artists are. We saw some personalities emerge during auditions, and we saw more of what we liked tonight, as well as more we didn’t like. We know more of who we want to root for than just a voice.
If there was one person that was being talked about the most during the auditions, it was Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell. We thought we knew what kind of person she was by seeing her at her audition, auditioning in a bikini, then falling all over Ryan Seacrest. The judges put her through, even though we saw a little attitude emerging from her as she argued with Kara DioGuardi. With a chance to show us who she is away from the bikini gimmick, as that’s really all it was, Katrina pulled out the bikinis again, showing us the ones she brought with her. She was also kissing Ryan again.
Of course, some of that is producer manipulation, but she gave them that material to work with. She appeared in a bikini and hit on Ryan. She became known for that, so of course they would exploit that as much as they could. But she could have told us so much more about herself yesterday. She had an in, and now she just had to tell us who she really was and connect with us. Instead, she showed us her bikinis.
Even Rose Flack picked up on that in her group with Katrina, so it couldn’t have been just producer manipulation. No one there knew her as “Bikini Girl,” yet Rose’s comment was that her and the other two girls in their group thought this was all about being cute. Katrina left her group when they were still working, going up to bed. Of course, we did hear a little of her at that point, as she cried in her room, saying how hard it was.
The next morning Katrina refused to get out of bed to work more, and left her group hanging without her. At crunch time, she reappeared, without an explanation, and expecting the others to catch her up on what she’d missed. She was missing yet another opportunity. She could have easily put that persona away and just get honest with the girls, apologizing for leaving them, then telling them she was ready to work now. Yet, she chose not to.
Taking the stage with her group, they did badly, and weren’t fooling anyone. Simon knew they had had problems working together. With yet another chance to come clean, Katrina chose to make excuses. She could have said what was really bothering her, most likely that it was harder than expected. Not the singing part, but getting along with the other girls, as someone that acts like that has probably never had an easy time getting along with the other girls.
Her chances burned up, Katrina was asked to step forward, and wrongfully assumed she was moving on, posing for the camera she knew was out there. The judges stunned her and sent her home. The found out so much from that group performance. They knew she would have trouble working with other people, and would be more self-serving than giving her audience what they wanted.
I don’t think Group Night is ever so much about how great you sound, but how well you prepare and work with others. That’s why I like watching it. Not so much to see the drama in and of itself, but to see what makes the drama. We get to see so much more about these people rather than just how they sound when they sing. If you don’t work well with others, you’re not going to do well in the music business, especially not as the winner of American Idol. If you’re more worried about how you look than how you perform, you’re not going to do well on this either.
Even if Katrina had made it to the semi-final 36 performers, she never would have made the final 12. America would have never voted her in, just as they couldn’t see their way to vote Antonella Barba through. We have a very clear idea of what we like, and it’s not young women that audition and use their bodies to get them further.
Photos courtesy of Fox
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For more information on American Idol, see SirLinksalot: American Idol and American Idol Headlines, and read more about Katrina Darrell specifically at American Idol Headlines, Katrina Darrell.
Tags: American Idol, Bikini Girl, Hollywood, Kara DioGuardi, Katrina Darrell, Rose Flack, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell
