Don’t feel bad for Idol’s four ousted singers

The “American Idol” voters have spoken, and the message has been heard loud and clear. When in doubt, the victory goes to the contestant who needs the stage the most.

That’s evident from the list of this week’s eliminated quartet. Apart from Kinnik Sky, who had been skating on thin ice in all three semifinal heats and didn’t sing very well on Tuesday, the other three eliminated have one thing in common: All have a lot of time to make it in the music business.

Will Makar, the lowest vote-getter among the men, is 17. So is Gedeon McKinney, who joined Makar on the outside looking in. And not only is Ayla Brown also just 17, she has a free ride on a basketball scholarship to Boston College and a father who may be running for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts this fall.

None of the three came out with the I’ll-be-doomed-to-a-life-of-flipping-burgers-if-I-don’t-win attitude that has helped some of their rivals plow through the competition, and none was quite good enough to stand out without it. It’s that little extra edge that may have made the difference between the eliminated and the finalists.

Bucky, Melissa need this more
Compare Brown and McKinney to the other two contestants who stood on stage as the fatal hour neared, heads bowed, wondering if they’d be kicked off the show.

Bucky Covington came to Hollywood straight from painting cars in North Carolina. He’s 28 years old, and won’t get many more chances like this. He looks and sounds like a guy who will need his supporters to burn up the phone lines every single week to stay in the competition, and apparently they did so this time.

Melissa McGhee is only 21, but sings each week with an expression that makes it clear she would run over the other contestants with a tractor if that’s what it took. She’s been vocal about not getting airtime in the audition shows, because she understands how that helps build a fan base.

That tenacity may have been the critical edge that bought each at least one extra week. They gave the audience the feeling that if they were sent packing so early, their lives really would be negatively affected.

That’s not to say that the three teens were thrilled about being sent home. Brown started crying on stage, and McKinney looked like he was about to join her.

But the judges were supportive of their musical careers. Paula Abdul told Brown, “You’re a winner, Ayla. You’re a winner in whatever you do.” That didn’t stop her from tearing up, but then again, Brown’s a competitive athlete and knows that the final measure of winning and losing is usually the scoreboard.

McKinney didn’t lose his grin even when he was getting the bad news. That could be because he was in shock, but it’s also clear that though he’s very young, he’s as confident in his future as the Brittenum twins are in theirs. (The previously-arrested twins were in the audience, though the producers smartly didn’t let either get near a microphone on live television. Who needs the FCC aggravation?)

Tough road
McKinney is a textbook example of a contestant who would have stood a much better chance had the producers chosen to tell more of his backstory. He was supposed to audition in Memphis in September, but the auditions were canceled because of Hurricane Katrina. The teenager then went to Chicago, after raising the money by holding a concert at the Yo! Memphis Academy of Visual and Performing Arts and getting a donation from a local police association.

He earned his ticket to Hollywood, but in December, before the semifinals, his father died. McKinney chose to stay in the competition anyway, and sang well each week. Perhaps had he gotten the airtime that Chris Daughtry and Taylor Hicks received before the semifinals started, that would have given him a fan base that would have carried him to the finals.

The lowest vote-getters were more accepting of their fate. Sky looked like she knew it was coming, and went out with grace and a strong final performance. Had she sang as well on Tuesday night as she did Thursday, she might have survived the vote.

Makar was similarly stoic, probably because he had a few seconds warning that the news was coming. When Ryan Seacrest revealed the low-vote getter among the men, he first told Kevin Covais, McKinney, Covington and Elliott Yamin that they were safe. Then it was Makar’s turn, and he was shaking his head even before Ryan Seacrest gave him the bad news. He’s only a teenager, but he can do math as well as the next guy, and sitting next to Taylor Hicks, Ace Young, and Chris Daughtry, he knew that he had to be the low man on the totem pole.

At every stage of the competition, Makar has looked like he’s half-surprised to still be there. He was the final male selected to be in the semifinals, and the final male who was told he wasn’t in the bottom three last week. He’s walked the high-wire long enough that he was prepared for bad news.

MORE FROM AMERICAN IDOL

Happy birthday, Simon, the best mean Brit ever

Happy birthday, Simon, the best mean Brit ever ‘Idol Gives Back’ returns to ‘American Idol’ Ellen brings EveryFan sensibility to ‘Idol’ Paula Abdul wishes Ellen luck on ‘Idol’ Ellen says she doesn’t judge, she opinionates Fans divided about Ellen as new ‘Idol’ judge Ellen DeGeneres named fourth ‘Idol’ judge Newsweek: Front row at the 'American Idol' concert   Add American Idol headlines to your news reader: