AI OD: A farewell to Michael Johns
As much as Michael Johns’ elimination from American Idol was a shocker, at the same time it really wasn’t. Sure, I expected the likes of Syesha and Kristy Lee Cook to go before him, but if you really think about it, what kind of impact has he had on you? I’m not going to say the man wasn’t an amazing vocalist, but he wasn’t a consistently amazing vocalist. In sifting through the archives of his past performances, there were several weeks where he wasn’t very good at all.
Michael Johns is an incredibly talented vocalist. I even think I remember hearing him on the radio several years back when he was lead vocalist for The Rising. But for some reason, when it came to American Idol, he had at least as many off weeks as he did on. In Michael Johns’ exit interview, AOL reports that Michael felt that his past three weeks had been his strongest and that he fully didn’t expect to be eliminated.
We’ve reached that magically strange part of the competition where each year popularity seems to overtake talent for awhile, and I think Michael may have fallen victim to that. He certainly didn’t help himself throughout his run with several less than inspiring performances and virtually no compelling personality traits save the fact that he’s handsome. Show some charisma and give the fans something besides your singing to remember and like you for.
As with many past contestants, Michael’s encore performance of “Dream On” was far better than his initial performance, which was pretty good on its own. I think it’s fair to say, based on the live audience reaction and the faces of almost everyone in attendance, that this was the most unexpected elimination of the season so far. If the Davids go next, the FOX network might just crack in half:
Here’s his Top 8 performance of “Dream On”:
Top 9 “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right”:
Michael seemed to have better nights when he was performing Queen, as here on Top 10 week with “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions”:
I wasn’t too impressed with Michael’s second foray into The Beatles during Top 11 week with “A Day in the Life”:
It was a wonky arrangement but it showed tremendous range and was an improvement for the Aussie by my book. Top 12 “Across the Universe”:
Top 16 “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”:
Top 20 “Go Your Own Way”:
Top 24 “Light My Fire”:
Unfortunately for Michael, in the eyes of many he peaked here in Hollywood week with “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I won’t go that far, but I will say that this performance absolutely blew me away:
The beautiful soulful singer we were treated to in his initial audition never really and fully resurfaced after Hollywood week ended. I’m not sure what kind of a singer Michael wanted to portray on the show, but this guy here was pretty damned special:
Before he got up on the Idol stage, Michael Johns went by the moniker Michael (Mike) Lee and was front man for a band called The Rising. They released an album under the Maverick label and even got a bit of national air play. You can catch samples from their album at The Rising’s MySpace page. And it looks like you can pick up The Rising’s Future Unknown CD for rock bottom prices at Amazon right now! Here’s their video for “Cradle” where you can check out Michael with long hair!:
Back when Michael was a true unknown, he was with an outfit named Film. This is them with “Q”:
And again performing “Get Away”:
Michael’s gotten calls of support from the likes of fellow Aussies Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman, and has even received word that his own Idol Dolly Parton was disappointed he’d been eliminated. More importantly, she indicated she’d love to write for him and even do a duet with him. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s on the fast path to obscurity. So Michael is set to make a go of this whole singing career thing. And if the responses I’ve seen here are any indication, he already has a passionate built-in audience to help him be a success.
IDOL SEASON 7 FAREWELLS
#9 - Ramiele Malubay
#10 - Chikezie
#11 - Amanda Overmyer
#12 - David Hernandez
#13 - Danny Noriega
#14 - Asia’h Epperson
#15 - Luke Menard
#16 - Kady Malloy
#17 - Robbie Carrico
#18 - Alaina Whitaker
#19 - Alexandrea Lushington
#20 - Jason Yeager
#21 - Colton Berry
#22 - Joanne Borgella
#23 - Amy Davis
#24 - Garrett Haley
Next:Reality goes Naval in a new PBS documentary
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