By Brandon Garcia, Idol Chat Editor
Chris told Randy, Paula and Simon that the reason he wanted to be the next American Idol was to make David Hasselhoff cry (the Tanned One shed some tears as he watched Taylor Hicks win last year in the audience). Unfortunately, the only one crying Wednesday night was Chris’ wife, who watched her portly hubby sing for the last time on the Idol stage. Can anyone say ‘divorce?’ Voters finally saw past his quirky persona and realized his voice needs some work, but more than that, he was an oaf on stage. It seemed like maybe he would flower before our eyes over the course of the competition, but alas, his Idol dreams froze like a seed in the winter. Let’s look more closely at why the head of the Fro Patrol bombed out so early.
- FOR
The Sligh Persona — Everybody’s convinced this is a singing competition when it’s actually just a reality show. What made Chris a strong contender was that he was a memorable character. In addition to his stout figure and tumbleweed of hair, he was self-deprecating and he had an ironic sense of humor. In a police lineup with fellow contestants like Amy Krebs (who?) and Brandon Rogers (huh?), he was not forgettable. - Powerful voice — Right out the gate, Chris showed he had a remarkable
instrument with more depth than your typical Idol contestant.
Unfortunately, the more we heard, the more we realized it has room for
improvement. - Christian-rock background — Chris fronted a modern Christian rock band pre-Idol, and I’m sure he managed to pick up some faith-based votes, especially by singing songs from DC Talk and Mutemath.
AGAINST
- Unhotness — Simply put, Chris was not camera-friendly. Though he reportedly lost 50 pounds between the Hollywood rounds and now, he was still very homely, and the glasses and slacker clothes didn’t help. Plus, his performances on stage were ungainly and he never appeared at ease.
- Self-righteousness — While some might have thought his sass toward Simon was funny or cool, I have a feeling it turned a lot of people off. The real mystery was why he was never able to translant the offstage charisma into anything interesting on stage — his performances came off as pretentious, and even worse, dull.
- Fall from grace — Chris Sligh had more pre-Top 24 exposure than anyone else. He was considered a frontrunner before we even knew the names of some of the people still in the competition. But Chris just goes to show how even the megapimped can fizzle out. He never capitalized on his early fame, and instead of winning new fans with steady improvement, Chris basically just sailed along, turning in passing performance after passing performance without a true standout. By this week, nobody was ready to forgive him for a bad job.
Chance for Post-Idol Fame: Chris needs to thank his maker for his run on Idol, even if he didn’t win: The guy has record deals drafted and waiting to be signed at all of the major Christian music labels. Church-going viewers have definitely not heard the last of Chris Sligh.
Catch all of Chris performances on YouTube:
Top 24 - “Typical” (Mutemath) (Idol Chat score: 7.1)
Top 20 - “Trouble” (Ray LaMontagne) (Idol Chat score: 6.6)
Top 16 - “Wanna Be Loved” (DC Talk) (Idol Chat score: 6.5)
Top 12 - “Endless Love” (Diana Ross) (Idol Chat score: 5.4)
Top 11 - “She’s Not There” (The Zombies) (Idol Chat score: 7.2)
Top 10 - “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (The Police) (Idol Chat score: 4.9)
