Prior to last night, most people didn’t mind that Charlie Askew was still in the American Idol Season 12 competition. After all, the kid has talent. And it’s kind of fun watching him, a self-admitted socially awkward kid with a disease named for him, interact with Ryan and the other contestants.
But then Charlie Askew took to the American Idol stage last night for part two of the Las Vegas Round. And when he did, this happened.
No. You’re not dreaming. That really did happen.
When I ranked the contestants last night for the Idol Radio Show, I placed Charlie Askew in fifth place out of the ten guys who sang. Sir Darryl and just about everyone in the Shoutbox took me to task for that.
Admittedly, Charlie’s vocals were not that good last night. But that was something I did not realize until I was playing the song back on the radio show last night. Once I wasn’t focused on the craziness that is Charlie Askew on stage, I was able to hear all the problems he had singing “Rocket Man” last night.
If going on vocals alone, I would have rated Charlie much lower than I did. And he certainly did not deserve a spot in the Top 20, which should have gone to either Johnny Keyser or Jimmy Smith.
But watching what is happening on American Idol is almost just as important as the singing. If everyone who hates ballads is allowed to openly dislike an extremely talented singer simply because he or she sang a slow song, then I am allowed to openly like a so-so singer simply because I was so very entertained by what was taking place on stage. So I stand by my fifth-place ranking for Charlie Askew for last night.
Admittedly, Charlie isn’t going to win this competition. I think it’s very possible he won’t even make it to the Top 10. And I will be perfectly fine with that. For that matter, there will likely come a time when I start calling for him to be voted off as well.
For now, however, I am enjoying the social awkwardness that is Charlie Askew. And, I think, you should too.
So what do you think of Charlie Askew? Did you like his performance last night? Were the judges right to send him through to the Top 20? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Source:
http://idolradioshow.com/a1-s12-charlie-askew-rocket-man/