Idol 74 - Kristen McNamara

74. Kristen McNamara

Season 8, Top 36 Finalist

Kristen, at least to me, deserved a Wildcard callback during her season.

Really. She very well could've made the Top 12 if the old Top 24 format was used and it would've been nice to see how she would've grown over the weeks.

I have to be honest, Kristen has a great pop voice, and the song Give Me One Reason made me like her even more. Seriously, I appreciated her attempt to change up the tempo and infuse Tracy Chapman's stripped-down blues ditty with an extra jolt of brass and sass - which was actually more than what Jordin Sparks did back in season 6 - and if one could separate her vocal from the absolutely wretched keyboard line that haunted her every note, the performance was a smashing success.

Sadly, instead of commenting on the fact that the blonde underdog didn't miss a single note of her performance, Mr. Cowell decided to point out that she looked like she was dressed by her mother. Seriously Simon! Ugh.

I personally think that if she'd stuck around, she could've been one of the better girl contestants of that season. Such a shame.

Favorite Performance(s): Well, I have no other choice aside from her sole performance of Give Me One Reason. But her version of Because Of You during Hollywood week was also pretty good. Listen!

Give Me One Reason

Because Of You

#73 - Birth defect in his wind pipe