Idol 61 - Diana DeGarmo

61. Diana DeGarmo

Season 3, Runner-up

Ok. I remember when Diana first auditioned, I was exactly in agreement with Simon. I thought she was very "cutesy", amateur, and .. immature. It just wasn't my thing. I mean, if I were a judge, she might've gotten a no from me.

Now, I thought her semifinal performance was pretty good, but I somehow believe that there were a good four people who performed better than her. So, I didn't get why the judges expected her to move on as she was a non-entity for me at that point. Fortunately - or unfortunately - she did move on to the Finals.

Then came the Top 12. Diana got the pimp spot with Think and I thought she rocked it! I was in genuine shock on how I thought she was the best of that night. However, I still saw Diana as a fodder that would be gone within five weeks. Then the week after that, she sang a beautiful version of A Broken Wing and held out this beautiful long glory note. Here's when I started to take notice of this girl - maybe I liked her more than I expected. I think she had moved up to my Top 5 at that point. But still, I never expected her to do well.

It didn't take too long for my love fest with Diana to come to an end. I eventually caught on to her tricks. She could always nail the end of a song with a huge note, but most of her performance was usually a bit rough. I mean, she can't sing in her lower range to save her life. To me, her strange tone to her voice somehow made her sound very, well, young.

But don't get me wrong, did she have an amazing voice for a 16 year old? Absolutely! But did she have an amazing voice, when judging on the same level as everyone? No, I don't think so. I thought she had way too many vocal flaws that she needed to work on. Frankly, her only selling point is having a fantastic upper range. But that wasn't good enough for me. Not at all.

As Diana moved further and further into the competition, I was getting a bit worried. She did make it to the finale, but I think she just lucked into it. The other front-runners - Jennifer Hudson and LaToya London, even Geroge Huff - were victims of shocking eliminations, and Diana was just the best of the rest. But I was never worried that she'd win. I trusted America more than that.

If Diana did win Season 3, it would've been a complete and utter disaster. The credibility of the show would've been destroyed as more than any other runner-up, a Diana win would've been a travesty for the show. That would've meant that a young, unpolished, pageant singer, had beat out much much better talent. I will go as far as to say that if Diana had won, there is a good chance the franchise would be over by now. So, thank God she didn't walk away with it.

Favorite performance(s): My personal favorite is Don't Cry Out Loud. Although I found this particularly an overrated performance, she absolutely destroyed the song - in a good way. I thought the beginning was a bit shaky, but forgivable. She just had an extremely weak lower range back then. But it was a great performance.

Don't Cry Out Loud

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