Idol 62 - Amanda Overmyer

62. Amanda Overmyer

Season 7, 11th Place

Amanda, to me, was one cool chick on the show!

Well, I kept up with spoilers for Season s7 pretty regularly, and Amanda was probably the biggest mystery of the Top 24 early on. I mean, she didn't have a picture and a MySpace account - absolutely nothing. All I knew was that she's a bluesy rocker chick. Suffice it to say, I was very intrigued by her. I thought that this might FINALLY be the female rocker that impresses me and comes off as the real deal. And she did exactly that. Ha!

Now, when I first saw Amanda in Atlanta for her audition, I was very impressed. She was a bit of a throw back, but at the same time she had her own sound that was completely her and no one else. And for me, that is exactly what Idol is about. After her audition, I told myself that she could do very well on Idol. But something I hadn't taken into consideration initially - with her specifically - was that unique voices equal polarizing voices.

Soon enough, I found out that for everyone who loved her voice, there was another that hated it.  And it only got worse when the semifinals started. Her first two performances, especially Carry On My Wayward Son, were disappointments, to say the least. It was then I realized that her voice was definitely much more limited than I expected. Her tone had to be highlighted on very specific songs. It was all about the bluesy rock songs.

Luckily, Amanda got the picture and found the right song for her voice for the last week of the semifinals. Hate Myself For Loving You was probably one of the best girl performances that night.

However, even though she did deliver a good performance during the Top 16, Amanda was a bit of a letdown. God thing, she was so so unique to the competition, that I always find myself looking forward to what she would sing the following week. Initially, she was one of my top five favorites of Season 7 - one with potential of being my favorite. Sadly, other voices won out.

As for her personality, I actually like it. I must say that I was quite annoyed when people would jump to conclusions about Amanda's personality. For me, it was so refreshing to see someone who was just real, and doesn't put on a front to appease viewers. She smiled when she felt like it and not when she was "supposed to". I think she has a lot of self-control when it comes to revealing emotion, which really isn't a bad thing.

Obviously, she wanted to be in the competition, and she appreciated the experience or she would've dropped out sometime in Hollywood, at least. No, she wasn't bubbly, but she was just too cool for school type of artist, and I loved that about her.

Favorite performance(s): I absolutely loved her audition. It was by far one of the coolest auditions I've ever seen. The best part of it was when she sang Mean Woman, and I hate you Simon for stopping her during that part. It was so haunting and mesmerizing. But don't get me wrong, Traveling Band was great, but the first song won me over. Other than that, I thought Amanda really started to find her niche in the competition with Hate Myself For Loving You and You Can't Do That. For me, they were two brilliant performances that showed us how needed she was in the competition. No, she didn't venture much out of her comfort zone, but when it sounds that cool, who cares?

Audition

Hate Myself For Loving You

You Can't Do That

#61 - Miss Piggy