Last Night's Contenders for American Idol's Favorite Outcast
With every season of American Idol comes at least one contestant who surprises the judges because their voice and appearance don't seem to add up. Here are last night's contenders:
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First, we have Brett Loewenstern. Brett shocked the judges with his soulful version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" because the judges are shallow petty people who, even after seasons of being proved otherwise, can't wrap their minds around the idea that someone who isn't conventionally attractive could have any marketable talents. Of course, this is untrue. As previously mentioned, there are a handful of other contestants like this who have made their way well into the top twelve. According to Brett, he was bullied in school. It's nice that he could possibly turn his crappy high school experience into a lucrative music career.
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Next, we have Gabriel Franks. Gabriel doesn't get to tell stories about being made fun of or bullied because he's a bad singer. The judges and audience want to laugh at him and don't want to feel like bullies themselves. All he gets is a gay joke out of Randy after Stephen Tyler makes a comment about Mick Jagger's lips (very cool, Randy). He's not bad enough to be remembered (that honor goes to immigrants and old war veterans), but he's bad enough for the judges to laugh openly in his face.