It’s that time of year again when we watch a band of histrionic hopefuls vie for America’s new sweetheart on American Idol. If search behavior is any indication (and it often is, except when involving political candidates), we’ll see Danny Gokey, Alexis Grace, and either Ricky Braddy, Tatiana Del Toro, or Ann Marie Boskovitch slide through to the final twelve.
Last year, searchers picked David Cook over David Archuleta, which turned out to be dead on accurate.
The top gaining search queries on Google Trends immediately following last night’s live broadcast and from this morning suggest interest in Danny Gokey is high among searchers. His heart-wrenching widower narrative, in addition to nailing a Mariah Carey song last night, seems to be giving him a boost. Searches for variations of “Sophia Gokey” and “Danny Gokey wife” were more prevalent than searches for the crooner himself.
Gokey may get a run for his American Idol money from late-introduced North Carolinian Ricky Braddy, whose nearly flawless vocals last night were ignored by judges critical of a fairly boring performance. Unlike Gokey, though, Braddy’s presence among search gainers didn’t last through the night, and without a powerful narrative (or a little bat-poop crazy sublimity certain other contestants have), Braddy’s consolation prize may be a one-time chance to prove his chops in front of 30 million viewers.
The top male and top female vote getter and one next-best vote getter will make the final twelve to perform in a month. Alexis Grace daring to tackle Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved a Man” and the subsequent search interest place her as the lone standout among last night’s female contestants (it didn’t hurt that most of her competition was generally awful). But a surge in interest in the song “Natural Woman” suggests Ann Marie Boskovitch could be a strong competitor–or people just remembered they really like that song.
That leaves Tatiana Del Toro—dear, sweet, rabbit-boiling Tatiana—as a true wild card. A solid, but not perfect performance didn’t surprise judges as much as her suddenly subdued I’m-not-really-crazy new persona—which, I might add, just enhances the bipolar spookiness as viewers wait for the wheels to come off. Tatiana hasn’t gained as much interest among searchers as the early-ousted bikini girl Katrina Darrell, but she has VoteForTheWorst.com on her side. These are the guys who took credit for all that Sanjaya madness a couple of seasons ago.
Who wants to bet the judges bring her back when they make wild card decisions?
