Sanjaya Malakar - Something to Talk About

There was no reason to suggest during the American Idol auditions in Seattle that Sanjaya Malakar would become a national phenomenon, and there certainly wasn't any evidence that day that suggested he would become more well known for being a bad singer than for being a good singer. He was very well-liked at that point from judges and fans, but somehow once he started his live performances, something went terribly wrong.

Sanjaya tried out with his sister, Shyamali, and no one was more shocked than she was that he was more favored by the judges. She had stated he wouldn't have even made it past the preliminary stages to get to see judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell without her, but Sanjaya had his own ideas, saying he knew he'd be the next American Idol. When Shyamali auditioned, the judges didn't see anything special, but when Sanjaya appeared before them, Simon said while Shyamali had more stage presence, it was Sanjaya with the better voice, and this opinion was shared by their mother as well, as she said her son was the better singer, but he lacked confidence.

It was probably his early confidence problem that proved to be Sanjaya's undoing. Not that he had any reason to be unconfident, as he and Shyamali grew up performing. Their father had studied music in India as a classical musician, and passed his love on to his children. This can either be a blessing or a curse, as while the naturalness of it was obviously in his genes, he grew up only knowing he was good. He had no reason to think he could ever be bad, as it was something his family enjoyed together. He spent four years performing in a Hawaiian children's choir, and now needed to find a way to transfer that success to the young adult world that is American Idol.

Both Sanjaya and Shyamali moved on to the Hollywood rounds, but we were never shown any of this. All we knew of him was the cute, shy young boy with the nice voice. When it came down to cutting down the field to a final 40, they were separated into three groups, two making it and one not. As Sanjaya celebrated with others realizing he made it, he looked around and didn't see his sister, and realized she hadn't made it. He abandoned the celebration and raced downstairs to console her, endearing himself to us even more.

When the field was narrowed to the final 24, Sanjaya was the first Idol that was shown to be making it through, and rumors have suggested he didn't initially make it, but someone was kicked out, allowing him to make it through, and causing them to reshoot this part, but these rumors have never been substantiated, and are most likely the result of people not understanding how he could be one to make it over others.

That confidence problem popped up again with his first performance in final 24. He fell back on his original belief that his sister was a better singer than he was, and allowed her to pick a song for him to sing for his big American Idol performance debut, a song he'd never heard before, More and More by Stevie Wonder. He sounded okay, but was very weak and seemed uncomfortable. That naturalness from his original audition was gone, and he got nothing but grief from the judges.

Sanjaya lined up that next night with the others, and it seemed like he knew he was going home, but to his surprise, and some others, he survived. The next week, he chose a song his grandfather would like, and while it was nothing if not sweet, it was also yet another ill-advised choice for him. His voice was never bad or off pitch, as others were when they had a bad night, it was just weak and lacking in confidence yet again. By the time he performed a John Mayer song the following week, it was much better, but still lacking in confidence, and to take away from his performance even more, he flat ironed his hair. That website that aims to bring down the giant that American Idol has become by supporting Idols they believe are the lesser of the bunch, found their new spokesman.

By the time final 12 came around, the hype was already in full force, with everyone waiting to see the next perceived as awful Sanjaya performance and to see what crazy thing he was doing with his hair this week. The thing is, he wasn't awful, just lacking in confidence, giving him weak performances. But the hype snowballed into ever-increasing proportions, and just couldn't be stopped. Diana Ross seemed to like him, saying, "Sanjaya is love," and he came out to sing Ain't No Mountain High Enough with hair that matched hers.

By this point not only that website was interested in voting for him to bring Idol down, but radio deejay Howard Stern joined in, encouraging his fans to vote for Sanjaya to mock the show even more. A young woman was so disgusted that he had made the show, that she went on a hunger strike, saying she wouldn't eat again until he was removed from the show by votes or from force. Saturday Night Live was doing bits on him, and his last name was no longer needed. Just "Sanjaya," like Cher or Madonna.

The following week, as if we needed more Sanjaya hype, there was a young girl caught on tape crying in the audience, and although she cried through the whole show, she seemed to cry mostly for Sanjaya. Conspiracy theories were out in force, with people believing Sanjaya was only on the show because they wanted a young good-looking kid, believing the girl was a plant to get Sanjaya votes, and with people thinking the judges were forced into putting Sanjaya into the final 24, etc. Everyone forgot that this kid could really sing, and at some point I think even he forgot it, as he seemed to enjoy the hype, choosing different hairstyles, including one week with a pony-tailed mohawk, and talking back to Simon.

The guest mentors all seemed to like him, and this included names like Tony Bennett and Jennifer Lopez. He shocked everyone one week by returning to his prior talent level, exactly what got him on the show, and sang very well, in fact beautifully. His confidence was finally shining as he sang Besame Mucho ... in Spanish yet. He had a great tone, as usual, but there was a quiet strength to his voice. When Simon admitted it wasn't horrible, Sanjaya welcomed him to the Universe of Sanjaya, and people began to wonder if this guy could actually make it to the finals.

Yet, as the field narrowed, so did the other choices for votes. The people left in the final seven all had distinct fanbases to get this far. It was well-known that most of Sanjaya's fanbase was made up of young girls just like the one caught crying in the audience, but the question was, did he really have that many fans or were Howard Stern and the website the ones keeping him in the competition? The answer was that it was of course the young girls. No one can sit on the phone that long dialing for two hours like an obsessed teenage girl.

This past week, he poked fun at the hype around him, singing Let's Give Them Something to Talk About, but seemed to forget that confidence that he'd gained the week before. His fanbase just couldn't pull him through this time, and he was voted out, clinging to fellow bottom two-er, LaKisha Jones, for support. It's Sanjaya who got the last laugh, though. This guy that came on, not wanting to cause a national uproar, just wanting to sing and be the next American Idol, sang Let's Give Them Something to Talk About one last time, and improvised the words to be "Let's give them something to talk about ... other than hair," and he quietly found that confidence that he'd struggled with for so long.

It was my son, a Sanjaya Malakar fan, that said it best. "Do you realize how Sanjaya is always smiling no matter what?" And so it was, this 17 year old boy, went out on top really. Voted out, but still happy, despite everyone else's attempts to bring him and the show down.

For more on American Idol, see Reality Shack, and you can contact me at LauraBelle@realityshack.com

For more information on American Idol and Sanjaya Malakar see SirLinksalot: American Idol and SirLinksalot: Sanjaya Malakar