American Idol, Smithson Out
American Idol - Broadway week proved to be one step to far for Carly Smithson as the pop star hopeful became the latest contestant to be booted off the show.Previous 'Idol' contestants have gone on to Broadway and stage success but if the voting is a measure of Smithson's potential then she should forget that career path.Idol is all about wanting to become a successful pop star, and pop stars tend not to put Andrew Lloyd Webber songs on their albums, so it was a strange diversion from the usual this week as the finalists had to slog through songs they wouldn't dare place on a future album. To be fair to Smithson she produced a performance in which she sang well, much like last weeks loser Lee-Cook who also produced one of her best performances.Smithson and Syesha Mercado, this weeks bottom two were among the better performers on Tuesday, and both drew praise from the judges. Randy Jackson told Mercado that "I feel like you could be a huge Broadway star," while Simon Cowell called Smithsons number one of his favourites on the night.Jason Castro and Brooke White, meanwhile, had turned in dire performances, White had to do a re-start after missing her lyric, and Castro's 'Memory' just failed completely, indeed the only incentive to vote for Castro would have been to avoid a repeat performance if he was voted off the show. The voting numbers this week were well below previous weeks suggesting the 'die hard' faithful made up the majority, which would go someway to explaining the bizarre voting pattern, as Smithson had struggled to built a loyal fan base. In contrast Cook and Archuleta, who both sailed through would have benefited from their strong fan bases. In Cooks case, he survived despite going away from his recent trend of making every theme week conform to his musical comfort zone by changing the arrangements accordingly.Ironically for Smithson, her demise followed a performance that earned some rare compliments from Simon, drawing an apology from Cowell afterwards for his 'kind words', which ultimately proved to be the kiss of death. 'Tagged in American Idol