I voted for you almost every week, Pia. I tried.
It’s the oldest story in the book. Guys will support other guys, even calling them “the man” sometimes. Girls, on the other hand, tend to look at other girls and immediately try to spot flaws. Anything to make themselves feel better. That’s not support. Support they often reserve for cute guys.
So it’s no shock that Pia Toscano was dumped from “American Idol” Season 10. Young girls have hijacked this show and they haven’t voted a girl as the winner since Jordin Sparks. Jordin was relatable and non-threatening. Just like Kelly Clarkson and Fantasia Barrino. Even Carrie Underwood started the show as a Lauren Alaina-esque farm girl and had a Cinderella transformation.
Girls tend to vote for boys. (Not all girls, obviously, since I’m still one and I know I’m not alone.) Girls voted for the Davids. They voted for Kris and Adam. They even voted for Lee over Crystal, which is still hilarious.
I voted for Pia. I know she’s more beautiful and talented than I am and I don’t give a crap. She can get in line behind everyone else. She’s inspirational and her song last night was kick-ass.
Girls need to support other girls — not just cute boys and girls they feel superior toward. This is not about ego, it’s about giving women a fair shot out there instead of often pushing them down. We’re our own worst enemies.
And don’t try to sell me the line that Pia is “boring.” She doesn’t have the most engaging personality, but neither does cocky Jacob. Naima had more unique personality than both of them combined, but she left along with Thia, who was one of my early favorites until she started to earn the pageant label I thought Pia got past this week. And just because J.Lo adores Stefano, it doesn’t mean he’s worth keeping around. Pia outsang both Stefano and Jacob and she has “the look” that is so necessary to sell, sell, sell.
She has trouble with wardrobe choices and Gwen Stefani didn’t help, but she looked gorgeous in black as she tearfully exited the stage.
Where’s that save when you REALLY need it? Pia > Casey Abrams, any day.
It doesn’t help that the judges this season are treating the contestants like their own children, adoring everything they do. When everything is special, nothing is special. The judges need to help viewers keep things in perspective — who did best, who did worst, why, what they need to work on, etc. — and right now they are not doing their jobs.
So now the only girls left are Lauren and Haley. Haley won’t make it to the final four, I can tell you that right now. That’s reserved for Scotty, Casey, Lauren (because she’s non-threatening) and probably Paul, because he’s pretty.
Scratch that. It’ll probably be James over Paul. I keep forgetting about James, because he was already on the show in a superior form back on season 8, when we called him Adam Lambert.
Video: Pia Toscano Sings “River Deep, Mountain High” by Tina Turner on April 6
Gina Carbone + stories 
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April 7, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Ken
Pia being voted off is a gimmick by the show. She was the best by far. I suppose the are not making enough money. The have made a mistake on this one. I will not watch American Idoits anymore.
April 7, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Kristy
You should be a politician. Seriously. Your tactic to first make up a statistic that is totally unknown and unfounded (i.e. “teenage girls hijack voting”), and then to base your entire “theory” on said statistic is straight propaganda. Then, you use another technique, which is to devalue the potential and very legitimate response of those who do not agree with you, mainly that Pia is BORING, by saying, basically, that such a reason doesn’t count. Ummmm, why? Boring is boring and singing, if you didn’t know it, is part of the entertainment industry. One should actually be entertaining, which is why other boring contestants will be voted off. She was absolutely personality-less…which is why she was the first technically good singer to go. Next will be Stefano, guaranteed, then where will your little theory go?
April 7, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Gina Carbone
Was Naima boring to you too?
April 8, 2011 at 1:53 am
Dude
Personality-less is a kid word for what adults call ‘poise’, ‘grace’, and ‘class’. So, exactly what was Pia’s problem?
April 7, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Bryan
Pia is not only boring, she has one range with two different volumes: loud and louder. Yes, she can sing, but her voice is average. Her voice is far from extraordinary. Nothing special or memorable.
I tried to like her, but she lacked “wow”. Not one time, did I feel “blown away” by her voice. I do know a thing or two about quality singers, and Pia lacks that quality.
She’s hot. Unfortunately, a nice face and body can’t disguise and average voice. I’m glad she got voted off. The judges were too easy on her; They built her up as something she simply is not. I imagine they’re responsible for her fall being so hard.
July 26, 2011 at 10:06 am
Ross
Bryan are you a jealous girl pretending to be a guy? You have no idea what you’re talking about! Yes Pia is hot. But calling her boring and saying her voice is average! Are you kidding me?!
April 7, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Belle
How do you explain all the weeks where she was no where close to the bottom three? She had the same talent and the same good looks as the week she was voted out. What happened is that she finally showed the audience what her “uptempo” side was, and the audience was sorely disappointed. She just lacks that star quality, period. Yes, she can sing, and yes, she is better looking than the average woman, but to paint all females as wanting to sabotage the success of a female who deserves that success because she is “threatening” in of itself does a disservice to all women. You don’t give credit to your own gender; why do you expect every other woman to behave any differently?
April 7, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Voice of the rest of the Women in America
OK. Settle down with your blanket theory on women. Do you seriously think you are the only confident woman out there that can vote? That is just offensive and prejudiced against women as a whole. You woman hater you. Just because I have ovaries I am obligated to vote for those that do? Get over yourself.
Haley is prettier than me and I vote for her every week. I hope she wins. And Casey was an excellent save. Pia was boring and plastic. Yes she was pretty but not believable as a person. She should try to be Miss America and then I will vote for her. She was just in the wrong competition that is all.
April 7, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Gina Carbone
So the fact that there are 6 guys left and only 2 girls has nothing to do with the trend of voting off girls, you’re all going with the idea that the girls happen to be less talented or lack star quality? Is that how Lee won over Crystal? Because he was talented and had a more interesting personality?
April 7, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Belle
Do you think Crystal Bowersox (sp?) was threatening to most females?
April 7, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Gina Carbone
No, definitely not. And the fact that someone like her — that obviously talented and non-threatening — can’t even win at this point makes me wonder if the days of a woman winning this show are over. Maybe Lauren or Haley will prove that wrong. But the way fans scream for Scotty and Casey makes me think one of them will win.
April 7, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Jay
There were only 3 rock songs on rock hall night, and pia wasnt one of them…. tina turner? seriously? she doesnt even have the voice to do tina…. I am totally not shocked because it was an awful performance just like when casey got voted off. Lauren was dreadful as well, but i think you might be on to something with her not being “threatening”. Jacob opened well, and Haley blew the roof off the arena imo. Stefano reached into the girlies hearts. Casey was borderline great. Scotty was good for scotty, Paul was fun, but the vocals were probably his worst. And james was at his worst imo, but still more memorable than Pia…. I think she is great at ballads, and I thought she was going all the way just like everyone else, but after last night i think america got it right
April 7, 2011 at 10:47 pm
WARLOCK-1
I HATE THESE CORPORATE TROLLS-PIA WOULD STILL BE THERE IF THE SAVE WAS NOT WASTED ON A WANNABE BAR SINGER-DUH NOT WINNING-ALL THE MEN AND SOME WOMEN WILL SURELY MISS SEEING THOSE BEAUTIFULL ((MAJOR LEAGUE)) YABOS-STEVE TYLER-IS A TRUE WARLOCK ALSO-PLEASE DEMAND A RECOUNT FROM THE TROLL WHO DID THE VOTES-BRING IT-WARLOCK1-OUT!!!
April 7, 2011 at 10:45 pm
howardbeachsaysitall
Someone said she was plastic. That is the exact reason i didn’t vote for her. I personally KNEW Pia from high school, and Karen as well. Karen deserved to win a competition like this because she was genuinely a very sweet girl with a passion for music. Pia on the other hand, was a mean stuck up snobby diva and thought she was better than everyone in high school because she lost weight after going through a chunky stage. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t wishing for her to lose, but with her fake TV personality — there was no way in hell I was voting for her no matter how well she did those ballads simply because I don’t believe that people like her deserve an easy ride for winning a competition.
April 7, 2011 at 11:35 pm
Voice of the rest of the Women in America
See! America Knew! You proved it. We don’t like mean. We like nice. Jacob will not last much longer, but he made it because he is real and nice. Over-the-top, but nice.
April 7, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Gina Carbone
Then why is Karen gone, if America knows nice trumps mean? And how is Jacob nice? Didn’t he say if he was in the bottom 3 it would be because voters couldn’t look at themselves in the mirror?
April 8, 2011 at 12:02 am
Voice of the rest of the Women in America
To be honest, I hadn’t heard that he made that comment.
I think he is in the bottom three because he made that comment. You answered your own question right there. Maybe he isn’t as nice as I thought he was because I had not heard that. That being said he is real–not plastic, while he survived tonight he won’t last long. But with that comment he will probably go next week if no one else screws up.
Truthfully, I think it’s the over-the-top that will be the final straw that will get him voted off.
He, Stephano, and Paul will probably go next…in any order. The others are simply better. Once they go, it is anyone’s game. Paul may hang on a little bit but I don’t see him going past that. He could suprise me.
Still proves my point America doesn’t like cocky and we hate beigng told that we are wrong for not voting for him.
Genre and idol factor determine the winner.
Karen struck me as creepy and pandering to the latino population. She brought a suit case with unopened Selena dolls in her suitcase. (Jennifer STALKER ALERT!) I think that is what lost her votes.
I meant America could tell that Pia was fake. I didn’t intend that to mean anything about Karen. Sorry for the unintended ambiguity. 🙂
April 7, 2011 at 11:54 pm
howardbeachsaysitall
Karen didn’t make it because most of the people voting are white and they didn’t like that she was so proud of her heritage. And although Karen is a super sweet and talented person, I never said that she was going to win Idol. I just think she deserved it. Pia on the other hand may have been more talented, but definitely did not deserve it. She was voted off because everybody could see through the fake front she had up for America.
April 7, 2011 at 11:20 pm
Voice of the rest of the Women in America
No, I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that there are 6 guys and 2 girls. Were all the women in America threatened by Thia and Niama too? Is that why they are gone? If that must be true then you must assume that all the pretty girls are voted off first, in order of threatening prettiness of course and then guys in descending order of prettiness? It has nothing to do with actual ‘idol’ potential? It’s a pretty competition. That is superficial! Never once did I want her to go because she was pretty, I wanted her to go because she was boring– turn the radio station boring.
I was sorry about Crystal too, but you can’t deny that Lee is talented. In the end, I don’t think either one of them will ever “make it big” meaning that Lee won’t see much come from his win. Last year was just a sad season. Personally, I don’t know how far Crystal or Lee would make it this year if they had to go against this year’s competition. This year has a lot of talent, and the thing is they all have their own thing going on– their own style. I think ALL country fans are voting for Scotty because they like that genre of music and the kid can sing. All rockers are probably going for James (although my girl Haley is going to give him a run that department she rocked last night). I think that Casey and Haley are so unique and different that people will adopt these styles into the mainstream if they are given the chance. They need to win for this to happen. That is what I would like. (Isn’t it weird that I would want my top two to be a very pretty girl and the not so pretty boy to win. Blows your theory out of the water!) Scotty is a made man, either way.
See, the rest of America (including women) understand it is an ‘idol’ competition. That means singing yes, but the whole package. Who’s gonna sell records and concert seats. And you know what? Who says teenage girls shouldn’t be allowed to vote for the boys they find dreamy? Dreamy sells and I buy more of that entertainment for my kids than for myself. If they are gonna keep the enthusiam going and buy the tickets and songs then I guess well, THAT IS THE INTENTION OF AMERICAN IDOL! Back to the thing about not having to vote for girls just because you are one. I think it is really the ‘idol’ factor and the genre that determine the winner.
My daughters would see Britney over any boy anyday? She is beautiful and not one is threatened by it.
Seriously, are you confusing American Idol with a beauty pageant (sp?)? Naima went because she wasn’t ready, she had her own style and I loved it, she needs to work on her actual singing, I would love to see her polish up that funk and come back when she gets it right, maybe XFactor will be her real ticket. Thia also suffered from lack of personality like Pia. America likes personality because we have personality.
I THINK America likes humble. If any of them get too cocky we tend to vote off. I think (this is my speculation, see, I don’t just turn it into made up facts) that is what happened when Casey who was clearly holding at least the number two spot got cocky and thought he could take chances and break barriers and go full on manic(creative artist-types are more proned to it. This is a real fact not a made up one like you posted earlier.)…America put him in check right quick. But after he was brought back to reality he got back to the Casey that all of his fans loved. We all came back to him too. That save was used for its purpose.
April 11, 2011 at 10:46 pm
grey74
Sure Lee is talented, but I never once was inspired to vote for him. I think he is probably the most milk-toast winner idol has ever had. I think the fact he beat out Crystal pretty much proves the Gina’s original premise that this show will have a hard time having a female winner again. Actually I could see Crystal making a similar run through idol this year. I was inspired by her, and voted for her each and every week last year. I can’t say the same thing this year. I don’t think this year really has a Crystal. The closest for me would be Haley, but let’s face it she is no Crystal. Lee I think would have a bit more trouble this year. I think overall the guys might be a bit better this year, where as last year I think the gals in the show were much better.
You mentioned beauty pageant, in a lot of ways American Idol is kind of like that. Maybe popularity contest might be the better word. Some fare better than others. I think Lauren is a huge benefactor of this. I personally have never deemed any of her performances as noteworthy, and quite frankly last weeks uninspired performance should have at the very least put her in the bottom 3. Another benefactor in my estimation is James. When you cut through his routine, he really is a one trick pony. I have said for weeks he has been over praised, and his vocals aren’t the best thing since sliced bread
You are half right about the humble factor. James has often come off as over confident, so has Lauren, but it hasn’t affected them. Jacob made one pretentious comment and boom he is in the bottom 3. The same fate happened to Casey (notice how transparent he has been the past 2 weeks) People as a whole will pick and choose who they will accept cockiness from and who they won’t.
Overall I think the likability factor will probably carry Scotty to victory this year. I wouldn’t have a problem with it at all. He seems like a good guy, with a good voice. I think he will have much success in the country scene
April 8, 2011 at 12:31 am
Caligirl
Never utter Niama and Pia in the same sentence ever again. Pia should have made it to the final two, along with Jacob. That’s it. Since they cannot bring her back, I don’t think I can watch Idol, even with Jacob still there.
April 11, 2011 at 10:50 pm
grey74
I can’t say I disagree with you. Pia is a talented vocalist, one of the best this show has seen. Bottom line week after week I was left more and more disappointed in how she translated live. This finally caught up with her last week, when she took a mid tempo Tina Turner song, basically turned it into another ballad and bored America to death. It finally came down to this….she had zero stage presence, and she was almost robotic at times. I never felt like she was singing to the audience either. To me it was like she was singing to the microphone in a recording studio
April 8, 2011 at 3:20 am
judi
Bull! Pia was my second favorite. My number one is Stefano. Has been since the beginning. I am NOT a teeny bopper or a cougar – I just like the way he sings. I am also not jealous of Pia – hell – all the females can sing better than me and they are all prettier than me! – that never even entered my mind – she’s gorg and she sings great! But, I voted for my favorite. Remember – this is NOT a true talent show. It IS a popularity contest – we vote for the one we like best – our favorite. And favorite can be determined by a lot – voice, look, style, music choice, etc… The best voice doesn’t always win – and it’s the same in the music industry. There are some folks making a killing that are horrible!!! singers but have something someone buys into. Your comments are most insidious – because you evidently think that women should vote for Pia simply because she is a woman. And no one should have to defend how they vote to you or anyone!
April 8, 2011 at 7:24 am
Gina Carbone
Then why are you bothering to defend how you voted?
April 8, 2011 at 4:57 am
utot ninyo..
As per Randy, Thia is boring. Pia is not. They both do ballads. Randy didn’t see it maybe because of her face. America sees it. Now, Randy gets a taste of his misjudgements. Goodluck America! Now the show is even more interesting.. : )
April 8, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Katie V
I agree. Bottom line, Pia can sing, a lot better than Lauren and Helly, and some of the guys. If she was less beautiful, less confident, she would have gotten the votes. At the end of the day it’s about the singing! She’s out of American Idol but not from the spot light. Love it or hate it, she will become a star, because she can really sing!!!
May 6, 2011 at 6:32 am
ryan Sexton
Haley just won’t make it to the final four. She just won’t ? Hope you are eating your hat now. Haley is the best singer in the competition and she’s proving you wrong. Hope she wins. Give the girl the respect she’s due
May 6, 2011 at 7:53 am
Gina Carbone
Yep. I’m glad I was wrong. But I do think the Pia dumping was a wake-up call for a lot of voters.