LINKAs the Idols are all introduced at the beginning of the show, Ace Young has the biggest smile, and looks more relaxed than he ever has before on Results Night. He looked more relaxed last night than he ever has before as well. Talking about it today in a chat group, I thought maybe the reason he looked more relaxed had to do with Rod Stewart's guidance. Rod thought Ace sung That's All better than he himself could, and thought he was fantastic. As I said before, I only have Leif Garrett's version to compare it to, so perhaps I'm not one to judge. But Simon Cowell is, and even he said it was a charming performance. I think if Ace is truly more relaxed, it's the knowledge that he impressed the likes of Rod Stewart, and received good remarks, finally, from Simon. Even if he's voted out, they can't take that away.
Now that more than half of the show is over, we finally get to the eliminations. Ryan splits the first six people up between two sides of the stage – Elliott Yamin, Kelly Pickler, and Katharine McPhee on onside, and Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett, and Ace on the other. And you know what? He's still smiling. I think he is really at peace with whatever happens. While they're splitting people up, I know they're going to do the same thing they did last year with Bo. They're going to try and force the only person left, Taylor, to choose which group he belongs with.
Ryan gets to the final result quickly it seems, and announces that Ace has been eliminated. He is still smiling! I think he truly is okay with this, has decided it's all good. Ace tells Ryan he had a blast, and can't wait to perform with all of the top ten this summer, and see all his fans that saw him on TV. His brother, who has been with Ace every step of the way, stands up in the audience and shouts loud approval for his little brother.
I find it really sad to see Ace go, even though he's at peace with it, and even thought I was prepared, knowing there was no way he could make it any further. He was more than just a good-looking singer to me. I thought he brought so much honesty and vulnerability to all his performances, and his performances were something that he felt every moment of.
I noticed a trend a few years ago, that often the people voted out are ones that had good weeks the week they're voted out, but bad ones the weeks before. It's my belief that Mandisa was voted out because of her assumed preachiness the week before, and I believe now that Ace was voted out because of his performance of We Will Rock You last week. At least he has the comfort of good company there in the final three, as Chris and Paris certainly weren't the second and third worst of the night.