Idol 93 - Michael Sarver

93. Michael Sarver

Season 8, 10th Place

Michael Sarver is another contestant that made it to the Top 10 for no reason whatsoever - maybe because of his "family man" image? I don't know. But really, if you're a fan, I'm sorry but what do you see in him?  

When he first auditioned, I found it interesting that he wanted to be known as a soul singer rather than a country one. But by doing that, he labeled himself as the weakest male singer of Season 8. His singing was forgettable and his voice was as average as average can get. I remember they showed him in Hollywood and he got praised, but I only remember that he sang Thank You for his audition.

Now, when the Top 36 were announced, and he and Brent Keith were in the same group, I figured that Brent would be the one to advance since he didn't seem to have an identity crisis like Michael did. But it was the other way around, even though Brent and several others including Anoop Desai, Tatiana Del Toro and Jackie Tohn easily outperformed him.

Let's be honest, he only got through because Simon told the voters to give him another chance. What?! If this had been the first season and he'd got through, Simon would've been saying that Michael got through on the sympathy vote. It's ridiculous!

Michael continued his path as a soul singer when he got to the Top 13 and he further made himself by far the weakest soul/R&B singer on the show. You Are Not Alone wasn't bad, but I thought he might find his niche with country week like Phil Stacey did. Boy, was I wrong. He gave unquestionably the weakest performance of the night with Ain't Going Down Til The Sun Comes Up and showed that he wasn't that great with either genre.

Now, I've done a lot of complaining about his singing and musical styling, so I think I should even it out with some positives. He seems like a nice guy, as well a good parent and a hard worker. It's also most likely the show's fault that we were told so many times what he did for a living, as a roughneck. So even though I don't enjoy him all that much as a singer, I wish him the best of luck in his career.

Favorite Performance(s): Tough one. I actually liked when he sang Ain't Too Proud To Beg. That's all. Haha.

Ain't Too Proud To Beg (Studio Version)

Can't find youtube videos of the live performances of most Season 8 finalists. Boo!

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