Our Plus-Size American Idol…
February 22nd, 2008
This year’s answer to Mandisa and LaKisha is Joanne Borghella, winner of Mo’Nique’s Fat Chance and contestant on this year’s American Idol. It seems like every season we get a plus-size girl to root for (and no, Jordin Sparks doesn’t count).
Weetabix and I are doing our liveblog and Idol pool again this year, so come join us if you care to, and see how we feel about Joanne when she actually, you know, sings something. Also, we will probably obsess about her outfits, as we did with LaKisha last year. Fair warning.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: American Idol, Feel Good Friday, TV
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Joanne is so sweet; she really made me tear up when she said she’d given up singing for a while because industry professionals said she had to “lose weight first” to have a “chance.” Ugh. I made a blog post on this right after she was accepted into the top 24. Score!
She’s a sweetie, and she reminds me of when I wanted to be a singer (classical and opera, not pop) and gave up my dream because I was “too fat and too tall” to have a “chance.” So I definitely feel her. I hope she does well.
…And then she was cut in the first go round. I’m bummed but her performance wasn’t that good. I was rooting for her to have another chance. :(
My mom and I just knew they were going to get rid of the fat girl last night; we could feel it. No fat girls (or boys for that matter) for us this year.
I do not understand why we need not one but TWO Carrie Underwood clones.
Okay, off topic a bit, but I wanted to know if anyone else has heard of Adele – I love her voice and also that she’s not a stick figure. Apparently her cd isn’t available over here yet, hopefully soon though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL49yZNE4yk
I was saddened by Joanne’s departure, but her performance really wasn’t great. *sigh* I was HONESTLY hoping that she would get a second chance *AND* that Amanda Overmyer was the one to be out. My husband and I cannot STAND her.
Ah well.
I loved her outfit, esp. the hat & earrings. It was unfortunate her performance wasn’t better b/c I was all on board for rooting for her.
BTW: Speaking of Mandissa, there was some comment that one of the girls made to Ryan about her shoes and I was taken back to Ryan’s shoe fetish episode w/ Mandissa.
She doesn’t seem like that great of an example for FA to be rallying behind. From her introduction video on the American Idol site:
“You know, it was two of us there, so it was just a bunch of emotions. But in the end, after it was done, I felt like I lost 20 lbs. It was just great…”
Speaking of Mandissa, my co-worker played her CD at work last week and even though gospel/contemporary Christian is not my cup of tea, it was pretty good. She has a very pleasant voice and the CD had some really uplifting songs on it.
I’m glad Mandissa has found success, because it seems the gospel and Christian music industry is one where they don’t care how big their singers are. The internal image is what counts, not the external.
It’s not always ‘fat chance’, Michelle McMannus who won series 2 of UK pop idol was a plus-size girl. Sadly she was then ignored then dropped by her record company and last I heard had lost over ten stone in an attempt to be allowed a career. Which sort of makes me thinks maybe she’d have been better off if she hadn’t won. Ah well.