TVSquad

It's with mixed feelings that I cover the elimination of my second favorite Cook in the Top 12. Sure, she should have gone home weeks ago, and probably should have been sent packing from the stage seconds after she butchered "8 Days a Week" (we didn't need a vote to know that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr dug graves, dropped caskets down and climbed into them so they could roll around with John and George over that one).

And yet, she was getting better, wasn't she? In fact, she's probably the only contestant to have shown marked improvement throughout the season. Sure she still didn't have a shot in hell of actually making the Finals or winning, but I still found myself impressed and proud of her. In Kristy Lee Cook's exit interview, she said she was shocked to be sent packing, too. She thought she "at least had another week in" her.



But Kristy did come out of it with a pretty nice consolation prize, namely an engagement ring. Her fiance proposed to her privately back in March and publicly this week. So now that her time on Idol is over, Kristy gets to see what the next phase of her career will be. Back to Nashville to take another stab at the industry? At least she's had some experience in that tough market.

By 2001, Kristy Lee Cook had signed with RCA Records, Arista Nashville and BMI. She was the first artist on Britney Spears' label, and even had Britney agreed to appear in her first music video. However, she was dropped from the label along with several other young artists. She moved to Texas to pursue modeling and singing landing work in both. In fact, she released Devoted, her debut album under a smaller independent label in 2005. But by the time Idol had come around, all Kristy's wells had dried up.

I loved the way she left us, though, singing "Forever" directly to Simon. Hilarious move, girl!


Kristy was getting better and better and really impressed me with her rendition of "Forever" during Top 7 week. She was pretty damned good on this.:


Top 8 "Anyway"


During Top 9 week, Kristy did pretty well with Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors." I can actually believe her as a country artist, especially as she continued to improve from here.:


Intentional or not, Kristy's Top 10 selection of "God Bless the USA" was nothing short of strategic brilliance. The girl was on the verge of elimination when she pulled this number out of the hat.:


Top 11 "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"



And this is why she was on the verge of elimination. This is one of the single worst American Idol performances of all time. Period. Top 12 week's "Eight Days a Week":


Top 16 "Faithfully"


Top 20 "You're No Good"


Top 24 "Rescue Me"


The problem with Kristy is that she had a pleasant enough voice, but throughout the first several weeks she kept proving that she only really excelled at songs like "Amazing Grace," as we saw her in her first audition.


From before Idol, with "I Feel Lucky," Kristy shows us that she's had those amazing stage moves for years now.


Speaking of funny, look at how horrifically bad these HydraBrush commercials are from Kristy's commercial days in Texas. This one is the worst, though Kristy looks nice in it.


At least she got a little more to do in this second HydraBrush commercial, which thankfully features the same amazing male actor from the first commercial as her counterpart.


We'll wrap this trip down Kristy Lane with a peek at what could have been. This video from 2001 was Kristy Lee's first crack at a professional singing career. Hopefully, she can do better the next time. Here's the title track of that debut album, "Devoted":



Now that the Idol chaos is over, Kristy can get to work planning her wedding and deciding what her next move will be. And by that I mean when she's going to move to Nashville and start trying to put a country album together. Say hi to Bo for me when you get there, Kristy. And the poor folks at Vote for the Worst have to find a new contestant to champion as they'd been ardent supporters of Kristy since Amanda Overmyer's elimination. Exciting times for everyone, I guess.

[via Wikipedia, MySpace, RMG and more!]

IDOL SEASON 7 FAREWELLS
#8 - Michael Johns
#9 - Ramiele Malubay
#10 - Chikezie
#11 - Amanda Overmyer
#12 - David Hernandez
#13 - Danny Noriega
#14 - Asia'h Epperson
#15 - Luke Menard
#16 - Kady Malloy
#17 - Robbie Carrico
#18 - Alaina Whitaker
#19 - Alexandrea Lushington
#20 - Jason Yeager
#21 - Colton Berry
#22 - Joanne Borgella
#23 - Amy Davis
#24 - Garrett Haley