Learning to 'Let it Be'

I was so disappointed by Brooke White's performance last night on American Idol.

After her amazing rendition of 'Let it Be' in early March, she's gone on to have two pretty bad weeks.

Contrast Brooke to David Cook.  After he was roundly criticized by the judges, David went right on picking the right song, the right arrangement.

Why is Brooke, in my opinion, having difficulty?

Because she's giving her power away to the judges.

In the article Do Women Lack Ambition?, Cornell psychologist Anna Fels writes that our cultural ideals of femininity do not include women asking for resources, whether those resources involve time, money, praise.

Until last night, I hadn't considered the possibility that power was a resource.

Yet in trusting the judges more than herself, Brooke has given away her power.

And David Cook hasn't.

Men generally don't.

They listen -- Yes -- but they also seem to do a better job of trusting themselves.

We can learn from them.

Because when we do trust ourselves, we move to the center of our story, becoming the hero....

Like Brooke did when she sang Let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

P.S.  If you want to read some great commentary by vocal coach Macy Robison on each week's American Idol, click here.

Related posts:
Asking for what we want
NY Times:  For Girls, It's Be Yourself...
Why we love American Idol
Doolittle's Leah leave the building
Finding our reality in Reality TV

Comments

[Macy]

You're on to something here. The judges often complain that contestants become one-dimensional. When Amanda was eliminated for basically singing in the same style every week, I wonder if Brooke got nervous that she could fall into the same trap. So she tried dancing and singing when she performed "Here Comes the Sun" just to try something different. And she was obviously uncomfortable and at some points it got difficult to watch. She was a little closer to herself this last week, but when the band came in with her it didn't seem as authentically Brooke anymore. I hope she gets back to being herself next week. I think if you are going to go into a competition like this, you should be yourself as much as possible and if you get voted out at least it was being yourself and on your own terms. That's easy to say watching from my couch though. :) (And thanks for linking to my blog!)

[Danalee Abernethy]

I agree about Brooke White's last couple of performances. In one of your archived blogs, Roger told you to "trust your gut", and I think Brooke could use the same advice.

[Emma Taylor]

I really enjoyed this, I completely agree with what you said about Women listening to people to much then trusting themselves. That's really what I needed to hear right now. Thank you!