The judges repeatedly said that some were not sure of who they were as artists. They said this to Jacob, Lauren, Haley. Jacob was all over the place, but the JLo kept pushing to be like Vandross, Randy too, to a certain extent, but he also mentioned Jacob’s gospel nature. Jacob listened to Iovone, too much and it hurt him.
Lauren was changing genres a lot early on, and the judges questioned if she knew who she was and what type of album she would do. Over time she is doing more country, country/pop. The judges have commented on how this suits her.
Randy has commented on Haley doing well with jazz. Were the judges more cruel to her, yep, I think so. That’s why I think she is still there.
The judges pretty much let James do his own thing, because James knew he was as an artist.
Comfort zone means more than the genre they sing. Quite often when the judges say that, they are talking about the performer not moving around the stage enough, like Pia. Early on some of the others just stood there, too.
Let’s add to the discussion that country music is big now. It’s become more mainstream. Carrie has been a HUGE success in country music and she also knew he she was. Going into different genres to sing didn’t really help her that much. She was still great but seemed awkward when she had to.
19 has made LOADS of cash on country music with Carrie Underwood. The producers know country sells and have no reason these days to encourage Scotty to do anything else.
Mark my words, this kid is going to be big.