The Real Reasons why Puddles Pity Party Got Booted Off America’s Got Talent
One of the acts I enjoyed most this season of America’s Got Talent is Puddles Pity Party, the sad clown who has a golden voice. I anticipated and hoped for this contestant to go far into the competition. However, he was shortly disqualified at the Semi-Finals stage. Rumours have been circulating around the Internet (in typical conspiracy theory fashion) that he was sabotaged by the producers to lose out in the audience-voted round. However, that will not be my focus today. Today, I want to focus on why after viewing the performance by Puddles Pity Party, I too would have pressed the X on him.
Watch the performance yourself here.
1. Poor Song Choice
Apparently, the song that brought him Internet fame back in 2014 was a cover of “Royals” and this was the song chosen by Puddles Pity Party for the Semi-Finals. While there is no doubt that his performance was well, it was a song choice which was definitely not Semi-Finals worthy.
The 2 previous auditions by Puddles were “Chandeliers” and “All by Myself”, songs which allowed Puddles to showcase his extraordinary voice while bringing out deep emotions of depressive loneliness. Yet, the song “Royals” is something of the complete opposite, a song echoing the boredom and monotony of everyday life. The song doesn’t give much room to display Puddles’s vocal range and deep, rich voice. This was the opposite of the emotion-wretching sadness demonstrated by Puddles before. “Royals” didn’t trigger the emotions of the audience like the previous 2 songs and was therefore, a let down.
2. Too Much Theatrics
Remember that Puddles’s trademark is a sad, depressed clown who could only express his magnitude of emotions through song. (I will get more into this later.) Strangely, unlike his previous auditions, Puddles amped up his theatrics in his Semi-Finals performance, with sassy claw actions and diva peace signs. He did not look depressed. He did not show the restrain, the attempts-to-hide-his-emotions, the uncomfortability of revealing one’s naked emotions. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying his screen-time, a total break of character.
This was not the Puddles the audience fell in love with. Not the humble, shy, and uncertain clown who we related to. And frankly, it was annoying. We don’t need another Celine Tam, especially not from a 7-foot bald man.
3. Poor Sportsmanship
Immediately after his performance, Puddles stormed off stage, flinging his arms like a 5 year old with a tantrum. Now, many would argue that this was part of his act, an unhappy, grumpy clown not caring for the audiences’ praises. And I do believe that as well. But to the average audience who can’t even remember what they ate for breakfast, this appeared to be poor sportsmanship after receiving Simon’s X.
In the previous 2 auditions, Puddles never stormed off stage after his performance. In fact, he stood in front of the judges, displaying gratefulness for the judges’ praises. The change in action after his Semi-Finals performance was definitely surprising for all audiences and was easily translated as a reaction of the most notable thing of the performance: Simon’s disapproval. I believe this was the knife-in-heart for Puddles’s performance. The audience saw poor sportsmanship, a full-of-himself mentality, and the inability to take criticism from a grown man. A sign of immaturity, a guaranteed X from the audience.
4. Actually Trying to Earn the Crowd’s Pity
Yes, his act is called “Puddles Pity Party”. But what he did was what made me automatically grow a disdain for him. If you’ve ever read those articles titled “10 Ways to Attract the Girls of Your Dreams” or anything like that, you would know that Puddles’s reaction to the panel’s criticism was a complete turn-off.
What attracts me (and I believe most of the audience) to Puddles is his metaphor of ourselves. A grown man having to dress up to applease to society’s standards for happiness and to hide the fact that we all are deeply emotional and sad inside. When Puddles sang “All by Myself”, you can see DJ Khaled looking at himself through a mirror. Yet, we all believe ourselves to be strong, to be able to hold and hide our emotions without having others pity us.
Now when Tyra Banks brought Puddles in front of the panel like he was an upset 5 year old child who got scold at, Puddles SHOULD NOT have played along. Tyra, Howie, and Mel tried to comfort Puddles and rally the audience to support him, making him appear like he was begging for the audiences’ pity. Now that might work for Angelica Hale, but not for a 7-foot middle-aged man dressed like a clown. To make matters worst, Puddles confirmed his childlike personality by covering his ears when the judges were arguing and growling as if he was about to cry when asked about his feelings.
There is nothing more unattractive than a grown man asking for pity. The thing that attracted us to Puddles was his solemn, distant personality which hides deep emotions, which we can all secretly relate to. We naturally WANT to root for him because WE see him in our own reflections. The forced display of pity makes it seem like he was begging for something (our support) that he does not have, making ourselves question whether he deserves this support or not.
Follow Puddles Pity Party at @PuddlesPityP and http://www.puddlespityparty.com.
