Canadian Idol: Coulter's Crying And Leaving

What the fuck? On Tuesday night, Canadian Idol's top six became five. And whom did the country eliminate? Ashley Coulter.

Yep, Ashley "Born To Be A Star" Coulter got the boot. Granted, she has kind of a lame middle name, but the girl was born to be a star.

Good looks: check. Strong voice: check. Original song interpretations, natural stage presence, constant Madonna-style physical reinventions: check, check, check.

In fairness, Coulter didn't always make the best song choices. While her Monday night rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying" was enjoyable, it was too slow, sad and old. After all, kids don't exactly have Orbison posters on their walls anymore. He's just too pale, ugly, dead, and often wrapped in clingfilm. Nope, kids like that Aaron Carter character, and those zany singing frogs.

No matter how good Coulter may be, there's a chance that her musical sensibilities — which range from Patsy Cline to Melissa Etheridge — just don't line up with those of the core Canadian Idol audience. Oh well, what can you do?

While Coulter's competitors are all talented, some of them certainly deserved to go before her. In an ideal world, Chad Doucette and his overly earnest 'noid rages would have gotten the boot. Douce is a likeable personality and a good vocalist, but his performances just don't seem as professional and interesting as some of the other singers'.

Despite obvious technical talent, Tyler Lewis' unhip post-grunge emoting wouldn't be missed too much either. Hell, even Craig Sharpe is expendable. The guy's got one hell of a voice, a fact he underlined with this week's stripped-down acoustic set, but he doesn't really have the look (though he and Coulter have identical hairdos at the moment) or the charisma.

Nevertheless, the other three — Steffi D, Coulter and Eva Avila — are definite Idol material. Coincidentally, they're also all definite women. And, unfortunately, the ladies have repeatedly received the metaphorical shaft in this year's competition. The talented Sarah Loverock and Nancy Silverman both got kicked off prematurely, and Coulter and D have spent more time in the bottom three than anyone else in the top 10.

This week was no different, as host Ben Mulroney named the three least popular performers: Sharpe, D and Coulter. The host excused D almost immediately. Then, after an infinitely long commercial break, he announced that Coulter would be heading home.

With that, the singer launched into a farewell performance of "Crying." Who knew that her seemingly irrelevant Monday night song selection would become so appropriate?