with fellow
Idol alums, including
Melinda Doolittle. On September 19, 2006, Malakar, a shy teen, entered the open audition for
American Idol at Seattle Center in
Seattle, with his sister Shyamali. Simon Cowell commented that Sanjaya had a better voice than his sister. Both were advanced to the Hollywood round by the judges. Malakar cited
Stevie Wonder as his idol, and sang one of Wonder's signature songs, "
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" at his Seattle audition. On March 27, 2007, Malakar sang
No Doubt's "
Bathwater" wearing a
fauxhawk made from multiple ponytails. The style was called the "ponyhawk" by host
Ryan Seacrest. While singing, Malakar hesitated with some of the words to the song. Simon Cowell remarked, "Sanjaya, I don't think it matters anymore what we say ... I think you are in your own universe and if people like you, good luck." The following night, host Seacrest walked out on stage wearing a wig with the same hairstyle, parodying Malakar. On the following April 4 results show, it was revealed that Malakar had finished in the "middle three," among nine contestants. Malakar's performance of "
Bésame Mucho" in the Top 8 on April 10 was his first unanimously well-received performance by the judges in the finals of the competition. During rehearsals
Jennifer Lopez remarked, "I like this kid. I love Sanjaya!" after hearing him sing in Spanish, the only one of the remaining eight contestants to do so on the Latin-theme night. Randy Jackson commented, "You're one of the smartest contestants I've ever met. That was actually really good. It was," while Simon Cowell offered the halting, "I'm going to hate myself for this. It wasn't horrible." Malakar continued on, entering the Top 7, following that performance on the April 11 results show. After performing "
Something to Talk About" on the previous night, Malakar was placed in the bottom three and was subsequently eliminated in 7th place on April 18, 2007. Singing his farewell performance, after the line "let's give them something to talk about", he
ad libbed "other than hair" in place of "how about love".
American Idol's ratings dropped 9% in the episode following Malakar's elimination, which was
Idol Gives Back, a charity episode featuring many celebrity guests. The music news website Moldolva.org claimed that this was due to Malakar's departure. On the May 23
American Idol finale, he performed with the top six males, introduced
Smokey Robinson in the medley. Malakar performed "You Really Got Me" with
Aerosmith guitarist
Joe Perry on guitar.
Performances • When
Ryan Seacrest announced the results in the particular night, Malakar was among in the bottom three, but declared safe second when Brandon Rogers was eliminated.
Public reaction Malakar was the season's most talked about
American Idol contestant, based on articles and searches conducted on the Internet. One
American Idol fan on MySpace claimed to be on a
hunger strike until Malakar was voted off; she later admitted that she was canceling her strike, after his stay was longer than expected. In her YouTube video, an advertisement for a dating site was prominently displayed, causing speculation her hunger strike was really for profit. Other members of the MySpace online community created a page entitled Team Sanjaya in support for him. However, members of the online community have contributed semi-fictional web sites, appearing to portray Malakar in a more satirical but supportive way. Websites parodying Malakar's success had also appeared. An official fansite for Malakar was created with approval of and contributions by the entertainer and his mother Jillian Blyth, and archives include in-person reports for each
2007 American Idol Concert Tour event.
Simon Cowell told
Extra that had Malakar won, he would not have returned as a judge to the show, even though he was contractually obligated to return. The show's executive producer predicted that Malakar would not win. The judges seemed stunned by his large following of voters. Randy Jackson went as far to remark that "I cannot even say anything on the vocals anymore", in his critique of Malakar after his performance during the top nine. Chris Ayres of
The Times speculated that it would have been a turning point leading toward decline and eventual cancellation for
American Idol if Malakar had won. Others, however, believe that the franchise benefited from the publicity, which was more popular than previous seasons of
Idol. On the April 17 broadcast of
American Idol, Cowell further said of the controversy, "I know this has been funny for a while, but based on the fact that we are supposed to be finding the next American Idol [Malakar's performance] was hideous." The weblog
Vote for the Worst had Malakar as its current "pick" for the sixth season top 12 until he was eliminated. On March 19, 2007,
Howard Stern campaigned for his radio show listeners to join the weblog in voting for Malakar "to corrupt the No.1 show on television". Some Stern regulars claimed to have voted for Malakar over 300 times—largely in hopes of tormenting
American Idol traditionalists on the show. Later, when asked for a reaction, Malakar told
Jimmy Kimmel that his aunt had voted 1,100 times. The fan reaction of
Ashley Ferl was satirized on the March 24, 2007 broadcast of
Saturday Night Live, during the
Weekend Update segment. Malakar was portrayed by
Andy Samberg, and the crying girl was portrayed by
Kristen Wiig. Also feigning tears in the audience were
Fred Armisen and
Dan Aykroyd. Samberg portrayed Malakar again during the monologue of the April 21, 2007 episode, singing the song "Something To Talk About" as a duet with host
Scarlett Johansson. The controversy spawned colloquialisms associated with Malakar's name, such as "Sanjayamania" and "Fanjaya" to denote a Sanjaya fan.
Homecoming After receiving over 200 e-mails from around the country asking the city to honor Malakar, especially in light of the city of
Bothell declaring a
Blake Lewis day for his fellow
Idol contestant, the
Federal Way City Council claimed it was unable to find any information about him, or any ties to the city. City Manager Neal Beets dismissed the calls, saying the city "had more important things to deal with" and derided Malakar as an "'Idol' wannabe." In response to the city's dismissiveness, the local mall,
The Commons at Federal Way, independently tracked down Malakar and arranged an appearance at the mall. Malakar was greeted by screaming fans at the event, and was praised by the city's Mayor Michael Park and King County Council member
Pete von Reichbauer for serving as a great role model, with Park stating "Sanjaya's charismatic personality, contagious smile, positive attitude and enthusiastic pursuit of his dreams are qualities to be admired." Malakar was presented a Certificate of Appreciation from Mayor Park and declaration of "South King County Sanjaya Malakar Day" by county councilmember von Reichbauer. In May 2007, he was also honored at
Seattle Center in
Seattle, Washington, where he was greeted by fans, signed autographs and answered questions.
Tour Since Malakar placed in the top 10, he qualified to perform as part of the
2007 American Idol Concert Tour, which, over three months, visited over 50 cities in Canada and U.S. He performed
Michael Jackson's "
The Way You Make Me Feel" during the tour. == Career ==