Farewell, Ramiele!
I know a lot of people were relieved to see little Ramiele Malubay leave AI this week, but I have to say that I was sad to see her go.
She is one of the few Asian-Americans to have ever been on American Idol, never mind having made it into the top ten. And not only is she gorgeous, but Miss Girl can sang! She has the pipes, folks, make no mistake about it. Her problem…well, maybe not her problem - but my problem with her is that she kept baby-fying herself. Making herself even smaller than she is so that she would be - what? More liked? More acceptable?
Is it that hard to imagine an Asian woman-of-power? Even for an Asian woman, herself? I know you have that power base, Ramiele. We caught glimpses of it here and there. Every so often, you would reach in and toy with it, show it to us, then toss it quickly back where it came from. As soon as you stopped singing, you’d go back into “look how cute and adorable (and unthreatening) I am!”
And you are all of those things, though I would encourage you to stomp on that last adjective with your spike-heeled boots, love. Make sure there’s nothing of it left. Then, reach down and grab that power-vox with both hands and let ‘er rip, CLEAR and LOUD. Believe me, it will make you look as big as you truly are ;).