Last week, Dana Williams survived a “Rising Star” elimination by receiving her second West Coast Save.
The same luck would not extend to Shameia Crawford, who proved unable to earn a second reprieve from those watching the tape-delayed broadcast.
She, along with fellow contestant April Lockhart, departs ABC’s music competition.
Advancing thanks to the west coast save is Maneepat Molloy, whose rendition of “Your Song” only received 46% of the initial audience’s vote. 55% of the West Coast, however, showered Molloy with support, which was exceeded the voting power thrust behind Crawford and Lockhart.
Crawford, who received 54% during the initial broadcast, received the same support from the west coast audience. Lockhart’s 27% vote total on the east coast improved to 30% on the west.
Impressive about Molloy’s successful campaign for the save is that she received a 3% power vote from only one of three experts. Brad Paisley and Ludacris did not join Kesha in supporting the young vocalist.
While those two also abstained from supporting April Lockhart, they did vote for Shameia Crawford.
Their collective 6% boost was not, however, enough to push Crawford through. Maneepat Molloy instead joins Jesse Kinch, Austin French, Josh Peavy, Dana Williams and Audrey Kate Geiger in the semifinals.
Neither Molloy nor Lockhart had previously required a West Coast save to survive. Crawford, however, banked on the tape-delayed voters to push her through the audition round.