Sanjaya Shekar Malakar, born September 10, 1989, who competed in the sixth season of the popular television show American Idol gained national attention as a finalist for being received badly by the show's judges, particularly Simon Cowell, yet advancing in the contest with public votes. He was eliminated from the show in 7th place on April 18, 2007. He walked out after singing one last song Something to Talk About. Putting his own twist on the song, the 17 year-old known for his pretty looks and ever changing hairstyles ad-libbed: Lets give them something to talk about other than hair.
The notoriously anti-Malakar judge Cowell had slammed his performance as Utterly horrendous. Malakar was routinely savaged by Cowell as he developed into one of the weakest, most awkward idol finalists ever. Still, he managed to outlast better singers by cultivating an unlikely fan base that helped him survive round after round of viewer elimination.
However, after his elimination, American Idols ratings dropped 9% in the episode following Malakar's elimination, which was Idol Give Back, a charity episode featuring many celebrity guests. The music news website Moldolva.org that reported this is directly correlating it to Malakar/s departure.
With his popularity climbing, Malakar has received several offers of many corporate houses as their promotion spokesman and music houses to produce albums including one to do a joint album with Britney Spears. Malakar was also a special invitee to the White House Correspondents Annual Dinner attended President George Bush.
