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| The final two – photo from www.americanidol.com |
Well it’s over ladies and gentlemen – two nights of fantastic TV every week, watching talented youngsters chasing their dreams – until January 2013 that is. Thankfully X Factor isn’t too far away (with Brittany Spears as a judge..) and apparently the producers of Idol have a new talent show launching in July – so some good stuff to look forward to. The new show is called ‘Opening Act’ and it looks like a pretty interesting idea…. As always, the results of American Idol have caused a lot of controversy – check out the comments on this article in E! News It’s always the same, but the criticism is amusing because it is the American public voting. In many ways, it’s a flawed part of the show, ‘cos the mini-princesses (aka the female tween voters) are ALWAYS going to dominate voter demographics, so why is anyone surprised?
Ultimately Phillip winning is a wonderful thing for the show and for music, because he’ll inspire brilliant musicians to take a chance on shows like Idol – and that’s good for us viewers. The other great quality Phillip has, that is inspirational, is the message it’s OK to be yourself – more kids need to embrace this. If the girls voted for him because he’s cute – that’s great, because they also voted for someone who’s a cracking muso. I don’t want to take anything away from Jessica because she is definitely a powerhouse voice, but she made one fatal error on the finale (which I believe is a sign of her immaturity) her “hit” song was bloody appalling. I believe she lost the show on that performance alone, but she’ll be OK – with a voice like that she can’t lose.
Ultimately, as the years go on, the show is attracting higher quality performers as people realise throwing your hat in with Idol is actually a very good thing for career prospects. I mean look at Adam Lambert – a global mega-star because of Idol. It didn’t matter that he didn’t win because the stage was set for superstardom. He’s definitely still my favourite contestant and the new album is cracking.
As an aside, many are criticising the judges performance, but the trio have chosen far superior talent for the top 24 than their predecessors ever did – so that’s an indication to me they know what they’re doing. I also like the fact they’re nice to the contestants –showing a sensitive, human side is apparently bad by some people’s definition? It’s a brutal world the music business, but it doesn’t mean you need to shame young talent on global TV. I always believe positive encouragement gets better results – but I’m just a softy. The big news about the judges is apparently it’s JLo’s last season, which will be a shame – I admire her.
Overall for me, this season was the best yet – and even though it’s said every year, I think it’s true. A sure sign it was a great year is I didn’t care who won, and for the first time, didn’t feel deeply disappointed by the results. Many in the top 10 were amazing, with Joshua at the top of my list, closely followed by Phillip, Skylar, Elise and Colton – they’re just my style. Jessica is going to have an amazing career, as is Holly – but I just don’t crave the music they perform. They’re the sorts of girls who’ll do a movie soundtrack for a romantic mega hit, but it’s just not my cup of tea. Doesn’t mean they’re not good.
So another year is done and it was awesome. I love watching the emotion around people chasing their dreams, and I find it a fascinating process because some get it and improve, while others just don’t seem to find their groove on the show – Elise was one of those for me. She thought the judges were harsh, but she just didn’t find her way and she wasn’t warm enough – that makes a HUGE difference because American Idol is a popularity contest too. Tommy Hilfiger added a fashion dimension to the show this year which was cool, and Jimmy did a really great job – although what’s with the nose twitching? The producers also must have read my blog from last year :), because they had a past Idol perform on every show J – brilliant and they brought the guests back – in a slightly different way.
American Idol is a great show, full of heart and bursting with talent. I love it and find it fascinating – but next year, how about a little more support for the girls America?
Yours, without the bollocks
Andrea
