Why American Idol is Dumb.
So the other day I made the mistake of watching the final showdown of this season’s American Idol.
Big Mistake.
I thought the event was a dry and lifeless fiasco, and I remembered why I hate American Idol so much. Both performers were pretty talented, although not even close to our current disaster of run of the mill pop sensations that we experience every day over and over again on the radio and MTV. I honestly can’t imagine anyone buying Taylor Hick’s or Katherin McPhee’s cd’s, but I’m sure they will buy them, in droves. The performances were short, lacking in energy, and their original songs were both disasters. At least their parent’s cried. At the end of each performance the judges said their usual drabble in the usual order. The Black guy (sorry I forgot his name) says, “all right check it out, check it out,” and then proceeds to say something moderately in favor of or against the performance. Then Paula Abdul (who surprisingly lacks a personality in general, if only I had known, I wouldn’t have wasted all that sweet love on her in 8th grade) says something that attempts to encourage the performer; usually positive. This drabble is then finished off by Simon Cowell saying something horribly offensive (with the subsequent audience boo, every time) regardless of whether it is in favor of the performance.
5 seasons. Count them five. Five seasons of this ruckus and I can’t believe that people NEVER get tired of the same repetitive pointless mini drama that happens after EVERY song.
Then the performer goes off as if the judges didn’t say anything, talks to Ryan Seacrest (why is he famous again?) and the next lifeless epitaph to pop music begins.
Season six is right around the corner I’m sure.
I can’t believe that people have been watching this for five whole years, and it’s still the highest rated program on TV. I mean COME ON! This is nothing compared to CSI: Miami, yet people still tune in to Idol more than any other show. I want to know why. Can somebody tell me why?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m as much as a fan of Kelly Clarkson as anybody. But she’s definitely the diamond in the rough here, and I’m thinking something along the lines of zombie filled, swamp type rough. The last season I watched was the one where Clay Aiken won, oh no wait, that other guy won, that’s right it was fixed or something. But that doesn’t surprise me either. If I were a TV producer I probably wouldn’t allow a tiny tom-girlish man to become the supreme voice in the world of the Lowest common denominator either (note: homosexuality rumors took only 2 years to surface). The guy’s got a good voice for sure, but it’s kind of hard to enjoy the music when you’re picturing THAT HAIR.
In all, I think that Idol just contributes – if not defines – the mess that current pop music is. Talent to sing and perform and musical talent are different things. The modern pop artist: made and produced to order, songs written by invisible people on music label payrolls, altered and mixed into something they’re not. True artists spend years struggling through the mess of local music scenes and near-poverty just hoping to get that one in a million break. And when they do, it means that they’ve made it based on true talent. The result is something you can really grab on to and enjoy for years – see also Sarah Mclachlan, Nelly Furtado, Madonna, and Jason Mraz, just to name a few. These people have won the real competition, the competition of art in which only the most talented survive. That’s why we listen to them.
And that’s why I will never watch American Idol again.
