Whose Idol?

Whose Idol? was Originally Posted on May 19, 2004 by lavarock

OK, I’m confused about the American Idol TV show…

I didn’t give it a look until I heard there was a girl from Hawaii as a contestant. Now I watch when I can, but certainly have not gotten into the Idol fever.

So, I’m wondering what the whole idea of the show is. Certainly going to http://idolonfox.com doesn’t help. There you can order an Idol phone and get messages from Simon. I could order fragrances and charm bracelets and mouse pads and calendars. I can even order a recording, which contains the winners and the losers on it. There are styling tips and all sorts of extraneous matters there. There is even a video where you can watch Simon drive around town… hmmm.

I thought the show was supposed to give new talent a chance at a recording career. I understand that the judges are experts in their field, but does that really matter? Do we really care that these kids do not impress record producers and experts?

This show uses judges to help guide the artists but the name “American Idol” and the ability of regular people to call and vote multiple times, makes this a popularity contest more than a musical competition. There is nothing wrong with that though. If the general public is willing to spend time and possibly money to vote, they are also willing to spend time and money to watch, buy and enjoy music from the winner.

Many times a record company has passed by a talent, only to find that the artist has become quite popular regardless.

So what if one of the contestants cannot sing disco, or whatever one of the guest judges made famous and chose for a contestant? Few recording artists have a wide range of musical ability. No matter what type of song Elvis sang, the songs all sounded similar. The Four Tops sold millions and millions of records, more than Simon ever had under his control, yet I never heard them sing disco and country…

Yesterday, on the “On Air” show, Ryan introduced one of the greatest musical groups in the world, Chicago! Unfortunately, the sound and performance was horrible. It reminded me of hearing the 1st beach Boys concert on the Mall in Washington DC. They were off key and strained. I have recordings where professional artists forgot their lyrics, sung off key and totally got lost. Everyone has a bad day, especially in front of an audience.

Certainly hearing a contestant sing other types of music helps us see what kind of range they have, but in the end, the public is being asked whether we like these people and want to see and hear more from them.

THAT is what I think the competition is all about.

With that all said, I am hoping that Jasmine does NOT win the competition. Already she has been conforming to the music “machine” the mainland record production companies control. They make the same music and the same albums, without any freshness, and then they overcharge for the music. They wonder why they are embroiled in a fight over people downloading music rather than paying for it.

Look at what they did to previous contestants. They packaged them by changing their looks and their personalities. What is wrong with a girl from Hawaii having a flower in her hair?

Jasmine is already losing her innocence and that is a bad thing! We NEED more innocence and refreshing music in our lives, not more pre-packaged artists and boy/girl bands.

Let Jasmine go back to her roots and I’ll buy her music.