Crystal Bowersox is not your American Idol. She lost by a slim percentage to contestant Lee DeWyze. This is not a blog post to bash Lee because I actually like him alot and I'm proud that he won. This blog post is about the fact that no matter how talented, polished or ready for the machine that is Hollywood that a person is, formulaic bliss is where the folks behind Idol reside happily.
Each of the contestants had a similar journey. They both came from humble beginnings in towns outside of huge cities. They both came in wielding their guitars with tunes they grew up listening to. They were both discovered in Chicago at the Idol auditions. The distinction besides the obvious is that Crystal had a bit more experience, original songs and a sound that was not strictly for the radio (dreadlocks included).
The fact is teen girls who love Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers and that Bieber kid will be the ones that go out and support the Idol winner. Idol knows this and even had Cyrus be a guest mentor and Bieber perform at one of the results shows. That is not bad product placement for the future Idol winner considering what these acts have accomplished.
Crystal is different and will continue to make music for herself. Lee will blossom with that raspy voice quite nicely over a Kara DioGuardi penned track. Crystal will survive without an Idol contract (see second place finishers Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken). Perhaps that's not so bad after all. Boxes are constricting.
4 comments:
Can you believe that I have never watched American Idol. I caught Fantasia's performances down the line on YouTube.
I did read about the controversy during this past winner's announcement.
Fantasia was one of my favorites from the series. Her version of "Summertime" is something special. I stopped watching for a few years and only watched this season. Since Simon is leaving, I probably won't watch next season.
I've never really taken to A.I. because of the reasons you post here. From what I have seen, they are not interested in promoting the person with the most talent and originality. What they want is the person who is most marketable. I'm so tired of all this cookie cutter music. Because of it, I'm beginning to turn into that guy who seems stuck in the past because all I really like is old music.
On another note: Thanks for sharing your input at my spot.
Rich,
This will probably be the last year that I watch the show. I'm over it and tired of being pissed that the real winner loses.
I love your blog. The music player is dope. I need to update tracks on mine.
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