Having watched intermittently through my first (and likely last) season of American Idol, I was shocked and surprised by the choices this popularity contest has made.
For one, I thought Jason Castro should’ve been voted off a long time ago, not because he didn’t have talent. No, because he was in way over his head! … because he was cute looking and cued a few good songs, he managed to stay in until number 4.
Far better, more capable singers were eliminated earlier than Jason. I think that’s when I kind of lost my respect for the audience (and, ergo, the judges). While the result may produce a good singer with good potential, I wonder if it’s necessarily the BEST singer doing the best songs.
Also, I haven’t seen many of the singers perform their own songs… they’re all singing other people’s songs. I do know many singers who perform songs by other writers, and it isn’t a song writing competition per se. But it would be interesting to hear singer/song-writers performing.
I also wonder about the wisdom of putting singers through these rigorous contests… where’s the freedom for the singer to put out a bad concert in a pub or club somewhere? As a teacher, I know that there are times when I perform badly … perhaps it’s the audience, perhaps it’s the material, perhaps it’s the singer… but a singer has to learn from all of this…
In a pub or club, the singer may not work that slot or club again for a while because of a bad performance, it’s not a career killer. BUT when you get kicked off Idol, isn’t that it for your career? Will your career flourish? Won’t you always be remembered as the singer who got kicked out in Round 5 or whatever?
Oh, well.