The Fallacies Of American Idol

Welcome back to The Expressionist Magazine

What would you say if Mike Tyson was knocked out cold, lying on the mat wondering who and where he was, while Evander Holyfield is celebrating over his TKO. Then, the referee announces that Mike Tyson wins the match and captures the heavyweight title.  You would all be in shock and outrage, and the entire system of judging the match would be revamped and scrutinized with a fine tooth comb.  That has been the case with American Idol on more than one occasion yet to this day, and they have yet to revamp their voting system.

This year, however, they allowed a judge save.  That meant if a contestant got voted off, more than likely people did not vote for them because they felt they were safe. Therefore, the judges, if they felt the contestants were ousted before their time could save them.  The question remains… does this really help?

Season 8 of American Idol had probably one of the worst upsets in the show’s history; it really was the strongest that survived, but lost the match to the person he just knocked out.  The entire nation was in shock and felt angry, but somehow the lesser of the two talents won by American votes.  That’s what really makes me wonder how “honest” this show is.  Do they actually get that many votes, or do they eliminate contestants to cause a riot for publicity purposes?  Let’s take a stroll down through the seasons and take a contrasting look at the winners, then we’ll decide what’s going on.

Season 1 – Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini

In the season finale, Texan Kelly Clarkson won the first American Idol contest.  She battled fun-loving Justin Guarini who was equally as talented.  Since the show’s completion, Clarkson has produced three Grammy award-winning platinum albums, and has become a household name.  They even made a movie with Clarkson and Guarini called “To Kelly From Justin.”  The movie was a bust and it forever branded Guarini as just the runner-up, living in Clarkson’s shadow.  We haven’t heard from Guarini again.  Our vote: AMERICA PICKED RIGHT.

Season 2 – Reuben Studdard and Clay Aiken

This season was the season that gave American Idol a lot of controversy.  Jennifer Hudson was the third runner-up, leaving the masterful voice of Clay Aiken to the soulful voice of Ruben Studdard.  Many said it should have been Aiken and Hudson up in the finale.  Aiken gave a perfect performance through his three songs, while Studdard got mixed reviews on two of the songs.  In the end, Studdard won the American Idol crown, blowing the country away.  Don’t get me wrong, Studdard was good, but he was no Clay Aiken.  Aiken tended to fit more with a variety of genres and ages than did Studdard.  Since the show, Studdard has produced two CDs; his first one sold better than his second, and he solidified himself into the Gospel genre.  His songs were short lived on the radio and now we hardly hear anything about him.  Aiken has out sold just about every Idol except maybe Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.  His album went platinum, and he had Clarkson open for him on their tour in 2003.  Aiken produced a smash hit Christmas album, and did some cover songs for his third album.    You still hear from him, and his songs have ranked on the Billboard charts. He has completely blanketed Studdard’s career.  It was voted as the year’s biggest tragedy, and caused a lot of controversy for the American Idol show.  Even Jennifer Hudson produced a CD and won a Grammy for it. She also won an Oscar and has performed on Broadway.  Our opinion: AMERICA WAS WRONG.

Season 3 -  Fantasia Barrino and Deanna Degarmo

This season was a joke. Fantasia Barrino, who was almost voted off three times, comes back and ousts some very prominent Idols who now have a bigger career than she does, to battle Deanna Degarmo for the Season 3 crown.  Barrino screams more than Tina Turner and has actually turned me off to her singing.  We all knew Degarmo was by far the better singer, but popularity wise Barrino had that street.  In the end, Barrino blew away Degarmo, and dropped from grace.  Her first and only album tanked and she is now playing in The Color Purple on Broadway.  Degarmo decided singing wasn’t for her, but she does show up once in a while.  Her CD outsold Barrino’s, but she never cut another.  Actually, both contestants were flops which brought this season to almost a complete loss.  I heard Barrino only once on the radio and it was a duet with Macy Gray for a Christmas song.  After the song aired, the DJ came on and apologized, as he said he got more requests NEVER to play that again than he did to play it.  Our opinion:  AMERICA WAS WRONG

Season 4 – Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice

This season started a controversy because an outside group claimed to help the third place contestant who had no talent, make it to where he did.  They said they did this by spamming the lines.  They also claimed this resulted in Fantasia Barrino’s win the year before.  Nevertheless, Bo Bice, the heavy classic rocker, was set to square off against the hot country singer from Oklahoma. In the end, Underwood won the season and made one hell of a career for herself.  You will find her on just about every modern, country, and contemporary station out there.  She has gone triple platinum, won a few Grammys, CMA Awards, Kids Choice Awards and in 2008, was named the youngest member ever into the Grand Ole Opry.  Bice went on to record a few songs before a vicious illness took him out of commission.  After a few years he came back and released an album that has been played on the radio much like Underwood.   This season totally redeemed itself, and it was the first time many Americans agreed that both contestants were so talented and so well liked, it didn’t matter who won.  We agree: AMERICA WAS RIGHT

Season 5 – Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee

Just when we come off a great season, we get another Fantasia Barrino/Deanna Degarmo situation.  Katherine McPhee could out sing Taylor Hicks; she had far more talent.  Hicks, until the last four weeks, couldn’t sing a song without forgetting the lyrics.  It was a train wreck.  In the end, Hicks won the American Idol crown.  McPhee disappeared into the night, and so did Hicks.  He didn’t cut his first record until 2009 because he had to get formal training and rediscover himself.  He has been the WORST Idol to date.  What was worse was in this season the second biggest controversy came to life as Chris Daughtry was eliminated in the top five, losing to Hicks.  Since then he has out shined his season’s winner and is all over the radio. Daughtry’s first album went platinum and has sold over one million copies.  He should have been the American Idol.  It was this reason the judges added the save.  Our vote: AMERICA WAS DEAD WRONG

Season 6 – Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis

Irregardless of how this season turned out, it would redeem itself for last season.  This was a great season, and in the top three were some of the most talented singers to date: Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis and Idol favorite, Melinda Doolittle.  When the top two were announced, it shocked everyone that Doolittle was eliminated, for she was the strongest up there and the one the judges fared would be in the finale.  That set the stage for Sparks, the lovable and innocent Pop/R&B singer vs. Blake Lewis, the incredible beat boxer.  America voted and Sparks would go on to win.  She has since produced an album, her songs are everywhere on the radio and she is set for success.  Lewis decided to produce and write music and is quite a success as well, from what I hear.  Melinda Doolittle is said to have fallen victim to the overachiever haters of America.  The judges basically said she could do no wrong, and America put an end to that.  In the end, American Idol crowned a very talented singer.  We agree:  AMERICA WAS RIGHT

Season 7 – David Archuleta and David Cook

This season was a split.  Both were talented beyond their measures and both had unique styles.  David Archuleta could sing anything from Barry Manilow to Justin Timberlake, while David Cook was a grunge rocker with a breathy voice.  In the end, Cook won, shocking everyone a bit because Archuleta had the better and cleaner voice.  Many say that Cook was the redemption of rocker Bo Bice, who was eliminated in Season 4.  Since the show ended, both have produced a great CD, and both are getting TV and radio time.  I’d say this was a win-win situation.  Our opinion: AMERICA WAS RIGHT

Season 8 – Kris Allen and Adam Lambert

This season has rocked America and is causing some major uprising.  It seemed that all the contestants could sing except maybe Megan Joy.  Kris Allen, however,  thought of quitting the show because he ended up in the bottom three at least five times and the bottom two, twice.  He got bad reviews from the judges even up to reaching the top three, which he squared off against the two everyone said would be in the finale, Adam Lambert (Punk/Shock Rocker) and Danny Gokey (Rocker from the Midwest).  Not too shocking that Lambert made it, but it was odd that Allen beat out Gokey to compete in the final two.  All the judges basically said for Allen to “pack his bags” on the top three performance.  Gokey was five times more talented than Allen who had no charisma on stage, but was a decent singer.

In the finale, Lambert out shined Allen.  He nailed two of three songs, while Allen only nailed one.  Lambert was told he would be “iconic and legendary” in a few years.  We thought it was in the bag.  At the results show, Allen was in the center spotlight, and got to duet with Keith Urban.  It was good, but lacked a lot of feeling.  Lambert got out on stage and did a dynamic performance with both Kiss and Queen complete with pyrotechnics, crazy costumes and guitar smashing.  It totally made you forget that Allen even performed that night with a celebrity. Lambert knocked Allen out onto the mat both nights.  When it came to the results, 100 million votes came in crowning Kris Allen the American Idol.  People were speechless, and the look on the judges’ faces said it all.  Lambert clearly won, but Allen took home the victory and the title.

Since the show, Allen confessed he doesn’t know why he won.  He says he didn’t deserve it and that he considered quitting.  At the top five, Lambert faced a rumor that he was gay, thus denying it. It still took him off his pedestal despite the rave reviews from Simon Cowell who gave him a standing ovation, the only one done on American Idol today.  Many people say that this news, true or not, convinced many conservative Americans in a time where there has been a war on gays, to not vote for him.  I truly believe it.  Lambert was almost eliminated that night, and was in the bottom two in the top three.

There are also rumors going around that there weren’t one million votes. It was just a way to revive the thirst for American Idol who had to do a lot of shaking up things to keep going another year.  The problem is it was at Lambert’s expense.  They knew he would be a major success beyond Idol so they probably figured if this was the case, that he would be okay.  I don’t think they would have done it had it been anyone else.

With the one million votes, if they were legit, there is speculation that a country superstar had his claws in it, pursuading the vote so he could sign the American Idol.  Is that true?  Don’t know.  This brings up the spammers again- did they pick Allen and sail him to victory? That theory is very plausible, especially on a night when most Americans felt Lambert had it in the bag.  It was an easy spam if they did it.  

In the end, this has caused a major uproar.  Since the show, Lambert has been asked by Kiss and a few other major legendary bands to tour with them, and he has been offered a contract.  No surprise there.  I think we will have another dud Idol, who will fade away and forever be in the shadows of Lambert.  Our opinion:  AMERICA WAS DEAD WRONG

So with those comparisons, we had more controversy and more runners-up outshining the Idol winners, which shouldn’t happen if they are picked right.  I think American Idol should do as follows:

1. Allow computer votes, but you will need an account to log into.  It will allow you only one vote per account, such as with the hit show, “Dancing With The Stars.”
2. Allow only one text vote, any other votes will be disqualified.
3. Allow only one phone vote, again with an account.  

This would successfully kill the spammers and put that myth to rest.  It will allow a true count, not a spammed count by some love-struck teenager voting on looks and not on voices.  It would give an accurate count that can be justified if something like Season 8 arises again.  American Idol is in a lot of hot water from what I can see- the judges are fighting, Simon Cowell said he may not be back, and Idol threw in Kara Dioguardi as an extra judge because of Paula Abdul’s antics. This season, Idol had Abdul sing and bikini-clad Dioguardi flashed American in the finale.  If they need to do this, you know the show’s in trouble, especially since the Idols have been for the most part, duds.