Blunderbuss

My American Idol thoughts

I have to admit the judges puzzled me last night with their reactions. Their ultimate goal is (or should be) transparent--they need to find and promote someone at once good looking, talented, multi-dimensional, and flexible enough in his or her identity to add depth to whatever kind of pop drivel they can afford to dredge up for that opening album.

Retrospectively, it's clear that Kelly Clarkson has been successful because she fits this bill. It doesn't matter what pap the girl sings, you feel the sincerity. Also, she came to the competition displaying innocence and later revealed a personal edge, producing an exciting combination of effects. I'm just guessing, but suspect the later idols have suffered for not being able to augment their initial image in this way. Fantasia and Reuben, I think, couldn't (or wouldn't) add a little requisite modern shallow sexiness to their classic soul approaches, and thus they never came off as young enough to be really "pop." Carrie Underwood and Clay Aiken are just too purely Christian wholesome--you have to like that sort of thing. (Sorry, but Clay's superimposed edginess never seemed authentic to me, only a little creepy, especially in that stalker song they gave him).

So who could grow into a real pop idol, this year, combining looks, chops, and that kind of paradoxically complex shallowness? Here's my formula: who among the contestants could be what they first seem to be, but then a bit of the opposite too? Catherine McPhee, I think, fits that bill, hence the judge's obvious delight with her. She's a sweet girl, but potentially a little raunchy.

Among the boys, (who I have to admit interest me more by nature) I'm going to go out on a limb. The country boys didn't appeal--I see them at the front of bands. Taylor Hicks could sell records, but not concert tickets. And I'm sorry, Ace Young is perfectly talentless, and I will never find him interesting, even if he has a nice face.

So who?

I think David Radford could be moldable into a very stunning little Divo. Unlike the judges, who saw his performance as pure camp, I saw an irony in it that was sexy--a little wink wink to the audience, of don't you and I both know how irresistable I am?

And then, I'm interested in Patrick Hall, who by adopting his punky hair and gently acidic attitude showed a goth quality, as if to assure us that he would emerge as more mature and dangerous than Clay Aiken in the end (thank goodness!) even if he's bound to give us the saccharine choir boy treatment for the now. What I really want to see someday in a boy idol is a sign of some latent wit and brooding charisma behind the generic display--some David Bowie androgyny, or Elvis Costello brilliance.

But then, the judges did not seem to see it that way at all, indicating they're confident they'll sell more albums by Teen-Beat softies or generic scowling country-rockers...

posted by ottoline @ 9:54 AM