american idol

Why I Hate American Idol

Manuel Luz — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:26:31 -0800

America's most popular reality show, "American Idol,” begins Season 9 this week. One more season of judge in-fighting, audition train wrecks, pop divas, contestant theatrics, and some authentically talented vocalists. And I couldn't care less.

Before you start writing your rebuttal response, let me say: I don’t really hate American Idol. It’s just that AI exposes some things about our society that run in both subtle and flagrant opposition to things I feel very strongly about—things like faith, art, personal expression, and even basic human principles like decency and the golden rule. Besides, “hate” is a strong and vulgar word to me, one that I use sparingly. So I guess when I say “hate” American Idol, I really mean to say something more akin to “cringe with embarrassment and aversion.” And there are reasons why.

We’re all about “Idols.” When did fame become a virtue? And when did the word “idol” become a positive term? For some strange reason, we have become a society that turns actors and musicians and sports figures into people to be adored and emulated, like a role model. But aren’t real role models supposed to be people of substance—men and women who live, and sometimes die, for highly esteemed values, people who made a real difference in the world? Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi—these are people who have lived lives of significance, people who deserve to be role models.

I think we have confused fame with real virtue. We seem so enraptured with the idea of being famous that people will do practically anything to have it, if even for a moment. And we hold in high esteem those people who have fame, even those people who have it for the wrong reasons. The guy on the Subway sandwich commercials, the popular and scantily dressed daughter of the rich hotel magnate, the guys who do insane stunts on YouTube—they are all “famous” to some degree, emulated and even admired, and yet none of them have done anything significant or virtuous. And people actually want to be like them.

The same is pretty much true on American Idol. We emotionally attach ourselves to the contestants, root for them, call them by their first names, talk about them at the water cooler like they are our friends. We want to “idolize” them, make them our heroes. And though they are nice (I am sure) and have much, much more talent than the previously mentioned people, they are mere people after all.

Consider the most famous idol in human history: the Golden Calf. The nation Israel, tired of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, creates with their own hands a false idol, which they proceed to worship and glorify. On many levels, it is irrational, immoral, absurd. And yet, there are parallels.

Fame is not a bad thing. But neither is it a virtue to which we should aspire. Virtues are things like integrity, goodness, faith, hope, and love. That is the stuff of character, the stuff that matters.

We’ve turned artistic expression into a commodity. Art is so many things. On one edge of the spectrum, it is a deeply personal expression of the self and a way in which we interpret and make sense of the world around us. As artists, we express the human condition in such a way in which others can empathize and maybe seek to make sense of it. On the other edge, art is a commodity, bought and sold, commercialized and dumbed down. Art is used to sell soft drinks, glorify violence, propagate political views. And for the artist, art can become self-promoting, self-gratifying, self-anesthetizing. And we have a whole generation of people that, I’m afraid, doesn’t know the difference between the two edges.

Art has become simply a means toward fame. I’ve met young people who have completely devoted their adult lives to the pursuit of that elusive record contract. And I ask them, Why are you an artist? If you never got a contract, would you still be an artist? Would you still sing or play or write songs? And I always hope the answer is “yes,” because I know that the lifestyle associated with touring and being on contract is a difficult one. It is easy to forget why you are doing it to begin with. And it is harder if you never even know.

The road to fame is paved with artistic compromises, and it is a slippery slope. Those on AI seem willing participants in the pursuit of market-driven, formulaic pop. And we applaud them for every step they take away from their own personal artistic integrity.

We like to laugh at the freak show. It’s like watching a car wreck. At the beginning of each season, the long parade of AI hopefuls grasp at their fifteen minutes of fame, and we are there to point and jeer at them. And then—like the Christians and the lions—we wait for the three caesars to give their thumbs down.

Whenever I hear these conversations at the water cooler, I cringe. Did we also cheer when the playground bully pushed the fat kid down? Or did we laugh when the class clown stuck the “kick me” sign on the guy with the glasses? Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? Now I realize that a lot of guys on AI try out just for the fun of it. And that there are those people wholly out of touch with reality as it relates to their own talent. But even so, shouldn’t we all feel a little bit of shame for laughing at them?

We have forgotten that art is not just an expression, it is also a discipline. It is more than obvious that many of the people who try out for AI have little or no training. For some strange reason, many people now seem to believe that you can attain great artistry without having developed one’s craft. But for those of us who are artists, we know that art comes with a price, whether it is hundreds of hours in front of a piano (like myself), or hundreds of hours at the ballet barre, or hundreds of hours with a paint brush and canvas, or hundreds of hours learning proper vocal technique.

The Latin word for “art” is “tecnicus,” which is derived from the Greek derivation where we get the word “technique.” Art is something that must be developed and honed and rehearsed. Work ethic is a presumption with any great skill. Yet, it seems lacking by most people who try to get on American Idol. How do you get to Carnegie hall? Practice, practice.

We have limited our definition of music by applying narrow criteria to it. The definition of “good” seems to be a very narrow band on AI. They don’t want vocalists who sing bebop, opera, screamo, classical. What they seem to be looking for is a good looking, younger pop singer with a wide vocal range. And so, the public accepts this narrow criteria as what “good” is. But I think about some of my own musical heroes—Miles Davis, Donald Fagen, Dave Brubeck, Sting—none of them would have made it onto AI. Of course, none of them would have wanted to.

Finally, we have forgotten that art is a deeply spiritual thing. Art is, as Jeremy Begbie asserts, “capable of affording genuine knowledge of reality beyond the confines of human self-consciousness.” It is much more so than any of us understand. Art is transcendent. it allows us an opportunity to pull back the curtain, to have our hearts quicken and be moved, to transcend ourselves. Such is the music of Bach, the paintings of Da Vinci, the writings of C. S. Lewis. And although art has been used for many other reasons, I believe God’s intention for art and music was that it ultimately point us back to Him. It is the same for all of beauty, whether it be a snow-capped mountain, or a crimson sunset, or the coo of a newborn baby. All creation ultimately points to the glory of God.

There is a moment in the film, The Shawshank Redemption, when a classical aria is played throughout the Shawshank prison. Every man in the institution, prisoner and guard alike, is moved to stop and breathe in the beauty that is in the song. There was no panel to rate it, no critiques, no voting for the best singer. There is only the artistic expression, the transcendent moment, and the response of simple awe.

That is what art was intended to be and do.

American Idols bury the Culture Wars

Craig Detweiler — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:41:03 -0700

Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times has a brilliant article about tonite’s American Idol finale. She points out the cultural divide between Adam Lambert’s seemingly unambiguous homosexuality and Kris Allen’s worship leading ways. “Glambert” hails from San Diego, while Kris Allen’s trumpets his downhome Arkansas roots. Adam likes to rawk, while Kris turns rap songs into sensitive ballads. These Idol finalists should be engaged in a pitched battle, representing their divergent constituencies. But as roommates beyond the show, they seem to have a genuine appreciation of each others gifts and talents. Powers points out how a painted fingernail has become an unlikely sign of solidarity, a bridge between Christians and the gay community.

Kris and Adam represent the next generation that resist the urge to enlist in the culture war. They are subtly reframing the face of faith and homosexuality, defying the old stereotypes, and rewriting the script about how we should respond to the other. While only one of them will be crowned as the new American Idol, both have modeled a different way of winning–through civility, talent and respect. I can truly cheer for both contestants tonite--how about you?

Kris Allen from American Idol sporting IC Bracelet

Invisible Children — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:20:25 -0700

So that's about 30 million people wondering where Kris got that fancy wrist swag...
He wore our "Black is for SUNDAY" Bracelet while playing the piano last night.

THANKS Kris.

"Thank You for Voting for Contestant 7..."

Barb Sherrill — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:21:15 -0700

But I didn’t vote for Contestant 7!

I had hit the redial on my phone to add another vote last night to American Idol’s Contestant 2 (Go, Chris!), but the recorded voice on the other end thanked me for voting for Contestant 7.

Apparently, the American Idol voting system isn’t infallible.

I don’t even know who Contestant 7 was last night. I wasn’t about to give up Lost for the second hour of American Idol, so I only saw Contestants 1 – 5. I was throwing votes at Contestants 1 and 2 (well, I was trying to throw votes at Contestants 1 and 2)—sorry, Scott, Meghan, and Anoop. You just didn’t do it for me last night.

About halfway through Lost, though, I was wondering if I shouldn’t have just watched American Idol. Lost was an all-right episode—we were getting a lot of holes filled in in the storyline—but it certainly wasn’t one of the more jaw-dropping episodes.

Until the last 10 seconds.

Holy cow. I did not see that coming.

It was jaw-dropping.

I’m glad I stuck with Lost, even though I was tempted to switch back to American Idol several times. Lost came through, even though I had my doubts. Turns out, I made the right decision.

I gotta remember that—sometimes I need to make a decision and stick with it because it will pay off. Even if I’m tempted there might be something better elsewhere. Even if I have my doubts. Hang on, because something great just might be coming.

It might even be jaw-dropping.

A Response to Idol Chatter

CJ Casciotta — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:39:54 -0700

So apparently there's been a lot of hype over this MTV American Idol & Christianity story...so much that MTV posted a follow up article. Here's a clip:

Over at MJsBigBlog.com, one of the leading "Idol" fan sites, the discussion about the story was fierce, with nearly 150 responses. Commenter Tess said she was "appalled and offended" by the article. Tess had particular scorn for a comment from writer CJ Casciotta, who was quoted in the story as saying he thought some Christian viewers might go with their faith if presented with a top two featuring a pair of equally talented singers in which one was Christian and the other was not.

"If I wasn't a sane, God-loving individual, I would not vote for any of the listed contestants (Danny, Michael, Kris, Scott, Matt and Lil) just out of pure spite," Jess wrote. "I knew the country was going to be divided on this issue, but for the Christian right to pronounce that they support an us-vs.-them philosophy is absolutely outrageous."

Many readers vehemently stated that they thought religion should remain a personal, private matter, not fodder for stories, while others, like Lys, said they don't feel that the singers should have to hide their beliefs "any more than they should hide their hair color. If it's truly a part of who they are and if they want to talk about it, fine."

Read the full article here.

Another comment on MJsBigBlog.com piqued my interest from a user called "Baxter":

"Tess…You took the words right out of my mouth. The above quote from the same article pissed me off as well. Are Christians the only people allowed to help others??? I thought first and foremost, helping another person was just being a good human, I didn’t realize that by helping someone I must be a Christian.Just let them sing and i’ll make uo my own mind regardless of any label being attached to anyone."

Here's a response I wrote up this morning that I posted on MJsBigBlog.com and would like to share here as well.

To Tess, Baxter, and everyone else who's contributing to this conversation:

First of all, thanks for voicing your opinions and calling this stuff into question. I think that's extremely important for our culture to do rather than just accept what's spoon-fed to us.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed talking to the journalist and thought he wrote a good story, like many articles, the quotes used were only part of a larger conversation we were having over the phone and don't represent my view as well as I had hoped.

Let me clarify
1) I completely agree with Baxter - you don't have to be a Christian to do good and help others. We do that because there's something deep within us as humans that makes us feel alive when we give life to others. You see it everyday. I personally think that it's Christ who instills this in every human's soul, regardless of their religion or background. That's why I follow Christ and his story... of giving everything he had (even his own life) to humanity so that we could live with freedom and fullness.

2) A lot of people got hung up on the last part of my quote. What I said is that if hypothetically it came down to two singers with equal talent and a voter just couldn't decide, human nature would probably set in and that voter would choose the person they relate to most (whether they be a Christian, a homosexual, from the same state as the contestant, etc). If we were honest, that's kind of the sensationalism behind Idol isn't it? We vote for someone not just because of their ability, but the whole package (how they come off as a person, what they do behind the scenes, their style, their story). HOWEVER, I HOPE Christians aren't out there judging contestants on whether someone is a Christian or not. That's ridiculous. Christians should vote on how talented someone is regardless of their beliefs. At its core, that's what this contest is about.

3) My main point when being interviewed was that I thought it was awesome that Christians seem to be moving away from "copying culture" and actually starting to help create it. For far too long we've heard Christian bands that sound like less talented versions of mainstream bands. We've made the word "Christian" a genre rather than a person. A few years ago, Christians would have foolishly boycotted a "secular" show like American Idol and probably would have just come up with a safe, alternate version shown only on "Christian television." I think it's a small step in the right direction when Christ followers step out of the church and enter a mainstream contest like American Idol, endeavoring to impress people with their talent rather than their beliefs.

MTV Interview: The Church & American Idol

CJ Casciotta — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:09:24 -0700

A while back I wrote a blog called American Idol: Good for TV, Bad for Church which came to the attention of MTV Senior Writer, Gil Kauffman. Gil wanted to know why so many Christians were not only tuning into "Idol" this year, but also performing on the show. He took a couple of quotes from our conversation and put them into his story for MTV.com. Here's an excerpt:

Just as this season kicked off, freelance writer CJ Casciotta penned an essay for faith site ConversantLife.com titled "American Idol — Good for TV. Bad for Church," in which he questioned whether the show's shunning of the "awkward, the socially inept, the ugly, the difficult" during the often cruel early rounds shouldn't be a call to action for the rest of us to embrace those whose lives are a struggle.

Casciotta's interest was piqued when he heard "Shout to the Lord" on "Idol" last season, and he suspects that the inclusion was an overt attempt to court Christian viewers. "The people at 'American Idol' are not idiots. They realize that there's this huge percentage of America that watches TV as a family, and a lot of families go to church. ... [The viewers] know worship leaders and musicians in church, and why not bring that aspect to the show?" he said.

He suspected that the inclusion of so many people of faith on "Idol" this year is part of a trend Christian music has been undergoing over the past decade, growing out of its cloistered corner and going more mainstream without losing its core values. "People who are Christians have a platform through 'American Idol' to write their songs and share their stories, and it doesn't have to fit in with the traditional Christian or worship genre," he said.

In fact, Casciotta said, he thinks Christian voters could end up being the deciding factor in this year's finals. "I would hope for people of faith that they would judge solely by talent," he said. "But if it came down to it, and the two [finalists] were equally talented and one was Christian, people would vote for that person who shares our faith."

To read the full article click here.

I also mentioned to Gil when we talked that I believe the church has had it backwards for a few decades now. Instead of creating culture, we instead settle for copying it. Centuries ago it was quite the opposite. The church was the epicenter for culture creators. Everything from music, to art, to architecture was birthed from it. Perhaps one of the reasons so many Christ Followers are auditioning for American Idol is, in a small way, due to this new renaissance of artistic expression erupting from within the church walls and overflowing to the "outside world." Perhaps, and hopefully, Christians are sensing the freedom to use their unique gifts and talents in and for a culture where every circumstance carries some kind of spiritual significance to it.

I'm interested, what are your thoughts? Do you see this shift happening too? If so, where? Do you agree that this is a good thing? Does anything concern you?

A great video featuring one of my heroes, Craig Detweiler, that hits on my point exactly about halfway through:

Rock the Vote

Barb Sherrill — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:46:54 -0800

Hurrah!

Tonight the voting begins on American Idol! The people get to have a voice.

I'm very excited about that.

It surprised me last year how much I liked the voting part of the show. I became intimately acquainted with the speed-dial capabilities of my phone, and I got a thrill every time I actually got through and my vote counted.

Okay, perhaps I need to get out more often.

But I don't think I'm that odd in liking the idea that my opinion counts--and that it can count in regards to something millions of other people care about too. How often does that happen in my everyday life? (Well, it happened in November, now that I think about it--how cool was that?!)

So, I'm ready to be an active participant in this year's AI.

Speed dial, here I come.

I'm Voting for Guy with Cool Glasses

Barb Sherrill — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:49:39 -0800

Dear Simon, Paula, Randy, and New Chick,

Tatiana?

Really?

The only reason I'm not asking for an hour of my life back after last night's show is that Guy with Cool Glasses is still in the competition. Him I like.

I'm looking forward to the day when we get past all this drama and move on to the singing. Seems like you've got some talent in the group this year...and I imagine you're holding out a few surprises as well (that's the only reason I can figure you've held on to Nick/Norman/Whatever His Name Is this long).

One can only hope.

Grateful that the Final 36 (24? 48? 112?) Is Coming Soon,

Barb

Grin and Bear It

Barb Sherrill — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:18:43 -0800

So, on Tuesday night I watched American Idol for the first time this season.

It’s only my second season with the show, and I was hoping that because I had waited to tune in until Hollywood week, I could avoid the cringe-inducing moments that the open tryouts bring.

Well, I was wrong.

Between Bikini Girl and what seemed like an endless parade of crying guys, I was doing plenty of cringing.

When I wasn’t cringing, however, I did notice there are some very good singers this year. So far, my vote belongs to Guy with Cool Glasses—I really liked his voice. (I missed Wednesday’s installment, so I hope he’s still around!)

Just goes to show that even with something like American Idol, you have to take the bad with the good. Until we get to vote, I suppose I can grin and bear my way through the meltdowns and mayhem.

No pain, no gain.

Hooray for Hollywood

Barb Sherrill — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:32:45 -0800

So, I'm not watching American Idol...yet.

Don't get me wrong. I'm excited about my second year with AI. I've been looking forward to it for months!

Will we have another David vs.David-like showdown this season?

Which fan favorite will drive Simon absolutely over the edge?

Will the music mentors be younger than my grandparents?

Oh, yes. I'm excited!

But I simply can't do the auditions. I just can't. I know for a lot of people, that's their favorite part of the competition--seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly of American pop star wannabes. And there is a part of me that would love to see the first auditions of those who are going to make it far on the show.

But nope. Not gonna do it. A couple of years ago, I happened upon one of those audition shows, and who did I see but Leopard Man singing his heart out.

I was scarred for life.

So, I'll wait for Hollywood, thank you very much. I'm not sure what that says about me and my inability to not feel completely embarrassed for people I don't even know, but I'm not going to read too much into it.

I'm just going to play my David Cook album for now and bide my time. Hollywood is coming.