American Idol: Season 13

 

[ Published May 25, 2014]

 

ABOUT: American Idol, subtitled The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by 19 Entertainment, and distributed by FremantleMedia North America. It began airing on Fox on June 11, 2002, as an addition to the Idol franchise based on the UK show Pop Idol, and has since become one of the most successful shows in the history of American television. It was the most watched TV series from 2005 to 2011 in the Nielsen ratings, and it is the only program to have been number one for seven consecutive seasons.

 

So, I’m watching American Idol [2014] AGAIN. I am kind of addicted to this show and watch it every year. At the end of the show I’m usually frustrated with the votes but hey, this is a democracy and not a dictatorship – the opportunity to hear outstanding voices is worth everything to me.

There are auditions the first few weeks. This gives the viewing audience a chance to get familiar with the judges and contestants. The judges this season are; J-Lo [returning after an absence last season], Keith Urban [returning] and Harry Connick, Jr. [new]. Veteran judge, Randy Jackson, is the mentor this year. At the very beginning, I thought they would be boring and dry. I was wrong. They have great chemistry and their critiques are extremely professional. They are entertaining and Harry Connick, Jr. is hysterical – really! As a judge though, I cannot stand him. He is too harsh, critical and negative.

 

The goal of the first round of auditions is to get a ‘gold ticket to Hollywood.’ ‘Hollywood Week’ has more, intensive auditions. They start out at over 200 contestants and are whittled down to 30. These top 30 audition usually in Las Vegas. Not this year, however! The last 2 males are voted upon to see who will take the last spot in the top 30. The final auditions are live, voting shows. Now we get a top13.

 

Standout female: Jena Irene

 

Standout male: Caleb Johnson

 

The singing nights are great but the elimination nights are tense. The judges have one ‘save’ per season but they seem to wait until a truly amazing contestant might leave. When a contestant is voted out, they ‘sing for their life.’ I kind of think that usually this is futile, as the ‘save’ won’t be used. They eventually used the ‘save’ on Sam – a teenage heartthrob. Yikes.

 

Caleb should win. He is an authentic rock-star whose voice is far superior to any of the other contestants. He was called ‘sexy’ by J-Lo and a ‘slow motion air bag’ by Keith Urban.

 

The vibe this year was more positive than usual – between the judges and between the contestants. There was a marked emphasis on social media – Facebook and Twitter. Ryan Seacrest, the host, was constantly taking ‘selfies.’ During the Top 3 show they had the DJs ‘The Chainsmokers’ perform their hit ‘Selfie.’ The show obviously wants to be relevant to young viewers. When the contestants were eliminated their image was deleted on a screen like the kids who died in ‘The Hunger Games.’ It all seems very manipulative to me.

 

Anyways… the move beyond a singing competition is obvious. The context for the show now is mainstream pop-culture. I really don’t think anything on television can be ‘pure’ – especially when ratings are involved. I also do not believe that there is ‘reality’ on ‘Reality TV.’

 

In an article I wrote on the television show, Big Brother called ‘Big Bother’ I say: Ideas of ‘the real’ we hold are very interesting to me on many levels. Reality television exemplifies a level that suggests that if an actual person, not an actor, says or does certain things, it is fact and genuine. Things like editing or producing are invisible. I was in a mini-documentary (“Modern documentaries have some overlap with television forms, with the development of “reality television” that occasionally verges on the documentary…Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia) and sure what I chose to say came from my own mind but I had no choice in what was used, I had no say in how it was put together and it followed a predetermined aesthetic in keeping with the news-show airing it (even though the fabulous woman filming it had her own style). I would gladly do it again and was asked to be in a feature-length film documentary, but I am under no false illusion here. Even documentaries are ‘unreal.’

 

 

So, my earlier standout female: Jena Irene and standout male: Caleb Johnson are in the finale, competing against one another. [Should I say ‘told you so’?] They are both so good it really doesn’t matter who wins. Not like when Adam Lambert lost to Chris whatshisname – oh, don’t get me started…

 

Caleb Johnson – the rocker – won. For the first time, I would have been pleased in each case.