This week marked the end of Simon Cowell’s reign on “American Idol.” Everyone says that the show will be over without him, but the truth is, it’s been losing audience size, excitement, and relevance over the last few years, even with him there. He just knows when it’s time to leave the party.
Most of the conversation has been about who could replace him, which is not a difficult to figure out—no one can. No matter who replaces him, or how many people replace him, it will be a disappointment. So this is a really good time for the producers to rethink the whole concept, rather than just sit back as it slowly sinks to the bottom.
The truth is, watching unknown young people attempt to sing their parents’ songs is looking pretty tired in the age of “Glee,” and the show no longer has much to do with finding American Idols either. The concept of the show was pretty exciting at the beginning—the first season launched a bonafide pop star in Kelly Clarkson. Since then, aside from one true superstar in Carrie Underwood, for the most part the Idols have been pretty lackluster. Meanwhile, the internet gave us Justin Bieber, who, like him or not, is a true pop star in a way that Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen, or the current Idol, Lee DeWyze, will ever be. Bieber performed on the show, as did Perez Hilton’s internet “discovery” Travis Garland, and Hillary Scott, the lead singer of the chart-topping country music trio Lady Antebellum, who tried out for “Idol” twice and never got on the show. Another YouTube wonder, Greyson Chance, was signed by “Idol” judge Ellen DeGeneres to her new record label. I hope DeGeneres will also sign a few “Idol” rejects, but it is still more than a little ironic that a judge of America’s leading talent competition will make the first artist on her label someone who never tried out.
The failure of “American Idol” is based on the lie that Simon or the judges or the TV viewing audience have anything to do with who wins. The real choices are made by the producers of the show. They’re the ones who listen to the tens of thousands of people who crowd the stadiums. They make their selections, and make sure that half of them are tone deaf, so we can all enjoy laughing at them. Simon, Ellen, Randy and Cara just choose from that group. Who knows who never gets the chance to enter their audition room? And after that, there is all the nonsense of forcing everyone to perform music that they are unsuited for, and letting 8-year-olds text the most talented ones out. A lot of people watch and enjoy the program, but if the idea is to find the best , then it doesn’t seem to be working.
On the other hand, any kid who puts up a series of videos on YouTube, has the chance to get noticed for being a good singer with charisma. It’s a long shot, sure, but at least they can play their own kind of music--they don’t have to make an ass of themselves on Sinatra or Country nights.
The internet has plenty of its own competitions. Singer/songwriter Kina Grannis made a video of her song “Message From Your Heart” and entered it in a YouTube contest. A few months later, it aired during the Super Bowl and she got a record deal. Having begun her career through a contest, Grannis is now doing a contest of her own: “Cowrite with Kina,” a chance to contribute lyrics to one of her songs.
For the hell of it I decided to enter Kina’s contest and sent in a first verse for her song. To do this I had to listen to her sing her lyric-less first verse over and over, as I made numerous revisions. I knew I could never write anything that would suit her style, but it was an interesting exercise, one of those oddly personal-but-not-really experiences that only the internet can offer.
While the “Idol” contestants are thrown into the media mosh pit with photo shoots and interviews and then tossed out once the show is done with them, people like Grannis are cultivating the tools that will enable them to build and hold onto a fan base.
If “Idol” wants to stay current, it needs to do more with the internet than to have YouTube pop stars play on the show—they need to integrate YouTube into the show. Perhaps there could be two roads to getting on “Idol”: one would be the traditional way, and the second would be through the kind of internet contest that Kina Grannis entered. An internet contest would give an advantage to the people who have been making videos for years and who have developed followings. If they achieved that, they will have earned that advantage.
Simon Cowell is irreplaceable, but what needs to be revived on “American Idol” is the belief that winning the show actually means something, something that is slipping away year after year.
