For such a disappointing season, the post-finale time is proving to have a lot of… entertainment value. Of course, it’s the same kind of entertainment a trainwreck provides, so your mileage may vary.
An awful lot of ink and bandwidth has been spent discussing just how Kris won over the “favorite” Adam. I’ll be blunt: an awful lot of it is absurd nonsense.
The nonsense generally comes in two flavors. The first one is this whole idea that the only reason that Kris won was due to… homophobia. Milder versions of this will not say it’s homophobia, but blame it on the broader “Culture Wars” idea.
Let me be blunt about this. Suggesting that Adam lost due to homophobia is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard. It tells a lot more about those who would say such a stupid thing. It tells the rest of us decent folk that they cannot imagine a situation where others can be wrong for reasons other than hatred and groupthink. In short, they are some sort of Cultural Elite who decide What Is Right And Proper. That, in turn, is an utterly despicable idea.
Those who blame Adam’s loss on the Culture Wars may not be that wrong-headed, but it’s a revealing moment as well. Being truly objective in news reporting is hard, but people should at least try. The people blaming the loss on the “Culture Wars” know, deep-down, they got blind-sided. The part of America they never paid real attention to, as it turned out, was pretty damn big. Blaming the loss on the “Culture Wars” betrays either the intellectual blinders too many people have, or the laziness that, in effect, made them to be little more than 19E stooges.
Adam Lambert didn’t lose much, if anything, this past Wednesday. One of the big losers was the big media, who all bought into the hype and ignored all evidence to the contrary. At the very least, people who pay attention will have… doubts. At worst, they’ll be regarded as complete and utter fools who don’t know what they’re talking about.
The other big loser was… the Idol producers. Yes, they may have found themselves two legitimate top-quality artists who will make them millions, but it came at an extreme cost: their credibility.
I’m not going to recap the whole tortured season here. You can read what I’ve written before for that, or the brilliant season review our friends at What Not to Sing put out here. Suffice to say that Season Eight saw unprecedented levels of producer manipulation – yet, in the end, all that power utterly, and completely, failed.
All that manipulation did was antagonize the long-suffering Idol fans. As a rule, we already aren’t predisposed to like 19E and Fox, based entirely on past behavior. Right now, though, Bernie Madoff could run Idol from his jail cell and be better trusted than the current crop.
In fact, you can argue that the manipulation made the show significantly worse – not just in angering fans, but making the singing significantly worse. Consider what was pointed out to me by my friends at WNTS: the bottom half of the finalists – Lil, Scott, Megan, Michael, Alexis, Jasmine, and Jorge – had a total of 23 performances in the finals. How many scored over 50? Two. One from Lil, another from Alexis. That’s it.
What that means is that the top thirteen – with the exception of Allison and Kris, the Accidental Finalists – had largely turned out to be busts. Consider, too, that there was a lot of good talent left in the group round. The end result was a top 13 that was anything but the best singers of Season Eight – and everyone knew it.
Then came two months of the typical overpraise of the pimped. Adam was a fine singer, true, but the judges made excuses for those that they did like. *ahem*Danny*ahem*
Meanwhile, the Accidental Finalists were singing pretty well. Despite the lack of pimpage, they stayed in. And they got their own fanbases. They tried to run over Kris in the top four, and utterly failed.
In the end, the manipulation not only made the show considerably worse, it failed, completely. Kris won, and by all accounts the hype machine that was Adam Lambert got flatenned. Not only that, when the iTunes numbers came out, it turned out that Kris was winning there too. Things were not as the producers had said they were.
Can anyone really believe anything they say now? As it stands, if you appended a not to anything 19E and Fox say, it’d be closer to the truth. Not only that, all the manipulation is antagonizing the fanbase.
There are shows that have loyal fanbases that worship the ground their creators and producers walk on. What’s rare, however, is a show with the polar opposite. Idol fans may love the show, but the producers? No. Just no.
How long until the fans take out their anger at the producers on the show itself? Maybe we’re already seeing that. The ratings are already off from last year. No show can survive for long without angry and disaffected fans – who eventually stop being fans. Yet that is exactly what Idol’s PTB are in the process of doing.
Indeed, for acts that were all their doing, the biggest losers of the season were the producers. Some people are wondering if this is the year Idol jumped the shark. It may well be worse. This may be the year the golden goose started dying.
Later this week: Our Season Post-Mortem, Part 3: Where We Go From Here.
Sadly, Kris is now suffering the effects of the media’s huge misdirection. Because all of the hype was focused on Adam as the presumed and only “deserving” winner, now rather than the story now being how much Kris deserved his win, the focus is on Adam As the Martyr Who Was Robbed. Not only are the claims that homophobia stole the win from Adam absolutely absurd, they diminish the accomplishment that Kris managed to wrangle from a disaster of a season. Too, it makes me absolutely resent Adam, who is by all appearances a really nice guy with undeniable talent.
I’m determined not to watch next season. There is no joy in rooting for a contestant only to watch as he/she’s bused continuously as the 19E/Fox PTB attempt to get the winner that they want. Even if my guy/gal does manage to pull off a miracle, I can’t stand to watch the aftermath. I feel really sorry for Kris, and I hope he goes on to amazing success. For me, AI is all but dead.
I don’t know who wrote this article but whoever you are, you need to get your facts right. Adam’s collective performance is #3 on Itunes and Kris’s is #6. It doesn’t look like Kris is beating Adam on Itunes.Also, Adam is far more talented than Kris. Kris sounds like your average cookie cutter backstreet boy singer while Adam has incredible vocals and incredible range.
Spot-on critique, Idol Guy! You’re right, the cries of homophobia are completely misguided. It’s just as wrong to want Adam to win because he’s gay, as it is to want him to lose for being gay.
Robin: Kris is soundly beating Adam on the singles chart, and also in the number of radio spins. The only reason Kris’s performance collection is charting lower than Adam’s is because there’s also a Kris Allen iTunes Pass which offers all those videos, and more. It would figure that sales would be split between the two.
Kris and Adam are both very good at their respective niches. Kris’s just happens to be more popular.
Better than great analysis of season eight. I had all but walked away from Idol after the top “13″ were picked, but wanted to see what Allison Ireheta could do with that big old voice, and after a few weeks of listening to the smarm that was coming out of the judges mouths for Danny and Adam, and the barely concealed contempt they had for ALL the others- (except the pretty, but freakish Megan Corkry…WTF? God, she was awful, and they LOVED her! “Must.Have.Pretty.Girl.In.Show” mentality, I guess.) Anyway, your basic Joe average with no music background could see that Kris Allen was getting better EVERY single week, and the fact that Simon kept putting him down for being a nice guy was incredibly insulting; He tried to paint him as a tweener pick back when he told him to hide his wife. Can you say asshole? Anyway, I thought Adam was O.K., I loved “Mad World”, but I doubt if I’ll buy much of his stuff. I’ve already bought everything Kris has and will surely buy his future stuff. It’s just what I like listening to, and I’m not a tween. The bottom line is that the producers and judges brought this conclusion onto themselves, helped with a ton of talent from Kris Allen- America raised their collective voting voices and gave them the finger. And they deserved it.
Robin, you are absoultely incorrect. On Itunes top downloads Kris is beating Adam by a healthy margin. You cannot look at just the “collection” because that is a small portion of their sales. If you wanna look at it that way than kris is destroying Adam because of the ‘season pass’. Eveery ourchase of the season pass would count towards Kris’ sa;es.
So lets not be silly and go by those numbers. Let’s go by true sales. Overall, in total, Kris has sold more than Adam. That is simple fact. Look at sales of every individual performance. You’ll see.
It is disgusting that anyone would use the topic of homophobia to try to explain how they were wrong on who they predicted would win American Idol this year. It would be easier if they just said, we were wrong. Kris has a large following and despite the dysfunction in the media he continues to soar high with his fans.
Excellent op/ed. Agree completely.
I find it helpful to remember that the producers keep talking about the contestants as “cast” members… the first goal of the producers is in gathering a varied and interesting cast… not in casting the best singers. In other words, it’s a set up from the start. While we poor audience sheep cling to the idea that it’s a singing contest.
On the other hand, it is amazing and feels like a victory, to actually discover cast members like Kris and/or Allison that surprise and delight us and make us feel so outraged at the obvious producer pimping of other cast members that we actually pick up the phone and vote!!
Finally, this was so well written. I am so sick of all the hype about Adam. Yes he has a great voice, I agree with that. But what is he going to do in the future – what will his album look/sound like? I just don’t get it. With Kris, you know what you will be getting. And it is something I will listen to. He’s current and radio ready.
My husband was more of a casual fan of this show. Allison was his favorite and Kris was his second. After the top 3 week, he was actually surprised when I told him Adam was in the finale – he thought Danny was better and should have been in there with Kris. And part of me agreed with him. With Danny, at least you have a basic understandnig of what type of music he will put out in the future based on the show. Adam was so up and down, all over the spectrum I’m not sure where his music fits in.
I think TPTB have destroyed this show and it’s credability. Kris was virtually ignored all season in favor of over-hyped contestants like Adam, Lil, Danny and even Matt Giraud. Adam and Danny were constantly give over-praise for some not so good performances (sorry but the real stand-out Adam had for me will always be Mad World, the other’s were just ok.) Top 9 week, Kris literally slayed them all with Ain’t No Sunshine, but was only told it was his personal best when it was definitely best of the night and one of the best of the season. Heartless was the actual best of the season by all contestants – period. But the judges never called it as such and Simon went as far as to say it was the only reason Kris might make it to the finale, rather then his consistenly great performances throughout. (All She Wants to do is Dance was propbably Kris personal biggest flop, I refuse to acknowledge the ridiculousness of his Renegade duet.)
So now we are left trying to defend the contestant who won, when the defense (which shouldn’t even be needed) is based on his performance. Yes Adam was great. Yes Adam has amazing vocals. But Adam never delivered a consistent style, he never showed us what he will ultimately be in the future. Kris’ performances over the season, with the exceptions of All She Wants To Do and Renegade could be compiled into an album right now and there would be consitency and an understanding of the artist. Ultimately, I think this is what America voted for as their idol.
Thank you for this article. I am sick of the homophobe analysis as to why Adam lost. He had a few good performances, but, for the most part, over sang and screamed. Who could take an entire album of that?
Yes, they had that bus revved up for Kris and Allison. Here’s hoping these 2 outshine their chosen ones. The manipulations this year were over the top and America saw right through it.
As Randy says, America always gets it right. Thank God the judges don’t select the winners. However, they do try to sway the votes their way.
Uncle Marty, the collection consists of ALL of their songs instead of just a single.Adam KILLED Kris on that. You watch, Adam will kill Kris when it comes to having a better career.Again, Kris doesn’t have the incredible voice that Adam has. Kris will be just another boy band type who will only be a flash in the pan.
They’re both phenomenal singers.
Robin: Pointing at iTunes sales just makes Adam fans look like bitter losers, to be honest. They will both make a fantastic living doing what they love to do.
Uncle Marty: The iTunes Chart I believe does not count total sales, but rolling sales, I would be absolutely shocked if overall Kris has sold more than Adam, since based on leaked numbers earlier, Adam was absolutely destroying the competition for most of the season based on iTunes sales. I imagine that recently there has been a lot more purchasing of Kris’ material, which makes sense since he is the winner. But I don’t see where it points to total sales numbers. (Not to mention as I said above they will both make a fantastic living doing what they love to do.)
The review was well written, well thoughtout and interesting! While I may not agree with all of the points made (I’m not a big fan of people crying foul left and right) it was a great read.
My only hope from this season (I’m fairly certain that Adam and Kris will be able to make a living doing this) is that Allison too not only gets a proper recording contract, but also guidance! She’s young, and can be a megastar!
Benji…with all due respect, I disagree about Kris being a phenomenal singer. He can’t hit the high notes like Adam can. Of course I’m sad that Adam lost to Kris. Adam is truly a gifted singer. To me, Kris and Megan are pretty much on the same level as far as the level of their performances go.They are both good but can only sing certain songs and do well. Adam, however, can sing pretty much anything and sound phenomenal.
Annie….most of Kris’ votes came from Arkansas. The rest of America was really didn’t vote for him as much as you think.
Robin: The Arkansas rumor has been debunked by AT&T.
And again, the only reason Adam’s collection charts higher than Kris’s is because Kris also has an iTunes Pass that offers the buyer access to videos and songs. So his sales would be split between the Kris collection and the Kris iTunes pass, both of which are charting comfortably, and if you combined the two sales, he’d soundly defeat Adam at that, too.
God. I love Adam, but I hate his crazy fanbase.
If you go back and look at the message boards. Pick those that only have one thread at a time. You’ll see the progression.
Early season Adam wow! Danny pimped. Kris Who? Allison weird
Mid season Adam wow! Danny pimped. Kris with the sideways mouth, Allison interesting
Late season Adam no growth, Danny Scream on, Kris dang he’s cute and good too, Allison we miss you
Last 2 – Adam we love but we get complacent because we voted for Kris too, Kris we love and man his fans are organized, Kradam we love and wednesday was both sucky and good and by thursday we knew they’d both survive and bring Allison on with them.
Interesting isn’t it that Adam, Kris and Allison not only were fan favorites but each other’s favorites too? Like seeking like.
Idol Guy: Very great article and spot on analysis of the situation by not sticking to any conspiracy theories.
It’s very funny when people still believes the 38M Arkansan votes rumor that AT&T had already debunked last weekend. What more when people try to overlook actual iTunes sales facts and the real reason Adam leads the album sales is because of Kris’ iTunes pass sales. In terms of the single sales, Kris’ No Boundaries is at #2 for 4 days now. And just overnight Kris’ Heartless single went up from 10 to 9 after it went down to 10 just the other day. While Adam’s Mad World single plummeted down from #14 to #20 in just a single day.
Julie. you’re wrong! At&t unwittingly helped Kris win.Here’s the link!
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/american-idol/american-idol-8-did-att-unwitt-28946.aspx
I highly doubt that the votes of a relatively small number of people (and they are relatively small, compared to the AI voting population) can change things. Not if by, as all indications are, the winning margin was pretty large. And MJ throws a little water on this as well.
http://mjsbigblog.com/new-york-times-throws-fuel-on-the-fire-of-crazy-fan-conspiracy-theories.htm
Idol Guy: this is the front page news on Yahoo. and it wasn’t a small number. At&T is trying to cover themselves. If it were a small amount of fans, then it wouldn’t be such a big story today.Whatever. Adam has more talent in his eyeliner than Kris ever could. This voting controversy cleared up a lot of questions as to how Kris won.
You are either very naive or ignorant if you think homophobia didn’t cost Adam votes. Did you know you can still be fired from your job just for being gay in 30 states??? Unfortunately there are still millions of Americans(especially in the AI southern voting block) that would not vote for Adam simply becuase he is gay. All the questions by the media about his sexuality in the last couple of weeks before the finale definitely hurt his chances.
False, Kelly. AT&T doesn’t care who wins, it’s all about texts and phone sales for them. They’ve been at voting parties for different contestants for several seasons now, this just happens to be the first time the mainstream media was dumb enough to pick up on it.
MJ explains why it’s total BS here (Idol Guy already linked to it, but it bears repeating):
http://mjsbigblog.com/new-york-times-throws-fuel-on-the-fire-of-crazy-fan-conspiracy-theories.htm
And yeah, highly dubious that you could get 38 million votes from such a small population. Kris won fair and square, get over it.
The funniest thing of all is people taking AT&T’s “word” for it when they try to backtrack what one of their top level employees said about the votes in Arkansas. And, the only source for Kris winning in a landslide was Billy Bush! LOL! Dial Idol showed Adam and Kris neck to neck with Kris having a slight lead. I would believe Dial Idol over American Idol spokes people and AT&T. The REAL LOSERS here are the gullible public, willing to spend so much money & time devoted to their favourite Idol’s not realizing what a scam it is with AT&T. Oh, and Julie, MJ’s is just a blogger with an opinion- doesn’t make it fact.
Hey!
Don’t forget to write the 3rd article. You promised it for late during that week but it ain’t there yet.
Oh and my two cents on this issue:
Why the producers were pushing for an Adam/Danny/Lil Finale, I will never get. I understand why Adam, but for the other two, just no. Danny was Lil’s male version: All he could ever do was great karaoke at best. As for Lil, she just couldn’t get it at all.
Also, I think while Adam started and went strong throughout the show’s run, he went downhill during the Final 3 stage. One bad song pick from Simon and the overpowering of the back up singer in “Cryin’” made Kris manage to steal his thunder. And when the Finale came, Adam couldn’t quite capture the essence of his original “Mad World,” his “A Change Is Gonna Come” didn’t do any wonders and the Coronation song just hit the nail to his head.
On the other hand, Kris was steadily gaining ground since the Final 13 and when the odds were stacked against him as the competition got tougher, he delivered! And for the record, “No Boundaries” is a lot more radio-ready with Kris singing. Add to that the fact that the judges were giving him dismissive congratulatory comments at the end just fueled the fire.
Note to the producers:
- Go back to the Top 24 format. If this had been the format, we would’ve gotten to know an Allison or a Kris better and eliminate a Jasmine or Michael earlier on.
- Limit the talking time of the judges. The stint of bickering amongst the judges has just gone really stale, not to mention it is just downright rude to do that. Oh, and when someone IS performing, they should give their FULL attention, which they didn’t do during Alexis’ saving song, and Allison’s great performance the week after that. Point is: Make the show about the contestants, not the judges.
- Restrain the judges’ from saying their predictions early on. That’s what influenced America to have people like Lil and Danny advance while underdelivering.
- In place of the judges’ save, let America choose the Bottom 3 and then have them perform for their lives. After that, the live audience should vote in who deserves to stay and from there, eliminate a contestant. This should go on up until the Top 5.
- Better yet, change the producers. After all, they were the ones who tried to “manufacture” an Idol. And boy, what an epic fail that was!
Joe: Yes, I know, I was damnably late. But, it’s up now.