It's very simple really - American Idol is not about music. Hasn't been for years. So logically, their judges would not be about music. So Ellen, will not only garner increased ratings, it will also make AI gay-friendly, gay-safe.
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if AI's winner this year was openly gay, either.
Not like there's any evidence anywhere that AI is fixed or anything...
But look at the facts of the matter: AI is a heavy, heavy branding machine, heavy marketing machine. The musical guests all are people looking to sell something. Notice that with each musical guest or judge who had come on, they all, all had an album, CD, track, tv show or something to sell that was either new or out for a while and not doing well. With lifestyle brands like Coke, AT&T and Ford, the show is one clinic in integrated branding and commercials within commercials, rather than a singing competition.
By way of comparison, do you really think that Nick Cannon got the hosting gig on America's Got Talent because of his mastery of pronunciation of the English language and his devastating charm? ...or is it because for what he's really know as - Nick Carey...
AI needs to stem the season-after-season ratings fall of the show, so a change is in order. AI is also seen as very conservative, anti-gay. So this is the perfect solution to both problems. AI will get a ratings boost, seem gay friendly, and all will be right with the world.
Look at the other new judge - DioGuardi walked in and essentially pushed Abdul out. Yet DioGuardi is a failed performer. She has no idea what it's like to helm a headlining show. She's also NOT the songwriter she claims to be, evidenced by the fact that her AI song was so bad they pulled it from the concert lineup and it is the lowest selling single to date. Her songwriting "success" was completely by the other songwriters who actually wrote the song, and gave her a percentage credit. She's milked it as much as one could do to her credit.
Any music industry professional can tell you stories as to how shady songwriting credits are and who actually writes songs versus who gets credit for writing songs.
So essentially you have one legit label guy, one legit producer guy, and you had one legit talent. Now you have a fake talent with a tremendous ego, and one comedian, who has no experience at all in the music business. And the show will go on because Ellen is homogenous enough to keep the folks in the midwest happy, minus the drug allegations. She's the right choice because you don't really care about music anyway and they know that.
Yeah, AI will be fine. You'll watch. You won't complain. They'll all get paid. You will still struggle. And that's the way it works - because you won't stop watching, and they know it.
Showing posts with label ai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ai. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Taylor Hicks Rocks Roxy
Many folks in the world believe that once you win American Idol, that the road is paved with gold and roses for Katherine McPhee to gleefully dance along barefoot...even though she didn't win. But the Ruben Studdards of the world will tell you that sometimes all that glitters may not be so golden as was the case with Taylor Hicks at the Roxy Theatre.
Don't get me wrong, Taylor Hicks definitely has an underrated show. His performance was very enjoyable, his musicianship and the musicianship of his band was nothing but professional. Unfortunately the half-filled room were the only ones to appreciate it.
Hicks seemed to have a hard time drawing at the Roxy. Although, audience members, some of whom came as far away as South Carolina or Canada, were prepared, rationalizing that Hicks is not a mainstream pop candy and is an acquired taste. One woman went so far as to explicitly explain to me why he doesn't photograph well.
His performance was not bolstered by his opener, Candace Devine, whose voice kept giving out when she tried to belt the high notes, thereby coloring her singing as a gravely blues performance instead of an all-out singing sensation. Devine's performance was good, but in a lounge act kind of quality, whereby opening for what could arguably be considered a national act may be still too far out of reach. As well, nobody but nobody seemed to know who she was, and it didn't seem to lift the draw any.
Hicks is currently starring in the local off-Broadway production of Grease at the Pantages Theatre, and this performance probably helped ticket sales there, as everyone was talking about Hicks in Grease. Nevertheless, the late 40s to early 50s crowd isn't the type to pad a draw in the long run, so Hicks may have an uphill battle if he tries to play larger venues, or venues without a bar less than 100 feet from the stage. Most of the audience wasn't from Los Angeles, and even the local radio station My 100 FM (I think), just gave out stickers to random people and then bailed 20 minutes before doors, showing their lackluster support for this American Idol winner.
Taylor Hicks isn't so much an acquired taste as he's a much better sell in the south and midwest. We happen to appreciate his mix of country western and blues/southern rock and makes for a good sountrack to drinking and pool shooting. But to try to bottle the AI lightning and re-engineer history may be much more a task of Sisyphus than something based in reality.
Taylor Hicks did have fans in the multitude of badly-behaving photographers who showed up to photograph Hicks. Their red carpet pap tactics of disrespectfully pushing through the crowds of paying and non-paying folks didn't fly with the gauntlet of women at the front line, as many of them were barked back about 3 rows or physically threatened to move. Even at one point, a tall photographer pushed his way into the front row from the stage and decided to shoot while ducking after being subtly threatened by a male in the crowd.
There were some people who were angry with the way the show was put on, as many who paid the $35 price tag met some who paid nothing as a pair of websites began giving away tickets (just pay that dandy service fee) late in the day. Ostensibly, this was a late-game attempt to make the room look full, but it just seemed to have failed.
A bright spot of the night was the nonchalant opener Check In The Dark, whose bluesy, melodic soft-southern country-pop/rock was a welcome and surprising blend of notes in a Dave Matthews kind of way, which made for an actually pleasant and competent opening band (you know, because most openers usually are blatantly retarded). Bragging how they dropped an album in Japan and immediately sold 500 copies, they may be onto something in the short-term, as Check In The Dark snakecharmed the room just enough to dodge the usual scathing apathy that Los Angeles is so well known for.
On the web:
Check In The Dark
www.myspace.com/checkinthedarkmusic
Candace Devine
www.myspace.com/candacedevine
Taylor Hicks
www.taylorhicks.com
Don't get me wrong, Taylor Hicks definitely has an underrated show. His performance was very enjoyable, his musicianship and the musicianship of his band was nothing but professional. Unfortunately the half-filled room were the only ones to appreciate it.
Hicks seemed to have a hard time drawing at the Roxy. Although, audience members, some of whom came as far away as South Carolina or Canada, were prepared, rationalizing that Hicks is not a mainstream pop candy and is an acquired taste. One woman went so far as to explicitly explain to me why he doesn't photograph well.
His performance was not bolstered by his opener, Candace Devine, whose voice kept giving out when she tried to belt the high notes, thereby coloring her singing as a gravely blues performance instead of an all-out singing sensation. Devine's performance was good, but in a lounge act kind of quality, whereby opening for what could arguably be considered a national act may be still too far out of reach. As well, nobody but nobody seemed to know who she was, and it didn't seem to lift the draw any.
Hicks is currently starring in the local off-Broadway production of Grease at the Pantages Theatre, and this performance probably helped ticket sales there, as everyone was talking about Hicks in Grease. Nevertheless, the late 40s to early 50s crowd isn't the type to pad a draw in the long run, so Hicks may have an uphill battle if he tries to play larger venues, or venues without a bar less than 100 feet from the stage. Most of the audience wasn't from Los Angeles, and even the local radio station My 100 FM (I think), just gave out stickers to random people and then bailed 20 minutes before doors, showing their lackluster support for this American Idol winner.
Taylor Hicks isn't so much an acquired taste as he's a much better sell in the south and midwest. We happen to appreciate his mix of country western and blues/southern rock and makes for a good sountrack to drinking and pool shooting. But to try to bottle the AI lightning and re-engineer history may be much more a task of Sisyphus than something based in reality.
Taylor Hicks did have fans in the multitude of badly-behaving photographers who showed up to photograph Hicks. Their red carpet pap tactics of disrespectfully pushing through the crowds of paying and non-paying folks didn't fly with the gauntlet of women at the front line, as many of them were barked back about 3 rows or physically threatened to move. Even at one point, a tall photographer pushed his way into the front row from the stage and decided to shoot while ducking after being subtly threatened by a male in the crowd.
There were some people who were angry with the way the show was put on, as many who paid the $35 price tag met some who paid nothing as a pair of websites began giving away tickets (just pay that dandy service fee) late in the day. Ostensibly, this was a late-game attempt to make the room look full, but it just seemed to have failed.
A bright spot of the night was the nonchalant opener Check In The Dark, whose bluesy, melodic soft-southern country-pop/rock was a welcome and surprising blend of notes in a Dave Matthews kind of way, which made for an actually pleasant and competent opening band (you know, because most openers usually are blatantly retarded). Bragging how they dropped an album in Japan and immediately sold 500 copies, they may be onto something in the short-term, as Check In The Dark snakecharmed the room just enough to dodge the usual scathing apathy that Los Angeles is so well known for.
On the web:
Check In The Dark
www.myspace.com/checkinthedarkmusic
Candace Devine
www.myspace.com/candacedevine
Taylor Hicks
www.taylorhicks.com
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