Oh my, we don't want any crumbly Cookies! I have been amazed at what a quick study he is, and how well he's handled the media from the start. I think he's got the family and life experiences to help him stay grounded, respectful, grateful, and one of the good guys while he navigates his fame and career.

I hope so! Like I said at the moment he's doing great, it will be interesting to see how it goes from here!

I feel a lot better after seeing his latest Vlog, too. He has such awesome friends (like Andy Skib) and I have to remember that though he is young, he is not a raw kid, but a man well-grounded in great family values and more mid-Western than anything else. Plus unlike someone like Brittany, for instance, his home is not a place to escape from but to embrace and grow up from, so rather than reject what he learned there, he incorporates it.

Thus spake Zarathustra.

Hi Polly!

When I saw the title to this, I thought maybe it was going to be going in a negative direction. Just want to say I enjoyed your post immensely, almost all your points have been in my thoughts recently-thank you for taking the time to put it all down. Agree with you 100% and most of the other posts in response, especially regarding DC's emerging skills at handling the media questions with tact and courtesy while getting his point accross, and the role model comments. Gives me hope for my music-loving son to have someone like this to emulate and for my daughter that there are decent, intelligent and respectful men out there to admire (and a little eye candy doesn't hurt)!

Thanks again for this and look forward to your future posts as he goes through the next phase of his career!

Thanks
Me negative? Never! Just going to be objective as possible!

So I have started a new one, more broad, but please add your responses, I am no where near finished, but this is the introduction of sorts...

The Idol Factor- Talent Show or Beauty Pageant?


I’ve recently been thinking more and more about the ‘reality talent’ shows here in the UK. The thought began due to a discussion I had with a co-worker. I’ll set the scene, I am a music tutor at a local college, and where we have just over 100 students studying ‘Music Practice’ about fifteen of these learners are ‘singers.’ Myself and my co-worker were reviewing some solo performances and realised how many of the singers sang awfully, out of tune, bad breathing, timing and no personality. We wondered how we could work with these learners to improve their ‘talent’ and realised that some of them were so deluded nothing we say would make the slightest bit of difference. This is when I said ‘Maybe we should take them to audition for the X Factor, the judges there would put them in place.’ The X Factor, for those who don’t know, is the UK version of ‘Idol.’

Once I had said this I started to think about past winners, in comparison to the artists who have appeared on the scene during this time. I found myself trying to decide if these ‘shows’ are truly about the talent or simply about the personality and ‘sell-ability’ factor. Musicians who perform on the small scale, doing the local music scene and working their way up to a label obviously write their own music and perform live at each performance. But there are, of course, those manufactured artists that still appear now and again, although not on the scale of the 1990’s ‘Bubblegum Pop’ phenomenon.

As a musician (admittedly one who has been less active over the last two years) I have always felt there to be two main reasons to not go onto one of these types of shows. To begin with, these shows are vocal shows, not looking for the next big musician, but the next big singer. It is purely based on vocals, and these contestants have to perform other people’s songs. As a musician the idea of having to participate in a ‘Country Week/Celine Dion Week’ puts a bad taste in my mouth, of course you can tweak and alter the music to suit your voice, but it still doesn’t show your song-writing skills.

Secondly, looks play a big part. A few years ago a ‘large’ lady won the X Factor, but the thing was, she really couldn’t sing! She was very nasal, and didn’t have a good performance technique. I believe the only reason she won was because the UK decided to ‘prove’ that music wasn’t about appearances, but shot themselves in the foot. The UK was right of course, it shouldn’t be about looks, but that doesn’t mean every ugly/fat average singer should get a record deal either!

I am not a ‘beautiful’ woman; people don’t ask me if I am a model, heads don’t turn when I walk down the street. I am another ‘average’ looking girl, who happens to be plus size. I am happy with whom I am, but to throw myself into a show like ‘Idol’ would mean throwing my appearance into public view, and public judging.

But then, if I chose to go the other route, sending mail shots to record companies and hoping to get a deal, I am much less likely to succeed, and in the small chance I did, it wouldn’t be instant fame, I would have had no launch-pad into the public eye, it would indefinitely be a lot harder work, with a lot more risk. And yet the same result at the end of it.
So back to original point, are these show’s a way of finding a fantastic performer with the potential to write and release their own material, or simply a beauty pageant?

Ahh, Michelle McManus (pssst, it was Pop Idol 2 not X Factor ) - I think you're right in your assessment of why she won, there was also, I think a feeling that Simon didn't want her, so the GBP decided to stick two fingers up at him, plus the Scottish vote, which is very powerful. Bascially she should never have made the final cut because, as you say, she was extremely nasel, drove me mad.

I think, with these shows it's a risk you run, for every Will Young (first Pop Idol winner) there's a dozen Steve Brookstein (or whatever his name was that won the first X Factor, the bloke with a unfortunate resemblance to Fred West). For every David Cook there's a dozen Taylor Hicks (seriously, how did he end up winning, never got that all.

There's always a danger of a beauty pagent element to the shows, which is why, I suppose so few reality show winners actually manage to break out and maintain credible careers, people have voted on looks, rather then talent - people are not invested in their actual music, just the image. The list of credible winners, either side of the Atlantic, isn't really that long - Will Young, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis, Girls Aloud, Clay Atkin (who I know nothing about but appears to have maintained a career), after that I'm running out of names.

Opps, yes your right it was Pop Idol, they changed the name so many times!!

I know what you mean though, when I saw Ben Mills (think he was in the same series as steve b?) I was like 'Wow' and he didn't win, but he did go on and realise a record of all his own material, an it did pretty well..I have a lot of credit for people like him!

Funny that our winner from the last show (can't even remember his name) has done nothing!

I think David is grounded, savvy, and very professional. He knows when to speak and when to listen. I haven't seen him when he wasn't poised and a "natural" with the camera. I think the "Simons" have a jewel on their hands and know it.

Keep in mind what they've done with Leona Lewis. Their management of her has been masterful.

I second you and avegirl (Post #2). Bruce Springsteen was thrown into the limelight by having his photo on the cover of "Time" and "Newsweek" the same week, but over his career he's managed to keep his privacy as much as possible, is still down to earth, and still loves his career and his fans more than 30 years later.

I've wondered the same things that "The Last Rockette" has discussed, but I think it all comes down to the celeb's personality. DC seems to be grounded, have a good sense of humor, a sense of the absurd, and he realizes that Hollywood and fame are not the most important things in the world.

I also hope he keeps providing a good role model for DA, who's younger and will probably have a hard time dealing with fame.

As far as the beauty contest/talent question - if David Cook was just another pretty face, then I wouldn't spend all day listening to his early work. I'm a Cougar (sounds better than old-fart) and I never thought I would be able to listen to "modern" music, but I can't stop. "Incarcerate" is not just one of my favorite David Cook songs, it's one of my top ten songs, period. "Silver" is close behind. And "The Truth." And.....

I think once the tour is over and life returns to semi-normal and he can get some sleep everything will be fine.

I think the post idol career is when things will get interesting..Truely, because at the moment 'Idol' isn't over...When it is, then watching him will show what he's true dreams and ambitions are!

I don't think David will have problems handling the celebrity aspect. The things counting in his favour most in that respect are:
a) He is very articulate
He is genuine
c) He is intelligent.
d) He is grounded
As he always says - you have to take the show for what it is and what it isn't. Celebrity won't turn his head, although it will alter his lifestyue. I do feel sorry for him in that respect - I think all he really wants is to be able to make music that he can believe in. But I feel he is sure enough of who he is as an artist and a person to do that.

Wow, so many thoughts in here it's hard to process or know how to organize my own! I think AI lucked out to get someone so articulate, genuine and funny to represent them around the world for years to come.

He changed the "game" considerably by winning. What had been ostensibly about pure singing and performing, tainted somewhat with a popularity contest aspect and beauty contest (on that note, anyone else notice this year's group is, overall, quite a good-looking bunch?), was turned on its ear by the presence of a real musician. I had accepted AI for what it was, but had grown bored and quit watching. To see a genuine musician and singer/songwriter up there, knowing I had a chance to be a part of bringing him much deserved recognition, was really exciting and kept me watching. Yeah, I think it has tended to be a beauty/popularity contest, but I'm not sure they'll be able to get away with that any more after him. It would certainly keep me from ever watching again.

I, too, pray he can keep some measure of normalcy in his life, as I think it's one source of his creative genius. He's off to a good start, but I wonder how the constant brutal pace he's on during the tour will affect things. Good thing it's only for a while.

On a completely different note, LastRockette (sorry, don't know your name), I am curious about the last picture in your banner. I have seen it nowhere else. Any idea when that was from? It's one of the better pre-Idol pictures I've seen.

Ahhhhh... yet again Polly has delivered an interesting, articulate and discussion worthy piece of writing.
I'd like to go back for a moment and discuss the notion of Talent Show vs. Beauty Pageant!

Overall, I would say that these shows walk a very fine line between finding talent and mediocre singers who just look the part. For every Leona, Will and David how many Michelle's, Steve's or Taylor's have we had to endure? I believe its just part of the course. That you cannot possibly find amazing star talent, year upon year.

And yes, they do fill the contest with 'Beautiful People'.... but I feel that this has a lot more to do with consumer need than we'd all like to admit. If we're honest with ourselves we all like looking at beautiful things; it is human nature, we hunger to be surounded by all things aesthetic. Whether it be the way we decorate our homes; or the way we landscape our gardens with flowers, we are all trying to add beauty to our lives in some way. On a more personal note, why wear make-up or style your hair if not to make yourself beautiful and to appeal to others?
You could argue that we do this because the media perpetuates these ideals. That we aim to look beautiful because the media tells us we should. If that were the case then what happened before the invention of television or glossy magazines? Throughout history both men and women have idolised beautiful people. The size and shape may change depending on the century/era, but at the end of the day it's still the same thing, with or without the media!

With this said, I am a strong believer that television is a form of escapeism, that we use it as a way to remove ourselves from normality. That we enjoy looking at beautiful people because it makes us feel better. Would we still watch such shows religiously if they were full of 'Ugly' yet talented contestants?