|
|
Why Clay Didn't Win – and Why His Fans Should Be Gladby Cissy Hartley -- 08/04/2003
View Printable version of this article When Simon Fuller and the 19 Entertainment group created Pop Idol in Britain, which was reborn as American Idol in the U.S., it was in the belief that the next big superstar was out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered. The kind of idol they were looking to discover/create was a Britney or a Tiffany (remember her?), a Christina or a Justin. One who would flash quickly on the scene, grab the public consciousness for awhile and then, perhaps, fade from sight after making them a ton of money. Witness the Spice Girls, one of Simon Fuller's early creations – hugely popular, but in retrospect more of a shooting star than a real one. What they weren't looking for was an honest-to-god, take-the-country-by-storm phenomenon that might change pop music as we know it. They weren't looking to change anything. They wanted an idol who would slide seamlessly into the pop music scene as it already existed. It should have come as no surprise, then, in the first auditions for American Idol that some contestants with amazing vocals were dismissed out of hand because they didn't have the right look. Of course, the first AI was successful; 19 Entertainment came out of it with two or three bona fide "pop-stars" with the right look and enough vocal talent to get them noticed. Kelly Clarkson's single and follow-up full-length CD have performed nicely, garnering #1 songs and album that went platinum in a respectable length of time. Tamyra Grey and Justin Guarini have had varying degrees of success, but they're both recognizable and they're making money for 19 and Fuller. And then came AI2. From the very beginning it was a bit different from the first season. On more than one occasion, contestants were allowed through to the next level whose looks would have kept them from Round 2 last year. Ricky Smith, Vanessa Oliverez, Frenchie Davis, Ruben Studdard, Kimberley Locke, and Clay Aiken all had amazing voices, but none of them fit the popstar look that the judges wanted. While the girls especially were criticized because of their weight, in particular it was Clay Aiken's looks that seemed to be a sticking point for Simon Cowell: Initial Audition: "You don't look like a pop star. But you've got a great voice. So now what?" Top 32: "When I look at you, I don't automatically go, 'Yes, you look like the American Idol' because you don't. But you know what? Maybe the public will." Wild Card: "I think perhaps the fact that you don't look like the conventional pop star actually in a way is a good thing because you are so memorable." Over the course of the competition, Simon developed a somewhat schizophrenic response to Clay, by turns telling him "you're the one they've got to beat," then two weeks later, "I'm sorry. Maybe I'm missing the plot here; I'm looking for a future superstar and based on that, I just didn't get it." His hot and cold attitude towards Clay was no doubt fueled by the fact that neither Clay's look nor his voice fit Simon's mental image of a conventional pop idol, perhaps best evidenced by his comments, "I prefer you when I shut my eyes," a point he drove in further the next week when he said, "I just don't see you as what we were looking for originally, which was a great [drowned out by audience booing] a *recording* artist." And so the judges and 19 were facing a real problem. Clay's popularity was growing each week. With every competition, the cheers for Clay got louder and the Clay signs multiplied. Simon Cowell stated publicly on separate occasions that he didn't see how anyone could beat Clay and that he was concerned with how to market Clay if he won because he didn't fit any established genres. It was around this time that there was a noticeable shift on the part of the judges. Ruben, a crowd favorite on par with Clay – or at least close – was marketable. While he too lacked the teen idol looks they were originally searching for, there was at least a precedent for large black men with smooth R&B voices (Luther Vandross, Barry White) to be successful. And so the judges openly picked a favorite and flung him rather ruthlessly at the heads of viewers. Arguably, Ruben was given a free pass in judging from mid-season on. No matter the quality of his voice, which despite his talent fell sharply over the course of the competition, especially in the final three weeks, the judges whispered not a word of criticism. Not even Simon Cowell who normally pounces on weaknesses in a performance with the ferocity of a starving wolf on fresh meat. In interviews toward the end of the series, all three judges picked Ruben to win. And Ruben did win. Despite the fact that Clay's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" blew the roof off the finale and had water coolers buzzing the next day, despite the fact that the cheers for Clay on finale night were noticeably louder than the cheers for Ruben, despite the fact that Clay fans by and large spent three hours hitting a wall of busy signals, Ruben won. Whether that was because he was truly America's choice, or because the judges obviously wanted him to win, or because jammed phone lines didn't allow an accurate vote count, I'm not going to speculate here. But Ruben won and became the American Idol, one who had a ready-made niche available in popular music. Even if he didn't exactly fit the Idol mold 19 had originally been searching for, he didn't stand completely outside it as they'd feared Clay would. And Ruben was obviously a good choice. His first single sold over 250,000 units in its first week and debuted at #2 on the Billboard music charts. A success no matter how you look at it. View Printable version of this article
| Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook! On Twitter, get up to the minute notifications on article postings and other reality TV news. And become a fan on Facebook, join discussions, and more! |
and 
and you can also 
