The blogs and TV this morning are all talking about the “shocking upset” on AI. I was not shocked. I predicted that Kris would take the whole thing. Here are some of the reasons I saw this coming:
1) Adam is incredibly talented and I enjoy watching him perform, but not everyone does. I like Axl Rose and Geddy Lee too (who have similar singing styles to Adam), but not everybody does. A lot of people don’t like to listen to it. There are others who enjoy watching Adam perform but who say they wouldn’t necessarily buy a record by him. Kris proved himself, I think, to be more marketable as a recording artist.
2) Danny’s fans were very passionate. Many of them were very vocal in their hatred of Adam. On the top three show, only 1 million votes separated Adam and Kris. With Danny gone, his fans switched their votes to Kris. How many were voting for Kris or simply against Adam is impossible to tell.
3) I don’t think the young women who constitute the majority of Idol voters were ready for a non-traditional eyeliner-wearing pop idol. Kris has the look of a pop star. Looks have played a role in the pop idol business going all the way back to Frank Sinatra and his bobby-soxer fans.
Kris will be a bankable recording artist for the producers of AI, which is what they want. Adam will be hugely successful too. He will have a career on the stage à la Clay Aiken or go on tour for the next 1,000 years like Cher. Or maybe with Cher. Or maybe as Cher . . .
2 responses so far ↓
1 Cap'n // May 21, 2009 at 13:33
Well, I “ditto” your analysis (and it is hard for me to be a “ditto head”).
I read somewhere that Kris got 38 million votes from Arkansas, his home state! That plus many of the Gokey votes obviously went a long way toward winning.
Some random observations of last night:
1) Kyle Peek (David Cook’s drummer) reminds me of Animal, drummer in the Muppet Show Band.
2) I thought Allison was Lauperesque, and gosh darn it, Cyndi showed up to sing with her.
3) I’m still in shock over how a number of people were shod. Adam’s “Herman Munster” shoes: priceless!
4) The makeup doesn’t fool me, KISS has gotten rolly polly.
5) Hey, Hasselhoff was in the audience, and it occurred to me: Kris reminds one of Billy Warlock, “Baywatch” sidekick. If things don’t work out in the music biz . . .
2 Cap'n // May 23, 2009 at 15:41
That 38 million figure has been retracted.
Where WAS my usual skepticism of entertainment news outlets? Everybody in Arkansas is probably still using rotary phones, anyhoo, which couldn’t have added up to that kind of vote.
Might have been a closer than Ruben/Clay.
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