Who doesn't know American Idol? An American talent reality series that was firstly aired in 2001. As of May 2012, there have been eleven seasons. It reached the highest talent show on TV and had a golden era. The winner of early seasons reached great success in music industry. They have had albums and concerts around the globe. Season one winner, Kelly Clarkson currently holds the record for the highest-selling album sales and concerts around the word, with more than 25 million copies. Whereas season four winner, Carry Underwood currently holds the record for the highest-selling album in the United States, with more than 13 million copies. However, for the past three or four years American Idol is facing a slump due to several reasons, such as the existence of similar talent shows, predictable winners, limited song choices, and unconstructive comments from the judges.
First, compared to all of the similar talent shows, American Idol is left behind. Let’s start with The X Factor. The X Factor is American television competition to find new singing talent. It premiered on September 21, 2011 on Fox. As part of the British X Factor, the show's format has numerous differences from rivals such as American ldol. The competition is open to both solo artists and groups and has no upper age limit. The second similar talent show is The Voice. The Voice premiered on April 26, 2011. It doesn't have the same progress like American Idol. It has three phases for the contender to handle, which are the blind audition, the battle phase, and the live performance. Truth be told, most of the audience's heart lies on these two shows because of the judges. Simon Cowell, X Factor, thanked spectacularly enough that he dumped his loyal sidekick Paula Abdul for the riskiest stock on the market new judges Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. They were confirmed as the new two judges. With Lovato’s charm and the fabulous performance of Spears, how could you not resist? The Voice, a show with cooler celebrity panelists Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton- and better song selections briefly threatened to out buzz Idol but then suffered a ratings drop. Variations keep surfacing - the latest is Duets - but none has captured the public's full imagination.
Second, the winners are predictable, as well as the song choices. The least-watched in the show's history - this year’s ldol story has been the program’s wilting status, a symptom of a larger loss of interest in the singing competition format. But now, Idol and the programs that emulate it have played out at the stories mainstream music once offered. The ingenuine rising innocent obscurity; the contender getting another try; the marginalized person pushing her way into the center - these scripts have been exhausted. The song aren't the only thing repeating; the winners too. Since David Cook earned the American Idol title in season 7, the following season always cited the "white guy with guitar" winners such as Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, and the last winner Philip Philips. Before we say goodbye to the golden era of singing competitions, let's acknowledge Idol’s impact. The same contestants always win; the song choices are predictable. Idol also reshaped the American songbook. More often, extolling the likes of Elton John, Journey and the Diane Warren-era Aerosmith Idol lent legitimacy to music previously dismissed as less than canonical. Today's music which are more popular and interesting can be more challenging for the contestant. It can also attract more audience than the 70s songs. What really seems irrelevant about singing competition now isn't song selection or even the useless advice doled out by the judges. Pop now still may have old-fashioned stars, from Beyonce to Adele; but they aren't taking us into the future. Neither is ldol with its focus on that fixed astral problems.
Finally, the judges' comments are unconstructive. “The judges are so boring this year!" this statement from the American Idol audience is pretty shocking. Since the new judges are more popular and attractive than the previous ones, American thought that it would take its place back to where it used to be- the top. Unfortunately, the idea was backfired. The problem with the judges this year is that they are so bland. Many people thought that Steven would be hilarious and great but he's either bored out of his mind, or he's stoned out of his mind. Neither can tell which. Every performance, no matter how bad or good, his comment was always "beautiful”. None can tell if he had a real opinion or not- many got the impression he didn't even care and didn't really want to be there. Randy is as useless as ever. He's supposed to be the “head judge” now and is trying to be a little meaner to Simon's shoes, but he's pathetically incapable of puling it off. His comments are as pointless and irrelevant as ever, only now he's even more annoying. He overpraised his favorites shamelessly and didn’t offer enough criticism to bad performances. Surprisingly, the best judge was J-Lo, who actually does offer constructive criticism. She was sweet to everyone and considers their feelings. She was like a less wacky Paula or a less annoying Kara. However, like Steven, she really never had anything bad to say to anyone. In fact, many people are chasing after the British gentleman Simon Cowell after his runaway to The X Factor. It is true that Cowell gave nasty, unconstructive things to kids just to achieve their dreams. At times, he showed he really had a big heart behind all the bluster, and past contestants have talked about how generous with his money he was - and how he gave a lot away to charity and helped out people in need. More than anything else, he was brutally honest. He could be mean but he never pretended he liked your performance – if he didn’t.
In conclusion, the slump of American Idol is caused by similar talent shows on TV, stereotype winners, and the limited numbers of long choices.
By Irena Arifa Khairunnisa
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