I have always felt that one of the major problems with American Idol is that at the end of the day, it is a singing competition. There is no emphasis placed on what kind of music these contestants are able to create.
This (IMHO) has led to a plethora of albums by pop singers who look good, sound good, but end up releasing what is for the most part, a bunch of innocuous albums
But as I began watching the show this season (in order to tag my protest video against them) I began to notice that this year the series seems to have had some of the most original sounding contestants that they have ever had. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that Simon Cowell is no longer part of the series. His barometer of good has always been very vanilla and with his exit, has been the exit of so much of the shows cruelty too.
But the real surprise this week though is that three contestants on American Idol (where allowed to) perform their own original songs as part of the competition.
We only got to hear a few bars of these songs (We only got to hear a few bars of the cover songs too, so it's not like there is any bias going on with this), so there is no way to know if these songs are as good as the hits that the other contestants are singing but the genie has been let out of the bottle.
American Idol has finally acknowledged a little thing called song writing
Who knows, they might even start to acknowledge that it's important to the health and long life of music in our popular culture.
Will there be more original songs this season?
I will be curious to see.
Because let's face it. As much as I have despised this show and found it to be denigrating to musicians, A.I. has an enormous impact on the general public. I have always thought that what the music industry and America needs is an American Idol style show that concentrates on finding artists that can not only create a great performance but can CREATE great new music.
American Idol is still not that show yet. But this is a step in the right direction.
Now they just need to stop their discriminating practices and allow the mature artists a chance at "The Dream" too.
UPDATE 03/16/11 : I continue to be impressed with the new direction that the show is taking. The cruelty (and musical narrow mindedness) of the Simon Cowell era really has gone out the window. That's not to say that there isn't criticism. But instead it is professional and constructive and kindly given. Diversity and uniqueness, is being valued over cookie cutter pop singers. This show is no longer about who will be last man standing. It's about using the opportunity to showcase what you can do. Before it was a chore to watch this show (so I could tag my video), Now it's a pleasure to watch it......They still need to take away the age restriction though.
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