Yeoh Siew Hoon joins in the blog buzz over the Idol that didn't go the way most people wanted it to.
America chose, as Ryan Seacrest put it, the guy next door (right) over “the guyliner”. Photo courtesy of americanidol.com
I am sorry. I am going to have to write about American Idol and that surprise (to a lot of people, apparently) victory by boy-next-door Kris Allen over glam rocker Adam Lambert.
The first and obvious conclusion is it doesn’t matter what popularity polls suggest or what expert judges say, in the end, it’s the votes that count – and the wisdom of the crowd, while not always wise, is always mass.
Mass appeal, mass fan base – in Allen’s case, mass church base (read this blog – Kris Allen’s “American Idol” Victory Marks the Return of People of Faith to American Popular Music), mass everything. Mass sells, mass wins votes. Mass, ugh.
Blog buzz, how wrong you are. A Billboard article – Kris Allen Crowned 'American Idol' In Surprise Victory – quotes Nielsen BuzzMetrics as indicating that Adam Lambert has topped Kris Allen in blog buzz by an average of about 51% since both singers made the Top 36 in Feburary.
The same article adds, “And while overall buzz for both has grown as the pool has narrowed, 16% more bloggers mentioned Adam Lambert instead of Kris Allen on May 19 after the final performances aired.
“The pair's Twitter metrics tell a similar story, with tweets mentioning Lambert also consistently outnumbering tweets about Allen by 50%. And just as with blog buzz, tweets about Lambert on May 19 right after the voting for the winner opened outstripped tweets about Allen by 16%.”
Ditto with iTunes downloads – “when an Apple software malfunction in late April temporarily leaked the sales figures to the public, the data counted six of Adam Lambert's studio recordings among the Top 10 "Idol" downloads”.
According to the New York Post, the singer's interpretation of Tears for Fears' “Mad World”, which he performed during Tuesday's final performance night, claimed the No. 1 spot.
Judges too, be silent. Your consistent high praise did Lambert no favours.
Kara DioGuardi, be banished. Your song “No Boundaries” broke the boundary for mass mush, and no one could have sung it without a straight face, certainly not your “rock god” Lambert.
Fear not, Lambert fans. His defeat will be his victory. By not winning the Idol crown, his cache and credibility with his fan base just soared like his vocals when he sang Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.
From the beginning, Lambert didn’t fit the Idol mould. Too edgy, too dramatic, too theatrical, too hard to put in a box. Everytime the judges tried to put him in a box, he jumped out.
In many ways, American Idol, into Season 8 and with its ratings falling – it drew the smallest finale audience (28.8 million vs 32 million last year) since 2004 – needed Lambert more than he needs the show.
The show’s future is in doubt. Simon Cowell, whose contracts ends May 2010, has hinted he may not renew and an AOL Television poll this week found that 49% of "Idol" fans questioned would no longer watch if Cowell leaves.
In reporting the results, the Association Press commented, “Lambert's commanding vocal range and stage presence -- and the judges' lavish adoration -- at times turned Idol into The Adam Lambert Show, with the other contestants mere guests.
“But it turned out that Idol viewers could embrace a gifted performer like Lambert, one who sported black nail polish and bold self-assurance, only to a point."
As for the Idol finale itself, Robert Bianco wrote in USA Today: “If you've ever wondered why a show that's a pop culture phenomenon has never managed to win the Emmy, perhaps it's because it routinely departs with a two-hour special that looks like it was modelled on The Simpsons Family Smile-Time Variety Hour.”
