I have had an idea for an article for a bit now, but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly how to frame everything. Don't mind the ramble as I try to get some focus.
My main argument is that the real product of American Idol is not the artists, but their audience. Most of the people who end up as finalists in the competition are at least talented singers trying to become recording artists or artists who are trying to break into the industry. Adam is definitely the latter. Lil Rounds is an example of the former.
I just can't figure out how to go from there.
Most of it is the fact that the audience, not the judges, are the ones who decide who continues and who goes home. But so much of the results of that vote depends on who is voting. And I wasn't watching at the time, so I don't know how I would have voted. I think I would have voted for Adam because he was consistent and was doing rock, which is my preference. I probably would have also voted for Allison because she was just as awesome as Adam and she was so young to be pulling it off.
But I know part of what I need to talk about is how the show works and what it does and doesn't do for the artists. It's clear that they have freedom to do what they want, within the boundaries of budget, rights, and network television standards, which leaves them a lot of room. Also, since they're being prepared to become recording artists, working within a budget and the expectations of the audience isn't a bad thing to learn.
Outside of that, what song they choose, the arrangement, the performance, how they connect with the audiences--in studio and at home--is all up to them. Everyone on Idol knew Adam was gay, but he never said it on the show. No one pressured him to go either way with that. He's said he used some of his own wardrobe for performances. There's a lot of evidence for that, but how do I tie it into my argument? Right now I'm just thinking that it ties in because the finalists are showing the artist they are. Really, their weekly performances are like teasers for their eventual tour.
Something the tour after the show does even more. Just wating Adam's performances on the tour show us what he'll be like on a solo tour. Hmm. I hadn't thought about the live tour... He goes even more glam on the Idol tour and is more sexual and explicit as well. You can tell he was holding back a little in his performances on the show because it was network television, which he tends to do on performances for network television (AMAs not included). I may have to see if I can find clips of other contestants perfomring, epecially those cut before the top 5, to see how their tour persona differs from their TV persona.
The thing that keeps tripping me up are the judges. I know that I need to address their role in the show, but I'm not sure how they fit into the whole forming an audience argument. One week they loved Matt G and he ended up in the bottom 3, and I agreed with them that he shouldn't have been there. The next week they critiqued him across the board and he was safe. The judges' opinions and critiqes are a part of the show, but their influence on the audience is something I can't figure out how to address. Maybe I can try to find people's online posts from that time about the judges' feedback.
Or maybe that's the angle. That while the judges give feedback, it doesn't necessarily affect the audience's opinion of the contestants. While Adam rarely got negative feedback, he was only in the bottom 3 once, and that was after praise from the judges.
My other problem is that what started this was my understanding of the theory metaculture. Maybe I need to start with that part first and then build everything else off it. American Idol is a great text to analyze using metaculture, from what it does for the contestants to its relationship to the audience. And as I type this I realize that's a good approach to this.
Now if I could just do this for my dissertation!
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