There's something that is preventing me from copying and pasting your comments at the moment, so I'll just have to answer in a more random way.
It seems that Idol is becoming less about singing and music, and more about production, as well as about reality TV tricks, gimmicks, and so forth. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
I never saw the first three or four seasons of AI, but I did see CI Season 2, that used a track. I know some of the singers from that season have talked about how they disliked singing to a track. Obviously your accompaniment should follow you, when you're singing - you shouldn't have to follow it.
I do kinda wonder if they're actually interested in music, though.
I wonder the same thing. Maybe that's why some of them talk about nothing but numbers. I do think for a lot of people writing on boards about Idol, enjoyment of music doesn't seem to be the main thing behind their interest. I also don't get the whole "singing without instruments is purity" thing. Because unless people are singing a capella,
someone is accompanying them.
Myself, I never liked American Idol until the recent seasons. To me, it wasn't really listenable music. It was very contrived - the music, and the show - and I think I needed someone to cut though all that in order for me to like it. To me it's a pleasure to see a performer connect to the music in such a way that the performer and music come together and make the trappings around them superfluous, even ridiculous. Because they transcend this stuff, and make honest, real music that is not about American Idol, the TV show, at all.
Though many have been impressed by the way some idols have used stagecraft to enhance their performances, this is the anithesis of what impresses me. What impresses me is when you can connect completely, as a singer and musician, without having to resort to cheap theatrical effects to dress up your performance.
Thanks for the info about Slezak. I still didn't get what was going on in a lot of that video - it was either a lot of inside joking or else I hadn't seen enough of the Idolatry stuff to get what they were referring to.
I'll definitly watch them on the new website.
YouTube - Kris Allen - Everybody Wants To Rule The World/The Way You Make Me Feel (Live)