We might just have seen the next American Idol tonight at the Louisville, Ky., auditions. We certainly saw our first great “A Star is Born” moment of the season with the audition in the closing spot of 18-year-old Leneshe Young, who brought charisma, major vocal talent and a tearjerker story about her homeless past. (Oddsmakers note, however, that only in one case — that of Fantasia Barrino, has a tearjerker candidate actually won the “Idol” crown. The 3-6 slots is more usually their final destination.) Louisville also saw a handful of other very plausible contenders for the upper ranks, including Alexis Grace and Matt Giraud.
It was interesting to see the show grab the ringer issue by the horns this year, in the case of Joanna Pacitti, the girl who we were instantly informed had had an A & M recording contract. (Actually the full story of her background is much more extensive than that.) It is likely that the show is attempting to spare Joanna the ordeal endured by the greatest performer in “Idol” history, Carly Smithson, who came under brutal attack when her recording past dripped out after she had been accepted to the show.
I for one am of the belief that having had a past in the industry — especially one that includes disappointments and setbacks — makes an Idol’s story all the richer, and the redemption all the sweeter, if one is willing to cast aside the fairy tale that no one who auditions had ever been heard singing outside their shower before. I would go further and say that “Idol” eligibility should be opened up to everyone; that “American Idol,” the biggest form of entertainment in the universe, should be about finding the best living singer to make a star — either a new or a reborn one. When selecting our singing dictator we should have all options at our disposal; if David Lee Roth and Suzanne Vega, looking to revive their careers, want to throw their hats in the ring, let them. They must know that should they lose to a bank teller from Nebraska, they will never be able to show their faces at Clive Davis’ house again, but that is the chance they take and bully to them if they are willing to risk it all.
More important, however, these audition episodes are the starting point for a national conversation about sanity — specifically, our attempt to define where is the line between insanity and mere self-delusion. If people are merely narcissistic, but their narcissism is so deep that it blinds them to the fact that they are about to humiliate themselves before tens of millions, doesn’t that narcissism become an actual handicap? If people are so in love with themselves that they are able to degrade themselves unwittingly on such a grand scale, what else are they capable of? Thinking a red traffic light has no right to talk to them? Believing God will protect them from the rain during a hurricane and going outside naked?
It is also worth examining — if we produce this many dangerous narcissists and Simon Cowell is only able to set straight a few dozen of them each season — what society is doing about the millions of others who walk the streets — among us!– smiling coyly to themselves knowing that their vocal prowess destines them to superstardom? How many hours of productivity does the nation lose each day to these people? And if the Obama administration is serious about addressing the root causes of ills of American society, can it afford to look away from this problem? Can’t our new president at least ask his surgeon general to step in and declare where stands the clinical line between comically thinking you are a good singer and being actually ill?
So many questions as “American Idol” holds a mirror to our society. Many questions, and yet, so few answers.
– Richard Rushfield
Photo: Fox
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