1. There's no obvious front-runner
One girl pulled a tuning fork out of her shoe. Another had a squeaky, helium-high voice that made season 5 urchin Paris Bennett sound like Isaac Hayes. One guy was so obsessive during auditions that he took copious notes about each contestant, his or her song choices, and each judge's reaction. There's even a contender named — boy, we hope we're spelling this right — Chiquini. The one element that's missing as we enter season 6? A sure thing.
''Occasionally someone like Carrie Underwood or Fantasia walks in,'' Cowell says, ''and you just absolutely know [they] could win. This year, I think it's going to be more like season 1, not as obvious. I really hope that, actually.'' Which is not to say that the judges don't have a couple of early favorites. Jackson cryptically predicts the winner will be ''someone with curly hair,'' while Cowell is eyeing two strong contenders: ''One guy who stands out in the crowd and has what I call the likability factor. He's not what I would call the typical American Idol because he's different... but everyone liked him.'' (Actually, that didn't seem to hurt Ruben Studdard. Or Clay Aiken. Or even Taylor Hicks.) The other is ''one girl who's got an incredible voice... but not much personality at the moment.''
No personality?! No excuse. Serious hopefuls have had five years to study at American Idol University, and they should know that a snooze-inducing persona will buy them a one-way ticket to Crushed Dreamsville. (How's the weather there, Trenyce?) As such, says Idol host Ryan Seacrest, ''this is a very intense year. These are the savviest contestants we've ever seen. There's aggression, intensity, a bit of every man or woman for himself or herself. They don't care about making friends. They want to make money.''
They also want a reaction from Simon, but now they aren't so quick to take his criticism. ''With Simon getting it wrong regarding Taylor, it's ammunition for the contestants,'' says exec producer Nigel Lythgoe. ''If Simon says 'I don't like you,' now they say, 'I don't give a s---. You didn't like Taylor last year.'''
2. Auditions hit all-time lows
Idol fans fall into two camps: those who live for the season-opening weeks of early tryouts, when William Hung types crawl out from under their rocks and shame themselves, and those who wait until the top 12 are chosen so they can watch them blow their pipes each week. Fan of the former variety? Brace yourself for some new lows. ''Season 6 has the most delusional people I've ever seen,'' says Abdul. ''If people love that part of the show, they'll love this season.'' And they'll be positively besotted with the city of Seattle, which Lythgoe says ''stands out as possibly the worst city I've ever seen for crazies. Maybe they're drinking too much coffee.''
The lack of talent wasn't the only thing in the Pacific Northwest that made early auditions so excruciating. Three guest panelists — Olivia Newton-John, Jewel, and Grammy-winning songwriter Carole Bayer Sager — were invited to help make judgment calls, and Cowell wasn't having it. ''It's rather like having a dinner party for four people you know very well,'' he says, ''and then somebody says there's a fifth person you don't know. One year, we're going to say to [the producers], 'We'd like someone to work with you for a while. We don't think you're doing a good enough job.''' According to Warwick, things were so awkward that Bayer Sager, who was ''really quite subdued,'' could have most of her critiques edited out. (When reached for comment, Bayer Sager said she was ''very happy'' with the experience.) ''Lovely lady,'' Warwick says, ''but how can I put this nicely? She didn't add much.'' Wow — guess somebody's out of the running for the finale song. Which brings us to this season's most controversial new element...
3. The songwriting competition
Purists agree that last year's finale — featuring Prince, Mary J. Blige, and that painfully awkward Claymate who nearly fainted on live TV — was a high point for the entire series. But all that brilliance came to an ear-bleeding halt when Hicks was forced to sing the dreadfully sappy ''Do I Make You Proud.'' Sure, his winning version debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart a month later, but as Cowell gleefully admits, ''that song was horrific.''
Producers agreed. This year, they're planning a national songwriting contest to determine a winning single; the competition, which is not yet finalized, is slated to be open to anyone — signed or unsigned — who submits a tune to a to-be-named website. That is, if the show's executives can work out the specifics.
''The short list of songs will be [chosen by] the three judges and the producers,'' predicts Warwick. But Lythgoe says the judges should have nothing to do with the final choice. His solution? ''I would love to do two or three shows with past Idol contestants singing the songs, and then have America judge the songs,'' he says. ''But that is not confirmed with Fox yet.''
The judges are none too happy at the prospect of being cut out of the song-selection process. ''People always ask, 'Why did you pick that song?''' Abdul says. ''It's weird. We have everything to do with the rest of the season and nothing to do with the final song.'' Lythgoe's response? ''They're on hand to judge singing. It's unfair to knock the final song. Randy does it more than anyone else, probably because he only says five words over and over all season. We send him a dictionary every Christmas, but he doesn't read it.''
Whichever side emerges victorious, two facts remain: The most popular finale song was season 1's ''A Moment Like This,'' and that was the one winning Idol tune that Cowell — who's since been booted from the selection committee — personally commissioned. (He's releasing it again as the first single for Leona Lewis, winner of U.K. sensation The X Factor.) ''It's no skin off my nose,'' he shrugs, ''but if I hate [the song] I'm going to say it.'' Why do we have a sinking suspicion he's not going to love the songs America comes up with? ''I guarantee the songs submitted will have the words blessed and proud in them. 'I'm blessed to be proud.' 'I'm proud to be blessed.''' And Randy's thoughts? ''Finding a hit song at any time is one of the hardest things in the world. I wouldn't want to be the guy looking through them all.''
4. The finalists just might meet a Beatle
We've come a long way since nebbishy Paul Anka coached Clay Aiken on performance technique. Last year's roster of guest stars included Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder mentoring finalists for Tuesday-night performances — and then singing their own hits the following evening, which exposed them to a new, non-AARP audience and reaped huge sales gains for their latest albums. Expect more marquee names as season 6 progresses, and if all goes according to plan, look for them to reach an epic scale. Confides Cowell, ''Everyone wants Paul McCartney, and there's a chance this year. It would be fantastic to do the Beatles songbook.'' Jackson, who's always boasting about his connections, says he's finally ready to start calling in some favors: ''I don't cross my Idol life and my producer life that much, but I may call Mariah this season and say, 'Yo, come on, dude. Get in this game.'''
Producers won't confirm any names, citing the hellish logistics it can take to get a top performer through the stage door. ''You'd be amazed how many big names we turned down that didn't want to work with the kids,'' says Warwick. ''People phone up saying, 'I'll perform on Wednesday, but that's it.' Record labels try to get some of these arrogant stars to work with the kids, and we just say no.'' Of course, big demands and bigger egos won't stop Lythgoe, who has one notoriously hard-to-reach singer on his wish list.
That's quite interesting!! I really hope that season six is a good season.
I would like to see them shake things up a bit more... and be a lot less predictable. Do something that they don't normally do, and make the contestants, and even us fans go... "Whoa... didn't see that coming."
This very last sentence... who is it that they want on the show???
quote:
Of course, big demands and bigger egos won't stop Lythgoe, who has one notoriously hard-to-reach singer on his wish list.
:::>^..^<::: ~*~The Journey is more important than the end or the start~*~ :::>^..^<:::
''Some singers do contact us, but generally the ones you really, really want don't. I can't see Barbra Streisand calling [and] saying, 'Hey, Nigel, maybe I could come on.''' But if she does, we officially request an all-Yentl soundtrack week.
01-05-2007 05:42 AM
