American Idol's Search for the Next Carrie or Kelly (But Not Sanjaya)
by
Shawna Malcom
If ever we needed American Idol, it's now. With the ongoing writers' strike chipping away at prime time, the return of Fox's phenomenally successful competition on Jan.15 couldn't come at a better time. Here, we present a few other reasons Season 7 will be music to your ears.
1) The talent is stronger than ever.
As perpetually cranky judge Simon Cowell says, "In my opinion, this is the most talented bunch we've ever had." This season, the talent pool is so deep Sanjaya could never stay afloat. Sure, the vocally challenged, oddly coiffed teen was amusing, but he was also emblematic of what many considered to be the show's weakest season to date. "Last year just wasn't good enough," Cowell says bluntly. Even perpetually positive judge Paula Abdul was underwhelmed: "I don't remember hardly anyone [from] last year."
It's not that Season 6 didn't have a vocal powerhouse or two: Melinda Doolittle and winner Jordin Sparks could belt with the best of 'em. But they failed to capture the public's imagination like past Idols — and subsequent chart-toppers — Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry. (Sparks' debut CD sold a disappointing 119,100 copies its first week, and Doolittle has yet to score a record deal.) "Even though we had talented kids," sums up executive producer Ken Warwick, "there was not quite the buzz or magic [of previous seasons]."
But someone seems to have sprinkled pixie dust over Season 7. Randy Jackson explains, "It's not, 'Let me do what the judges want or what I think the public wants because I wanna be like Justin Timberlake or Mariah.' These kids have a lot of individuality." Adds Cowell, "You can tell they've developed their own sound rather than just going to a ton of karaoke bars."
As far as Abdul can tell, there's just one downside to packing so much talent into one season. "Simon likes having a punching bag," she points out, "and [this year] Simon's having to say to the kids, 'You're brilliant.' So it'll be interesting to see how he does without a punching bag. Although," she says with a sly smile, "he'll still have me."
2) America has not yet exhausted its supply of tone-deaf wannabes.
By now, Idol's cringe-inducing audition period is legendary, as much a draw for viewers as the potential for catching that first glimpse of a future superstar. And Season 7, despite all its "brilliant" talent, also promises its fair share of the shockingly bad. "Every year you think you've seen it all — the funniest, the daftest, the craziest, the worst," Warwick says. "And every year, that door opens and in comes somebody who's funnier, crazier and worse." (Idol certainly had a first when a contestant in Dallas went into labor while waiting to audition.) Of the 100,000 hopefuls who tried out across the country — from Charleston, South Carolina, to this year's strongest city, San Diego — Warwick says he repeatedly found himself asking one question: "What on earth kind of life has this person lived to make them the way they are?!"
But host Ryan Seacrest insists Idol ambition is frighteningly real — and he's got the battle scars to prove it. "One girl was a female wrestler," he recalls, wincing. "She was about four times my size. I asked her to show me a move, and she literally knocked me down to the ground. I had some big bruises from that."
Still, it's the inspirational contestants with hard-luck stories that Seacrest predicts will hit Idol fans the hardest. "There are a couple guys who have hard-labor 9-to-5 jobs," he says. "One guy's a roofer, and he wants more than anything to be up on that stage. People are gonna be blown away by these contestants."
3) The judges (and the host) are as tightly wound as ever.
Witness this exchange. Abdul: "I'm the nurturing mom who breast-feeds these kids; Simon's the disapproving dad. They come off the nipple and never say, 'Thank you.' They go, 'Daddy, please pat me on the back.'" Cowell: "Paula's possibly more out of touch than she's ever been in her life."
Such chemistry, of course, makes for some of Idol's most watercooler-worthy moments. It also made for a rollickingly rambunctious time on the road. In Miami, Jackson took to the DJ booth when the judges and Seacrest went clubbing together. In Philadelphia, a luxury-car dealership lent the boys a fleet of cars, including an Aston Martin and Lamborghini. Abdul, feeling a little left out, retaliated with some wicked pranks. "I short-sheeted their beds," she reports proudly. "I hid in their closets with my camera phone. And once, I made sure Simon got a hotel room [so small] the door hit the bed."
American Idol's Search for the Next Carrie or Kelly (But Not Sanjaya) - TV Guide Magazine Cover Story | TVGuide.com
Linear Mode
