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We’re going to be talking the rest of the auditions and into Hollywood. Schedule pending.
Just like with his debut, Cook came into his second album with a somewhat unique burden. He had proven, on his debut 19E release (read our review here), that the new era of American Idol identifying some of its acts as artists wouldn’t translate into fully-formed artistic product per se. As such, a second question arose; free from the need to rush an album out of the gate while doing the large Idol tour, could a contestant on Idol create such a product for their sophomore debut? The answer was a long time coming, actually; David Archuleta, who had come in second to Cook and had decidedly not been given the “artist” designation, managed to release a Christmas album and another album entirely before Cook released “This Loud Morning”, almost three years after his self-titled debut.
The answer to that question is somewhat more involved than evaluating whether or not he had lived up to the burden attached to his debut, in his credit. Indeed, this album holds up in various ways that its predecessor did not. Cook and his team put a lot of emphasis on “coherence” in promoting the album, and it turns out that wasn’t an empty threat. However, while this is preferred to a bunch of tracks thrown together without a lot of design, it isn’t a measure of artistic success per se. On that count, how did “This Loud Morning” turn out? Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone who payed even relatively close attention to Season 11 on American Idol should remember James Durbin’s war cry to “Bring Back Metal!” Anyone who had payed any attention to the history of rock-affiliated contestants on Idol had more than a right to be skeptical; every such contestant had debuted with material that, at the least, felt somewhat watered down. Metal, certainly, seemed to be a long-shot. Partially, this is attribution by relationship; genre is felt and understood through the audience it connects with as much as the sonic atmosphere it creates, meaning that even an album featuring an onslaught of guitars and the kind of relentless fury that defines metal would be dismissed. But it was also unlikely that Durbin was really going to make a “metal” record anyway; it’s important to note that even though he ended up signing with Wind-Up Records and not something more obviously pop-oriented, even they had by this point been making money off of acts like Seether and Finger Eleven. Rock radio has been dominated by the compromises that have made up the post-grunge sound, and an undeveloped novice off of American Idol was not going to change that habit.
And, sure enough, this album really is to be judged by standards that aren’t so different than one might evaluate a David Cook or a Daughtry. However, it has to be noted that this album is indeed a compromise, rather than a complete sublimation of the artist. Both in imagery and in sound, the album is closer affiliated to “harder” rock than any “American Idol” release that comes to mind, and there’s something to be celebrated in that. That the album is comparatively distinguished is a good thing; that the machine is at least willing to make more distinctive sounds is good even if they are derivative. That said, with the state of modern rock being as it is, does this lead to an album that is good or a complete disaster? Read the rest of this entry »
Kelly Clarkson, American Idol’s first star and artist, was notably unique in that she managed to achieve something of a pop persona that wasn’t defined by the lowest common denominator of the genre. Sure, people forget that at her artist beak with “Breakaway”, she was really competing with Ashlee Simpson as far as material goes. But, at the least, Kelly managed to really become the best of her field, becoming a populist, female-empowering icon in a way that wouldn’t have been expected from her fairly-rote run on “Idol” itself, managing to have enough vision, guts, and taste to at least push forward into an artistic semblance in her own right.
Ever since that break, she’s differentiated from that original everywoman persona, most notably when she released the darker, more intense “My December”. However, that persona is still what dominates Kelly’s image, and it’s hard not to see “Stronger” as an attempt to utilize that pop construction to full effect. There are plenty of angry kiss-off songs all over this album, as one might hope from any decent Kelly Clarkson release. Tactically, it’s hard not to think of this as a smart decision, because that really is where Kelly has generally thrived and been able to really excel in a way that none of her peers really could, no matter how much they could try. (It’s telling that on “All I Ever Wanted”, Kelly was able to take a couple of cuts from Katy Perry and do better than the original just on that basis alone.)
However, even though it was a good idea, the actual product falls flat because it is desperately live up to an ideal persona without actually developing or diversifying that persona in particularly powerful ways. In doing so, it flirts heavily with self-parody, even if rarely goes that low. Plus, it misses two important points about Kelly; despite being angry, she hasn’t prior to this come off as overly forced in that anger, and her likability was always the important offset that ran through all of her material, whether it was dark or light. It was hard to dislike the woman. Read the rest of this entry »
Kellie Pickler’s charm, to date, has largely been her personality, often accused of being a put-on but nonetheless considered charming enough to carry her material with the kind of on-record presence that’s so often lacking from post-show product. Her best work has been Dolly Parton-inspired, ranging from flirty (see “Red High Heels”) to deliciously catty (see “Rocks Instead of Rice”, which, if you haven’t heard it yet, is just awesome). However, her eponymous album (“Rocks” and a couple of others aside) seemed to go out of its way to cast Kellie as the kind of pop-country diva that has seen some serious commercial success. This, as many called out right away, was an obvious miscalculation; Pickler’s talents are more in her recording personality than in her range, and while sentiment wasn’t off the table per se it wasn’t as if anything in Kellie’s personality or her inspirations seemed to suggest that this could work on anything but a commercial level (and it didn’t really on that).
This makes Kellie Pickler’s decision to make a neotraditional country album a touch frightening, given the track record. As far as recording albums go, it takes a lot more sustained effort and musical development to handle material that’s pretending to be Patsy Cline rather than material that’s trying to be Faith Hill. And if as there is evidence that Kellie’s attempts at being the latter weren’t particularly high quality, there wasn’t any suggesting she could really do much of the former. She did have more recording skill in endeavors that weren’t simply technical, but demonstrated on a rather limited range of songs. Plus, when an artist who does a particularly type of pop decides to make a “personal” album, the results are often mixed in one way or another. Read the rest of this entry »
Lauren Alaina was supposed to be the prime example of the pageant bot. Entering “American Idol” at a much heralded 15-years of age and seemingly having been bred in an actual karaoke bar, there wasn’t really a lot of indication that Lauren would make much of a recording presence. Her voice had a nice range and some appealing textures from the start, but the background was so damning that she was pretty much doomed to the knock of lacking any artistic mentality or skill from the start. “American Idol” has a long and sordid history of contestants who performed on the pageant circuit who proved the rule, often providing the fodder for the show. An overly precocious presentation didn’t exactly help her cause either, nor did a bizarrely fictionalized arc from the show about her confidence.
However, on her way to the Top 2 of the competition (not itself an indication of artistic merit), Alaina did manage to establish a stylistic direction for herself fairly smoothly; country-pop best thought of in terms of the Dixie Chicks, realistically thought of in terms of Sarah Evans (covered by the contestant on the show), and worst thought of in terms of Carrie Underwood. Indeed, Alaina namechecked Underwood plenty, which reaffirmed the pageant slam. On the other hand, Alaina also had some fairly subdued performances that spoke the better potential of her voice as far as being a recording presence went. By the end, it was a toss-up as to which direction. Read the rest of this entry »
David Cook’s self-titled release, it should be remembered, actually came with a little bit of gravity that usually isn’t afforded releases from American Idol winners. As the declared winner of the first season that exhibited “artistry” (though the term would only be really used in full by the show during the next season), the debut came with a couple of different questions. Namely, in this “brand new version” of Idol, would the debut albums created by winners exceed the quality level that had proceeded them, which had been blandly crafted non-events at best? Could the first album released after an American Idol win actually constitute art?
Basically, “David Cook” did little to change that overall perception. “Artistry” proved to matter little long-term to critics of Idol’s product, who basically charged that the CD and most, if not all, proceeding continued to be dominated by personality-draining songcraft and by soundscapes that had the life mercilessly picked out of them. I’ve agreed with these critics for a long time. But did “David Cook” get a fair shake?
Here’s the catch; “David Cook” actually is not as far off the mark from its genre median than its background would suggest. The sound is at no point distinctive, but as far as radio-oriented post-grunge goes, the arrangements were largely suited fine. In fact, it actually has a problem that’s a genre hallmark; the songs themselves are constructed distinctively enough, but largely bland out over a sustained listen. By the time “David Cook” introduces a piano ballad, you’d be forgiven for believing you had listened to 2 regular songs and 1 really long song. And even then, doesn’t feel any less monotonous. Read the rest of this entry »
The discussions around Scotty McCreery’s American Idol run were often a misguided affair, both from the perspective of his advocates and his detractors. At the very least, they don’t particularly play out on his debut record. For example, many of his online detractors would often call him out for having a limited range, which became a general knock against him; as a matter of speaking, McCreery rarely sounds overly strained or unable to execute his chosen material. (This should be all that matters.) And while there may be questions as to his stage presence and facial expressions, obviously none of that actually affects the quality of his songs.
On the other hand, the excessive platitudes about McCreery don’t really hold up either. One of them is frankly ludicrous. The notion that Scotty McCreery was ever going to make a “classic” country album directly from the offices of 19E defies the logic of the Idol machine on any number of levels. And on “Clear as Day”, the arrangements are almost all soft, almost sleepy, contemporary country-pop. The only deviation from the formula is where a touch of rock is added to the guitars (“You Make That Look Good”), which isn’t exactly a step away from contemporary country trends.
The other, more interesting, claim is that Scotty McCreery was an expert storyteller. To begin with, Idol isn’t exactly a venue for storytelling per se. Its contestants are supposed to make their musical impact within 90-second shots, making the impressions about the singers at best about their musical personalities rather than their ability to deliver a song through that personality. But McCreery was given ample room to prove this ability on his full-length recording debut, where most (if not all) song are full-fledged narratives, though hardly exciting or insightful ones as a lot. Read the rest of this entry »
“Now That’s Artistry!” is the official first series of articles posted on Karaoke Hell. As of writing, I think doing most of them, but am not against others pitching in philosophically. That said, of all of the elements of the blog, it’s mine more than anything. So let me explain what I’m doing and why.
The shows covered by Karaoke Hell (again, as of writing) all claim to have recording business aspirations. PR machines often praise the show as finding the next great recording superstar. Television judges, critics big and small, and even the contestants themselves harp on “marketability”. And the distinction between pre-show and post-show musical aspirations and success, but much less often quality, are talked about at significant length. It’s perhaps the most prominent theme throughout the entire viewing experience, though your mileage may vary as to who is doing the selling.
Obviously, this is at some level a fallacy; these shows have far more in practice and in form with variety shows than anything that involves recording music. Contestants are perceived, both during their appearance and post-appearance, as television personalities at least as much as musical personalities, and more often than not the former. Music is heard and distributed in the form of televised live singing, which has a fairly tangential relationship to singing as a general matter and even thinner relationship to singing on a record. (What a televised show can even perceive as singing is fairly limited, but that shall be addressed another time) As they operate, these shows are soap operas about the music industry, with about all the obfuscation that implies.
So Karaoke Hell wants to address this question; what recorded music are these shows making? What is the relationship between one’s presence on a reality TV show and the music that is produced? What kind of music is stifled by the genre (in the form of eliminated contestants)? Is any of it any good? And why should recorded music care about these shows, and if so how should it feel about it?
KARAOKE HELL. What sort of mental images do these two words conjure in your mind? A gaggle of Dell co-workers crooning the greatest hits of ABBA, whilst lacquered off their asses on two Corona Lites? Satan hosting a Halloween shindig, where Bundy & Dahmer are dueting on “Summer Lovin’”? Well, as gnarly as either one of those indubitably sound…much like the first season of The X Factor USA, you’re in for a colossal disappointment.
In fact, Karaoke Hell is the brainchild of an eccentric (see: jubilantly batshit) young gay couple, primed towards a more introspective assessment of the abundant reality singing competition franchises. With the assistance of a colorful assortment of cohorts along the way, we shall eschew the “sacred cow mentality” that consumes the banal minds of the Idol purists, who crave a retrogression to the glorious days of pre-artistry. (Not to mention the heyday of Botoxicus Manboobula, otherwise known professionally as Simon Cowell.) Unfortunately, this website and its creators owe a slight debt to Cowell; after all, his redundant reiterations were the inspiration for our beloved title!…Naturally though, we’ll never inform him of such.
It’s uncertain to us when the first time Cowell used the term “karaoke hell” was; after all, he tends to recycle any number of terms. (This blog could have been named after a drag queen cruise ship or a Portuguese cabaret.) The most infamous moment, however, (or at least within the insular fantard community) was when he described David Cook’s version of “Always Be My Baby” on Mariah Carey night as “like coming out of karaoke hell and into a breath of fresh air”. Alas, by reading this blog and the vast majority of links that might direct you here, you are probably deep in karaoke hell as it is, so far from a breath of fresh air you’re probably suffocating and don’t even know it. (If you aren’t, one word: run.)
Alas, while we’re stuck here in this fresh new hell created by some guy named Simon (but not Cowell, actually…the other one), we might as well make the best of it. And if we look really hard, maybe we’ll even discover something interesting about people, music, television, and/or history. If we just waste a lot of time, well, that’s OK, too. But the point of Karaoke Hell is to explore the breadth of singing shows on national TV, in spite of all the other better things to do with our lives.
The base of this project will be the major network TV singing shows: American Idol, The X-Factor, and The Voice. International versions may be included for compare and contrast as well (or at least the English-language factions). Should personal time permit, a more general exploration of the history and trends of shows explicitly about music on television might factor in somehow, along with the topics they bring up. Of course, in addition, we will be addressing some of the music (and “music”) generated by these shows after the reality TV bubble bursts. And ideally, we’ll grow from there. However, we don’t want to overestimate what will be occurring here; nobody is insinuating this will be a full-time occupation for our authors (including ourselves). That being said, with your participation in sharing your opinions with us and spreading the word to wrangle more readers, you will contribute to the future of this offbeat venture. And with any luck, our vision of establishing an endearingly scathing web locale with its own unique voice in this everlasting realm will come to fruition.
