DeWyze Wins the Idol Penant
Friday, May 28th, 2010 | American Idol, Concerts
So there you have it, Lee DeWyze is in, and Simon Cowell is out. The Season Finale of American Idol this past Tuesday and Wednesday was more of a Simon Cowell Graduation Party, perhaps because everyone knows the show is toast without Simon. Simon calls it as he sees it, and for that he will be missed. Lee DeWyze is a good guy and that is why many including me are glad he won. I do not think his post-Idol career will be as absolutely tepid as Michael Cook and Kris Allen before him. We will know as soon as he releases a record whether he is the genuine article or a manufactured star like Cook and Allen, who have proven that a good voice is not enough outside the cover-band circuit.
The Producers of American Idol seemed to be purposfully trying to make the show less cool last week. The musical guests included Hall and Oats, Michael McDonald from the Doobie Brothers, and versions of Joe Cocker and Poison’s Brett Michaels that made one consciously aware of his or her own mortality. It reminded me of watching 247 year old Dick Clark bring in the New Year in Time’s Square. It is somewhat depressing to see in full relief where we are all headed, as the aging game cannot be won. Michael McDonald has not been relevant since he was parodied in the comedy film 40 Year Old Virgin.
By making DeWyze sing U2′s “Beatiful Day” his departing anthem it seemed as though Idol producers had sealed DeWyze’s fate as the loser. The song is too new to be redone, and DeWyze was powerless to make it better, as he did, for example, with Simon and Garfunkle’s “The Boxer.” Singing “Beautiful Day” he reminded me of a high school kid in a talent show. It was too bad for him because to that point in the season the Idol machine had failed to make DeWyze as cheesy as the institution itself.
The show American Idol is one-part talent show and one-part making fun of nerds with poor self awareness. From time to time the Show brings back its worst examples of the later, and on Finale night the nerds got their revenge when one of them stole the microphone during a singing number and started making fun of Simon. It was a delicious live TV moment and it prompted FOX to abruptly cut to commercial. They should know that nerds are volatile, and that this type of outburts was inevitable given the mileage this show has taken at the expense of the nerd psyche.
I will follow Lee DeWyze carefully to see for myself if he can remain cool despite all the adulation he has received in the past 6 months. Most important than whether he is the next American Idol is whether he will be the next Taylor Hicks?
