Pop culture enters reality, television that is
By JASON McFARLEY
Scene Writer
Patience, pop music fans.
Three months and hundreds of performances after "American Idol: The Search for a Superstar" began, the hit Fox show will crown a winner on Wednesday. On Tuesday the final two contenders for a $1 million recording contract will compete in the season-ending singing showdown.
With its "Star Search" meets "Survivor" format and pitch-perfect mix of celebrity, comedy and tear-inducing critiques, "American Idol" captivated fans this summer, becoming the stuff of water-cooler conversations and feeding online rumor mills. Love it or hate it, viewers tuned in each week in increasingly higher numbers, consistently putting the show in the Nielsen top-10 ratings.
This week should prove no different, as apparent fan favorites Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini go head-to-head for the last time Tuesday at 8 p.m. and then learn their fates Wednesday at 7 p.m. on local channel 28.
The summer's runaway hit is, in fact, the American version of the British show "Pop Idol." Initial auditions in April and May in seven U.S. cities narrowed a field of thousands of would-be idols to 100 singers in their late teens and twenties. A second round of auditions slimmed the pool to 50 contestants to appear in Hollywood on the first five episodes of the show in June.
A panel of three judges, including `80s pop diva Paula Abdul, assessed the acts. Afterwards, viewers decided each week by telephone vote which performers to advance to the round of 10 finalists.
Since July, fans have voted off (in order) eight of the finalists — Jim Verraros, EJay Day, A.J. Gil, Ryan Starr, Christina Christian, RJ Helton, Tamyra Gray and Nikki McKibbin. This week only Guarini, a longtime frontrunner, and Texas chanteuse Clarkson remain.
America, meet the last singers standing.
Clarkson, 20, is a humble country girl with a big-league voice. Judges say she can sing anything — even the phone book — and make it sound good. In past episodes, the Burleson, Texas, native has showcased her vocal range and show-stopping stage presence with renditions of "Natural Woman," "Respect" and "It's Raining Men."
"Being on stage is the biggest rush for me," Clarkson said on the show's official Web site, www.idolonfox.com. "It's like I'm kind of nervous at first, but once I get out there, I never want to leave the stage."
Clarkson vanquished a host of female competitors to reach the Tuesday face-off. Her biggest competition came from big-voiced Atlanta product Tamyra Gray, who was voted off Aug. 21, and fellow Texan Nikki McKibbin, who departed the show Aug. 28.
While Clarkson and Gray for weeks seemed like shoe-ins to be among the top-three finalists, McKibbin was a question mark. McKibbin, 23, set herself apart from the other contestants with her punk look and penchant for singing obscure rock songs. For weeks she defied dismissal, being put on the chopping block four times with the lowest vote-getters. Judges consistently criticized McKibbin's song selection and said the mother-of-one was outmatched by better singers.
Judges, on the other hand, praised Gray's performances. They compared her vocal skills to those of divas Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.
Gray may still be smarting from the fact that she received walking papers before McKibbin. Her departure left only Clarkson, McKibbin and Guarini, the lone male competitor since mid-August.
In the square-off between Clarkson and McKibbin, Clarkson seemed destined to win. Whereas McKibbin came close to being voted off several times, the public never thought about giving Clarkson the pink slip. Predictably, voters sent McKibbin packing last week.
Clarkson now faces her biggest test from Guarini.
From the beginning, Guarini, with his curly, uncoiffed mop, has reigned as the show's heartthrob. A favorite among female fans, Guarini's "Justin Timberlake before the buzz cut" look has brought him to the final round. Viewers sent him to the chopping block twice but opted on dismissing the other male competitors in lieu of Guarini.
Guarini outlasted a host of male crooners, including the pesky "J" factor — A.J., EJay and RJ. His choice of soulful tunes "Ribbon in the Sky," "Let's Stay Together" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" distinguished him from the other men and brought tears to female fans' eyes.
"I want to be a beacon of … fun!" Guarini said on the Web site about why he auditioned for the show. "Glitz and glamour are rampant in America, but I want to bring on the fun and share it with an America that now, more than ever, needs joy to get us through our current trials."
The format for the final two episodes is a closely guarded secret, but Clarkson and Guarini are expected to sing twice Tuesday night. Each contestant will sing an original single, and the winner's song will be released to stores Sept. 17.
With the success of the show this summer, the 10 original finalists were subject to a huge media blitz, a schedule chock full of newspaper interviews, magazine photo shoots and appearances at paparazzi-laden events such as the Teen Choice Awards and MTV's Video Music Awards. Plans for an "American Idol" book and home video are in the works. And a 30-date concert tour is planned in October and November, including an Oct. 16 show in Chicago and a Nov. 7 Indianapolis stop.
Both Clarkson and Guarini say the exposure hasn't changed them and that there's little they'd change about themselves to become the American Idol.
What wouldn't they change?
"My personality and outlook on life," Guarini said. "I just want to have fun doing what I love."
"I'm happy with myself. Of course, there are little things here and there that I wish were smaller and bigger, but I don't know one person who is perfectly happy with their physical appearance," Clarkson said.
While the contestants duke it out on stage, the show's other staples — the judges and hosts — will wage their own war of words. Comedic banter among the off-stage talent is as much a part of "Idol" as `70s hits and orchestral accompaniment.
At the center of the non-stop wit is bad-boy British judge Simon Cowell, a veteran of the music industry. Cowell is notorious for his tongue-lashing of performers. Hardly an episode has gone by that Cowell, typically clad in black T-shirt, hasn't called singers "awful" or told them that they resemble a karaoke act more than a pop superstar.
Cowell's frankness, of course, is balanced by Abdul and fellow judge Randy Jackson's less-abrasive critiques. Abdul, a former idolized songstress herself, never fails to provide a feel-good line for a contestant who Cowell has pummeled.
She even throws a few lines at Cowell.
"I don't know why Simon has to be so rude," she said during an episode last month. "Maybe he wasn't held enough as a child."
Cowell rebutted in another episode: "Paula, you have a comedy writer. Sue him."
In still another episode, Cowell nearly came to blows with Jackson, a former vice president at Columbia Records, over an assessment of a contestant. True to form, Cowell gave an unfavorable critique, while Jackson stood up for the performer.
"For a moment, I thought Randy was going to take me for a tumble," Cowell said later.
The Brit has gotten into verbal scuffles with hosts Brian Dunkleman and Ryan Seacrest too. Cowell time and again complements Seacrest's see-through apparel, saying "Ryan, I like your blouse tonight." And the hosts without fail throw in their own barbs when they introduce the judges to open each show.
When the show wraps on Wednesday, an new star will be crowned, but "American Idol" will seemingly leave its judges and hosts in good stead as well. The show has harkened the comeback of Abdul, setting her up for future TV roles, possibly on a sitcom. As for Dunkleman and Seacrest, both men's showbiz careers seem certain to take off.
"Three months ago, I was driving a car with no reverse that couldn't go over 40 miles an hour," Dunkleman, a stand-up comedian said. "Now I ride in limos."
On Wednesday, Clarkson or Guarini may share Dunkleman's same good fortune. While the public's vote will decide the winner, co-host Seacrest said the "x-factor" will determine America's next music star.
"Sure it takes dedication, confidence and passion, but it takes something else," Seacrest, host of a top-ranked Los Angeles radio show and the rumored boyfriend of Abdul, said. "We've heard our sometimes abrasive friend Simon call it the x-factor. Remember the first time you had a crush on someone, you could describe some of the traits you were attracted to, but there was also probably something else. That thing. That thing makes someone stand out."
This week, that unknown quality will give the country its first American Idol. Stay tuned.
Contact Jason McFarley at mcfarley.1@nd.edu
All Scene Stories for Monday, September 2, 2002
