American Idol’s Carly Smithson is a Music Industry Cautionary Tale
“American Idol” is currently in its seventh season, and despite predictions to the contrary, the show has not been slipping very much in terms of ratings. “Idol” continues to go strong in the face of many who hate it.
Although “American Idol” regularly gets over 30 million viewers per episode, there are people who absolutely despise the show. In fact, the popularity of “AI” might be exactly WHY people despise it. As often is the case, the show reached a certain level of popularity and then suffered intense backlash. People blame the show for giving singers an easy road or a shortcut to stardom. Others say the show is a massive soulless corporate entity. Still others think it’s boring, or that the people watching the show are stupid. This sort of backlash is common in the music industry, where everyone seems to have a strong opinion about everything.
How this backlash often manifests itself is in the form of “controversies.” It seems that every new season of “American Idol” brings us new controversies. One year it was discovered that a contestant had previously been in a pornographic movie. Several contestants have been arrested or sent to rehab after appearing on “Idol.” One contestant claimed to have had an inappropriate relationship with judge Paula Abdul. Last year, the big controversy was over a site called Vote For The Worst, which encouraged viewers to cast their vote for the worst possible candidate in an attempt to mess up the show.
Now, in season 7, a new controversy has arisen. Many people are questioning whether the contestants on this season of “Idol” are really amateurs. It turns out that 7 of the final 8 contestants have had some kind of professional singing experience. Several of the contestants even had deals with major record labels. This has caused many to speculate over whether the contestants were planted to make the show seem better.
The biggest controversy is over Carly Smithson. Carly has made it through to the top 6 of the show, despite being considered one of the favorites to leave on multiple occasions.
Many people outside the music industry still don’t realize this, but Carly was signed to the label MC Records in 1999. Back then, she went by the name Carly Hennessy, hence why many people haven’t figured out the connection yet. Carly signed a 6 record deal and MC Records invested an astonishing $2 million dollars into her career. Ironically, “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson was working at MC at the time. Carly was supposed to become the next big female pop singer of the time; this was when Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson were all making it big. Instead of becoming a more credible Britney Spears, Carly instead became one of the biggest flops in music industry history. In fairness, most insiders will admit that poor marketing, promotion and planning were equally (if not more) of a cause than Carly herself.
Clearly Carly Smithson and several of the other “Idol” contestants are not amateurs in the sense that we’re used to. However, the rules of the show state only that contestants must not be signed to a label at the time. So Carly and the others are not breaking any “Idol” rules. Whether the show is being deceptive by presenting these contestants as amateurs, that’s subjective and certainly something that people will disagree on. The bottom line is that the contestants still have to go out there and sing each week, and the general public is ultimately responsible for deciding who advances and wins. So if you don’t think a certain person deserves to be the next American Idol, well, don’t vote for them or buy their Idol ringtones. Or you could just change the channel.
About the Author: Jason Gluckman is a freelance writer specializing in music, TV, sports, self-improvement and social issues. He writes about everything from politics to Idol ringtones.
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Print Article | Download PDF | 19 views | Apr 21 2008
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