Make or break; Talent shows?

[HBK-aholic]

Every year, millions of people around the world try out for various singing talent shows. First they audition, then the public is put through weeks of shows showcasing their efforts to become to next big thing in the world of music.

However, has anyone else noticed how this is rarely the case? Most talent show winners bring out one single, which always makes the Top 10, followed by many others which barely make it into the Top 50. Albums are usuallya flop, and people soon forget who they were.

Is this down to the fact they're just that bad, or is it because people seem to have lowered opinions of those who have made it through a talent competition?

Personally, I think the public, and the judges vote for the most generic of all the acts. The one which will make a few hundred thousand quickly, but don't think about the longetivity of an act. Many bands nowadays have been around for many many years and still make as much money now as when they debuted.

Does entering a talent show harm a singers career? Or does it give them a chance, when there is no other way they would get a single out there?

 

[chasingamy]

For me, the first show that comes to mind is American Idol. (There are spin-off shows in other counties as well. Perhaps someone can speak for those.) I watch the show ONLY when they’re down to like the last or rather “top” 10 singers. That way I don’t have to suffer through those horrendous “what were they thinking” auditions and presumably the crappiest singers are weeded out already.

I agree that the people that call in often don’t vote for the “best” singer. Rather they vote based on things like personality, looks, hard-knocks life story, etc. Examples are past winners Fantasia Barrino, Ruben Studdard, and Taylor Hicks. Fantasia had mild success, but overall those three are seen as big disappointments in terms of record sales and career longevity as you said.

Still you can’t deny that American Idol has produced a few stars along the way. I’m not sure who takes the top honor but Kelly Clarkson (season 1 winner) and Carrie Underwood (season 4 winner) have had several chart-topping hits, more than one successful album release, and don’t show signs of career death anytime soon.

Chris Daughtry finished fourth in season 5 and his band’s first album has done very well so far. While it’s still early, I think Daughtry looks to have what it takes to go far so I see them being around awhile. It’s also worth mentioning that Jennifer Hudson was discovered in season 3. While she didn’t win, she went to pursue an acting career and starred in the 2006 film Dreamgirls that won several major awards.

Others like Kelly Pickler, Bucky Covington, Josh Gracin, Bo Bice, Kimberly Locke, and Elliot Yamin have tasted a little success and are currently signed to record contracts. That’s a pretty cool thing in and of itself.

I don’t see how a talent show harms one’s career. Without American Idol or other such shows, they would still be working their 9 to 5 jobs and singing in the church choir, local fairs, bowling alleys, etc. These shows give many contestants the chance to live their dream if only for a short time.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I think the reasons why some of these "talent show artists" dont have longevity or success is because(and I'm only talking about American/Canadian Idol)the public ususually votes for the person they like personality wise. Also some of the backstories make you fall in love with an artist even though the artist may not be "commercial acts". Taylor Hicks winning his season was a farce. He won because people liked his personality, but the guy had zero commerical appeal and his album flopped(sold like 700,000), wheras other contestants from that season Daughtry & Kellie Pickler have sold more. Its obvious people are voting for who could have a sucessful mainstream career and are just picking their personal favorites. Another reason y the may flop after their first CD is because they lose all that free publicity they recieved from their shows. Most times by the time they release another album a new "it person" has won and the former winner is forgotton.

 

[klunderbunker]

Talent shows to me are a waste of time. I watch idol for the sole purpose of seeing someone's dreams get crushed. The whole idea of the show is null and void anyway as practically the top 10 all get record deals anyway. Even if you look at the winners, when's the last time anyone saw Hicks, Studdard or Fantasia anyway? They've been dropped by their labels (Hicks), left music for broadway (fantasia) or have disappeared (studdard). Of all the people to come off that show, four people have done anything: Clarkson, Aiken, Underwood, and Daughtry. What mysterio said about the backstorys is dead on. When Underwood won she barely beat Bo Bice. Where in the hell has he been since? Its always been my theory that if these people are this talented, they'll get their shot on their own.

 

[RadioGaGa]

I'd watch the occasional episode just to see Simon Cowell tearing someone to shreds. He is one cold mo fo. As for successes, Leona Lewis last I heard was doing well and Kelly Clarkson as well. As for whether they have a negative effect on someone's career, I don't think so. I mean for most of the people who enter it is the last throw of the dice and I'm sure they are content with their 15 minutes of fame or however longer it goes on.

 

[Richard]

Does entering a talent show harm a singers career? Or does it give them a chance, when there is no other way they would get a single out there?

Majority of talent show contestants and winners fail after their first single or album. At the moment I can only think of one person who had decent success, that being Kelly Clarkson, not that I was a fan of hers, I will admit she did enjoy success.

I can't speak for the rest of the Americans as I only know of her and Taylor Hicks from the American Idol series. I do not know of any from the British series, but I can talk about the Australian contestants in such talent shows.

The only people who have achieved some success and who continue to stay in the public view would have to be Ricki-Lee Coulter who you can ask Sparky a little bit more about and Sophie Monk. She did not compete on Idol but another show called Popstar I think and was in a pop group called Bardot I think for a short time before they split up and then she eventually made the transition to HollyWood.

Shannon Noll has also enjoyed some success with a few albums and he did release a couple of singles that I did like.

On the other end of the spectrum we have had such failures like Casey Donovan who released one album with two singles from that and then a couple years ago she released one single and that failed extremely badly. Last years Australian Idol winner Natalie Gaucie released the winners album with the songs she sung on the show and her winners single but I don't remember hearing anything about her own personal album. Lee Harding could be considered a one hit wonder aswell as he was let go by Song BMG after his first album was a sales flop, he now plays with his band in pubs.

Now to your question, I think it does a little of both.

In terms of hurting an artists career, I think that stigma of being on a talent show is only a temporary thing and it is up to the artist to show everyone that they can be a genuine artist like Kelly Clarkson. An Australian singer, Missy Higgins slammed the show, Australian Idol and said it was an easy way out for aspiring musicians who were looking to become something big and said the only way to really make it was by working hard or competing on some competition that Triple J was running.

Also it gives the artist a chance to get their material out there.

It is up to the artist and they have to have the determination to really want to remove the stigma that is attached to them of being a talent show competitor and show the world they really are a star and if they don't want it bad enough then they will fail like the rest.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I find it to hurt their chances because most of them win these competitions because all the people they know, like their families, friends and the other people from thier hometowns vote in for them every week, with hopes that they'll somehow get famous as well. The judges are handpicked for their personalities rather than their actual knowledge and experience. They have Simon Cowell purely because he's a prick. Sharon Osbourne who's a little nicer but still a prick when someone dares to question her opinions, Sean what's his name because he's a total pushover. Danni Minogue....... because she actually knows what it's like to be a pop star even if she's just Kylie mark 2 who few people actually care about. Now they have Cheryl Cole. Well, read on and you'll see what i think of her and the rest of Girls Aloud

What's worse is that the judges don't even see everyone who auditions. The producers actually pick terrible contestants as well as the decent ones to balance out the TV footage.

And then, after 3 months of watching these idiots, they fade away into obscurity at the drop of a hat. Will Young, Gareth Gates, what are they doing now? Girls Aloud? They're basically recognised for being WAGS now. "I married a sports star, therefore i deserve my own spotlight shining on me, and make loads of money for having married this guy." The majority of their songs are covers fgs, now i know that pop stars don't tend to actually write their own songs, they just do the lyrics, but repeatedly doing cover songs makes them look even less talented. And then there's what's her name the fat one who released like 2 songs and then now only appears in magazines if people wanna ask, "Hey, did you lose anymore fuckin weight yet?"

It's pretty sickening overall. Record producers should decide who has talent not people like Sharon Osbourne (who is a total assclown, as are the rest of her fuckin family with the exception of Ozzy, who isn't a prick he's just a drug addled mess)

I personally don't need television time dedicated to people being told they suck at something or watching 3 or 4 assholes argue about what is good and what is not. The people who win them fade into obscurity or become hated by the public for flaunting their fame, which they achieved purely because all their family and friends voted for them every week. And then sometimes the phone lines are intentionally blocked to prevent votes from certain areas getting through like in the last X-factor, where loads of people in Wales couldn't get through to vote for the Welsh guy in the final.

And then you have the competitions that have nothing to do with talent! Like Big Brother and Survivor on tv. If i want to watch a bunch of stupid creatures freak out at one another for no reason and get made to do tricks for my amusement, i'll go to the zoo thankyou. And then, they go from looking like total children to making bags of money for doing nothing.

Prime example (i know we're talking mainly about talent shows, but i would throw them all into the 'reality tv' category): Jade Goody, she became famous because as a person she's a total joke. She embodies everything terrible about British people these days and now she's a 'celebrity.' She's constantly in all these fucking gossip magazines and she even has a book out. Seriously? A book about her life? I can only pity the people who would take the time even to read the foreword of that book let alone the ones who spend money on it, and would recommend a full labotomy for anyone who still gave a shit after reading it. She also releases get fit DVDs and is still hideous to look at, and now low and behold, she has cancer.

Then theirs people like Chantelle Houghton who pretended to be famous and now is!!!!! I fooled a bunch of morons, so i should be famous too. She should lie awake at night knowing full well that ***** will throw money at her to do fuck all, while the common man has to break their back, and reduce their life expectancy or take everyone else's abuse just to scrape enough money together to live, or children are dying from poverty and disease while she doesn't even have to form a coherent sentence and can live comfortably for the rest of her days. Celebrities should be forced to give a sizable chunk of their income back to the government or to charities. A celebrity tax so to speak.

Sorry, this topic makes me sick to my stomach in record time. The people who don't go on talent shows and get record deals don't have tend to have much talent either. Most of them just use monosylabic sounds and their articulation is atrocious. I've got the fuckin Ting Tings playing in the background right now, and i fail to see the talent in anything they've done so far. The Pusscat Dolls? ONLY ONE OF THEM DOES ANY FUCKING SINGING! SO WHY THE FUCK DO WE HAVE FIVE STRIPPERS GETTING FAMOUS WHEN ONLY ONE OF THEM ACTUALLY DOES ANYTHING?

Apologies, i know i ranted on about other things, but none of them have any talent, and yet people actually sit down to watch all these idiots on a weekly basis and then we see them all in all these magazines being portrayed as something that we the public should aspire to and it's just wrong imo.