American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Presidential candidates would do well to learn their American Idol. I beg the site’s forgiveness if it is demeaning to make a comparison between a TV singing contest and electoral politics. One is a serious process in which dedicated people give of themselves to better our nation while the other one is just a bunch of old guys in suits mouthing platitudes and empty promises. Nonetheless, from its great heights, American Idol offers many important lessons for anyone seeking the love and respect of this nation. In my decade of intensive study of the most important tentpole of our culture, here are some rules I've taken away.
Lesson 1. Know Thyself. One thing every champion of American Idol has in common is that the basic kind of performer they are does not change one millimeter from the day they first auditioned until the day they win the crown. Along the way, they improve, they overcome challenges, they grow and refine. The audience loves to see people get better - but they do not fundamentally change. The champions who won as country singers, came as country singers. The same with performers of R and B, soft rock, hard rock or pop balladeering. Idol audiences have shown they will go to all sorts of places, so long as they trust the singer is taking them to someplace that is authentic to their experience.
What never works is reinventing yourself in mid-stream. Each year, a handful of struggling contestants make abrupt changes in their basic image, switching from rock to country; going from glam to down home. This always fails. When the performers do this they are effectively telling the audience, everything I have shown you before is a lie but I swear this time it is the real me. Totally flummoxed about who the performer is, the audience quickly ends their confusion by sending them home where they can find themselves away from the glare of the spotlight.
Lesson 2. Every Underdog has His Day. This rule may not be an exact correlation with politics where money and organization can barrel through much, but the emotional lessons pertain. In American Idol’s ten seasons, the initial front runner has won exactly once. In almost every other year, the eventual winner was someone no one was talking about at the season’s open. There is nothing the audience loves more than to see someone rise from obscurity and take the prize. Raising a singer up from the back of the pack makes the voters feel personally invested in them; they feel they made this candidate. Conversely, nothing turns the audience off more than the notion that a champion is being forced down their throats by the producers or by the critics. And Mitt Romney beware, truly nothing turns them off as much as the feeling that a singer is too polished, too perfect; that it comes so easy to them, they don’t even have to try. If Idol audiences feel that you think life is just a beautifully wrapped Christmas present waiting to be opened, they are likely to give you the chance to learn that it is not very, very soon.
Lesson 3. Anger Management. There is one emotion that is an instant career killer on American Idol and that is anger. You can be sad, despondent, inconsolable, hopeless and lost. But let the nostrils flare a fraction of an inch and your music career is over. It’s no easy trick not to look a little miffed upon being told a performance that you put your entire soul into was “absolute rubbish.” But in the cold medium of television, the tiniest hint of anger is magnified a thousand fold, and what may have only been a little flash of annoyance reads as uncontrolled rage. Uncontrolled rage reads as this person is a a raging psychopath, and a raging psychopath is nobody’s friend. In Season 1, front runner Justin Guarini responded to a particularly vicious critique with the very measured, “Well, let’s see what the audience thinks.” The backlash was immediate and enormous; Guarini was labeled cocky and arrogant at every water cooler in the land. The next day he found himself at the bottom of the voting heap for the first time and felt compelled to apologize to the audience and the judges. His campaign never recovered.
As hard as it is, if you are in the public eye, the correct answer to being told that you are a worthless disgrace is, “Thank you so much for helping me get better. It means so much to me that you’d take the time to share your thoughts.”
Lesson 4. Critical Detachment. Every Idol singer must make a decision: do I want to win the pundits, or do I want to win the contest. In the end, nobody does both. Each year, the critics anoint their favorite, a performer who pushes boundaries and takes risks and defies beloved genre. That person generally finishes seventh. The best they can hope for is a distant second. Theirs will be amazing reviews they can hang on their walls, friendships with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated bloggers, and invitations to movie stars’ birthday parties for about six months until the new flavor comes along. Meanwhile, the singer the critics wrote off as middle of the road, saccharine grandma-bait begins their music career.
The analogies aren’t perfect. But looking at the campaigns we’ve seen lately, a little more Idol and a little less politics would go a long way for most of these folks flapping their gums out on the debating circuit.
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Comments:
May '11
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
When Mitt Romney talks to conservatives it reminds me of the scene in Blues Brothers where they go into the redneck bar and pretend they are the "Good Old Boys" and can perform both country and western music. Mitt can do a decent performance of "Stand By Your Man" but it sounds a bit inauthentic.
May '11
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Based on your analogy of the presidential primary campaign as an American Idol contest, I would think that Cain is the most likely winner. Perry may have not been voted off yet but he is barely hanging on. Romney is exactly as you describe him. Everyone acknowledges his strengths, but no one wants to vote for him. Gingrich is the fat guy that would ordinarily have never been invited to American Idol and we don't know what to think of him. I don't think that will help his chances. Santorum, Bachman, Huntsman, Paul and the rest are long gone.
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Richard, welcome to Ricochet!
Great post!!
I love your never-show-anger advice. Maybe the greatest illustration ever of this was William Hung. (See here.) Despite Simon Cowell's insults, all he said was "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all." If he entered politics, I'd totally vote for him.
Jul '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
"With the birth of the artist came the inevitable afterbirth.... the critic."
Welcome aboard, Mr. Rushfield.
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
I stand by the Blues Brothers version of the Rawhide theme from that scene as the definitive version!
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Tim Groseclose: Richard, welcome to Ricochet!
Great post!!
I love your never-show-anger advice. Maybe the greatest illustration ever of this was William Hung. (See here.) Despite Simon Cowell's insults, all he said was "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all." If he entered politics, I'd totally vote for him. · Nov 6 at 3:48pm
Many thanks and good to see our friends in the academy find time to build such impressive knowledge of the finer things in cultural life.
There's a slight cavea however - having interviewed Mr. Hung, he really does seem to believe that he gave outstanding performances and that his fan base is completely unironic. One contestant who made it to 4th place in his season told me how when he was waiting to audition, he was terrified that he wasn't nearly good enough to win. Sitting next to him however, was the man who later became famous for his breathtaking tuneless rendition of Let My People Go. While the actual contender sat trembling in fear, he says his neighbor was cool as a cucumber - knowing for certain that he was going to win.
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Tim Groseclose: Richard, welcome to Ricochet!
Great post!!
I love your never-show-anger advice. Maybe the greatest illustration ever of this was William Hung. (See here.) Despite Simon Cowell's insults, all he said was "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all." If he entered politics, I'd totally vote for him. · Nov 6 at 3:48pm
We should also note that William Hung after a thrilling singing career, it is reported has just gone to work for the LA County Sheriff's Dept as technical crime analyst. So maybe he was showing the solid grounding of a no nonsense conservative all along!
Dec '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
For Kant, aesthetic taste is morality subjectively perceived. Obviously, Kant never saw "American Idol". On this program the talentless are mauled by the banality of evil. Like the Christians thown to the lions at the Coliseum, like Abraham thrown into the furnace by Nimrod, American idol is just good old fashioned entertainment.
A country that produces nothing (no more manufacturing) believes nothing (no more Gd or that tired old Good & Evil thing) now imagines itself to be the judge of aesthetics?
I heard that the second mate on the Titanic knew that the iceberg was up ahead. He was just too darned curteous to embarass his superior. Besides, if he spoke up too loudly or too quickly it might be interpreted as "anger". Oh my, not that!
Jul '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
On lesson 3: The Master
Dec '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Thanks Jimmy, I really needed to see this one again. It never gets old. It only gets better.
Jul '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
James Gawron:
Besides, if he spoke up too loudly or too quickly it might be interpreted as "anger". Oh my, not that! · Nov 6 at 5:14pm
I read Yer comment and immediately thought of Ronaldus Magnus. "How could I forget.....?"
Dec '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Jimmy Carter
James Gawron:
Besides, if he spoke up too loudly or too quickly it might be interpreted as "anger". Oh my, not that! · Nov 6 at 5:14pm
I read Yer comment and immediately thought of Ronaldus Magnus. "How could I forget.....?" · Nov 6 at 5:46pm
You know Jimmy, mabe we should just forget all this political triangulation and win one for the Gipper! http://pregamespeeches.com/WinOneForTheGipper.aspx
Oct '10
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
I'm lurking outside of the presidential scrum, but your rules certainly qualify Herman Cain.
Again, welcome to the bright light of Guest Contributorship.
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
Anger is a political killer. It was Clinton's angry contempt with the American public that he could have possibly "slept with that woman" that turned off so many. But sadly, not enough.
Oct '11
Re: American Idol's Lessons for Those Who Would be President
The underdog point is spot on, and we do it all the time. In college football the preseason #1 has only won the national championship once in the last ten years (2004 USC). It's no reason to stop making predictions, but candidates like Pawlenty would do well to put less stock in them. Just not worth putting your money on, assuming you've got enough.
Of course, no "underdog" reference would be complete without the mandatory link to Gen Y's We Will Rock You.