Posted on 05/27/2010 6:54:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
American Idol announced the winner for 2010 this evening. The fan favorite, Lee DeWyze took home the win.
Lee DeWyze has had his ups and downs this season, but sometimes that is a good thing. Everyone loves an underdog and Lee DeWyze was the underdog for American Idol...at least he was after Tim Urban was voted off.
Lee suffered from a lack of confidence, which we all can relate to, most have been in that situation at some point in their life.
Lee did not have a lack talent, Lee has a wonderful voice, he just came across as being vulnerable at times during his performance. A quality which is endearing. This vulnerability tugged on heart strings and garnished Lee with a huge fan base. This fan base was the reason Lee DeWyze won American Idol.
Crystal Bowersox has the better voice of the two American Idol finalists. But Crystal did not possess a likability. Her confidence level was so strong that she came across as being smug at times. This over confidence is quite possibly the reason Crystal did not earn the American Idol win.
Crystal Bowersox is by no means a loser. That lady will make it. A talent like that will not go unrecognized.
Congratulations go out to Lee DeWyze, the American Idol winner. He deserves all the best.
It's CRYSTAL CLEAR ( pun intended ) THAT SHE WON THE FINALE NIGHT. She was the better singer hands down.
So, who SHOULD HAVE WON ? ANSWER : Crystal Bowersox.
But WHO WON ? ANSWER : Lee Dewyze
Why ? Well because he's more commercial and people buy commercial. That's all I can say.
Remember what the lead singer of Herman's Hermits said two seasons ago ( to David Cook, Archuleta and other idols ) ?
"This is not a singing competition, this is a VOTING competition."
The best singer does not necessarily win.
Entertainment Weekly said it all.
Look my friends, if Crystal was declared the season 9 champ, I honestly can't predict whether or not she'll get any radio play for her studio rendition of Patty Griffin's ''Up to the Mountain.''
I mean, I don't really understand today's radio anyway, seeing as how that Ke$ha entity is currently experiencing her second top 10 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 with CRAP MUSIC, while Allison Iraheta's devastatingly good ''Don't Waste the Pretty'' presses its nose against the glass and awaits some kind of recognition from Clear Channel and its ilk. I would like to suspect some sort of payola going on with radio station management but I don't have the evidence except my own personal feelings ( which as you know, you can't go by ). Suffice it to say that today, CRAP MUSIC REIGNS SUPREME ON THE TOP 40 RADIO.
Her hair!
Who? What?
Twelve year olde girls vote and vote often-mystery solved.
I didn't have a horse in this race, unlike last year when the over-pimped Adam got beaten by the understated Chris.
ITA with music on the radio.
Crystal is absolutely the better singer....but she was not the better performer/entertainer. She remained aloof, whereas Lee was accessible. Better singer, no connection = second place. It is a voting competition, not a talent show. Once they narrow to the top 5, it’s really just a who do you like more kind of deal.
I stopped watching mid-season. When Lily didn’t go through, I started to lose interest. When Didi was voted off, I never turned back on. Wasn’t surprised when I heard Siobhan had been taken out. Unique style and talent is not what Idol is about anymore...it’s about more of the same garbage. Not that Lee is not talented — he is going to have a good career. But we keep getting the same garbage music because that’s what we, collectively, buy.
Kind of like Congress and Presidential elections, eh?
The reason Lee won.. is because of the majority of voters are female and under 20 years old. He is ALL AMERICAN, worked in a paint store, and because a household name. Crystal was a bit of a outcast.. hippy, single mom... etc. I thought she had good voice but I LIKED Lee better. So did most of America. That gives me hope!
A woman will never again win AI.
Horny middle aged women are who watch AI. They vote for guys.
They seem to like mediocre, kinda normal, mildly “active rocky” male singers. David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee De, all pretty much the same. Lee will get on the radio because AI put him there. He won’t sell many records. He won’t be the worst AI seller ever. I’d assume that’d be the grey haired guy Taylor something. I’d say he’d sell less than Cook and Allen, but not much worse. He really is not very good at singing. Generic, lowest common denominator, male lump who can’t sing.
The actual winner(s) this season?
Casey James
Though not as much of a performer, James will cash in much like Daughtry did...guitar play, voice and looks. Some band or group is his ticket. He could be super rich.
Tim Urban
Not the best singer, but that dude should already be on someone’s new actor list.
Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox... about the same chance to parlay into big bucks.
Post-Idol, the winner does not necessarily sell the most records, or has the more successful music career.
Cases in point :
Season 2: CLAY AIKEN has outsold Ruben Studdard
Season 3: Seventh Placer, Jennifer Hudson arguably has a more successful post-idol career than the winner, Fantasia, garnering an OSCAR and two grammy nominations.
Season 5: Fourth Placer, Daughtry and Sixth Placer Kellie Pickler actually have sold more records than Taylor Hicks ( although I just read news that Hicks isn’t doing so bad himself, making $3.5 M last year on tour ).
Season 7: Not sure who sells more records, winner, david Cook or runner-up David Archuleta.
Season 8: Judgment is out on who sells more records, winner Kris Allen or runner-up Adam Lambert. All I can say is Adam Lambert looks like the more popular of the two and will probably sell more for his live concerts than Kris Allen.
The two most successful Idol winners are Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
RE: Tim Urban
Not the best singer, but that dude should already be on someone’s new actor list.
Ths dude, Tim Urban reminds me of David Cassidy when he was with the Partridge Family.
12 year old girls and horny middle aged women. If it was just 12 year old girls it would’ve been a Timmeh vs Aaron final. I’m surprised Crystal beat Casey last week. Casey is the most marketable of the 3. On top of the songs for AC, Hot AC, Top 40/M, Casey could get some spins on Mainstream Rock. Crystal could get AAA possibly. Rock would likely pass on Lee. Rock’s not playing the newish Daughtry, or Cook or Allen. Rock did play the first Daughtry.
Crystal is a dirty hippie. I’m GLAD she lost.
I voted this week for the first time since season one. I had to support Lee. Crystal is a good singer, and definitely did much better in the final week, but overall, she had a lot of bland weeks, whereas Lee got better and better, and developed from someone who was timid on stage to someone beginning to achieve his potential. He was far more likable and more marketable. This one is much, much less of an upset than last year when Adam Lambert beat what’s his name. Adam is an incredible performer and dwarfed the competition more than any other single season.
Both will be quite fine in the future, and I am not convinced that it isn’t better to place 2nd through 4th rather than 1st. You avoid being tied into the Idol contract for your first album and still get near maximum exposure to build your fanbase.
RE: He won’t be the worst AI seller ever. I’d assume that’d be the grey haired guy Taylor something.
For those who think gray haired, Taylor Hicks isn’t amounting to anything post-idol, get a load of this :
http://www.popeater.com/2010/05/23/taylor-hicks-american-idol/
Taylor Hicks Is Laughing All The Way to the Bank
By Jo Piazza
Now that ‘American Idol’ is once again down to the top two, we’ll be seeing a lot of those ‘Idol’ lists. Most successful ‘Idols,’ most album sales, fan favorites. There’s only so many times we can read about Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, no?
Well ‘Idol’ success comes in lots of shapes and sizes. You have the Carrie and Kelly set. They’ve each sold over 10 million albums and reached superstar status.
There’s the Chris Daughtry business model, which involves consistently churning out good albums that sell well to a certain group of fans. It’s more modest than Kelly and Carrie’s model, but it has still made Daughtry a household name and a millionaire many times over. Then there’s the Taylor Hicks business model.
Hicks is often unfairly derided for the path he has taken after ‘Idol.’ Last year, the New York Times kicked off a story about ‘Idol’ success using Hicks as a cautionary tale. “It is doubtful that any of the remaining 24 contestants on ‘American Idol’ hope that they will be playing the Teen Angel in a touring production of ‘Grease’ in Milwaukee three years from now. But that’s what Taylor Hicks, the 2006 ‘American Idol’ winner, is doing. And it shows that winning the most popular talent competition in the country is no guarantee of superstardom,” the Times wrote.
And it’s true that winning ‘Idol’ is no guarantee of superstardom, but I think any of the ‘Idol’ constestants would be pleased as punch to be pulling in, according to insiders, the $3.5 million that Hicks has brought in during the past 18 months for his tour, album and merchandise sales and appearance fees.
Hicks’ business model is different from those of other ‘Idol’ contenders. He has been on the road since he won ‘Idol’ in 2006. His things are still packed away in boxes in his parent’s basement.
Hitting the road means building a fan base, and from those 18 months of touring, Hicks has made personal contact with nearly 1.1 million fans in 48 cities across the country. That number becomes 2 million if you factor in personal appearances.
After each performance of ‘Grease,’ Hicks performs a song off his album, ‘The Distance,’ for the audience. They can buy his music and his merchandise in the lobby. And since that album is under his own label, he sees more than 50% returns on each sale, at least 30% higher than an artist signed with a label. Since the start of the tour, more than 100,000 copies of ‘The Distance’ and a second album off Hicks’ label, ‘Early Works,’ have moved — half of those hand delivered from Taylor.
You can’t buy better publicity than that. And he still gets paid in the five figure range for appearances. Not too shabby.
“Four years after winning ‘Idol,’ I still have fans who are interested in my endeavors,” Hicks told me the other day as he was preparing to do his final show on the ‘Grease’ tour. “I don’t think that success should be measured by how many records you sell, but by how many lives you can touch.”
And the lives Hicks has touched will translate into a lucrative fan base for his next project. Hicks is now mulling television and movie projects that he plans to pursue once he gets off the road, gets a place of his own and settles into a nearly normal life.
“The success that Broadway has given me has allowed me to be able to parlay that into music, some television and film, but I think you have to pick the right role and it has to be the kind of role that will bring along my fans, the ‘Idol’ fans and the ‘Grease’ fans,” Hicks said.
One of the most valuable assets for any celebrity is the intangible strength of their brand. It is paramount to make sure that this brand is properly managed along the way to maximize value and brand equity. For an artist who wins ‘Idol,’ the value of their brand is determined by the customer. The brand value creation process begins at the moment that the celebrity makes contact with the consumer.
“I think winning ‘Idol’ allows you the opportunity to become a household name and after that you have to have a hard work ethic. The branding process begins when you start the show, and a win gives you an opportunity to take that in any direction you want. There are ups and downs and peaks and valleys obviously, but if you work hard it will pay off,” Hicks said.
So sometimes an ‘Idol’ win isn’t a golden ticket, but it’s a good place to start. The hard work comes in translating the win into marketplace dollars. Hicks’ strategy of fan building may look like a slow burn now, but he’s laughing all the way to the bank.
I loved Siobahn during the program and I always thought she was a better finalist than Chrystal.
The public LIKED Lee. There is nothing wrong with making the nice guy the winner.
No, the women part is right, but those who follow this stuff (see Votefortheworst.com) have identified preteen girls as one chunk of votes, and the other chunk is the “frauen”, fat and horny middle aged women.
Bye, Crystal.
Actually,we liked Siobhan the best.However,she was a bit heavy on the histrionics.I’m dating myself,but these girls
with tattoos and nose rings are a bit much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.