S15.E24: Winner Chosen

[realdancemom]

I also really enjoyed the finale show.  It was nice to see old contestants.  There will always be contestants that are missed but overall, they did a great job getting that many people together and sing.

 

I actually liked JLo's performance until the end when she was just bending over and shaking her butt.  She put a lot of energy into that performance and I enjoy her Latin dancing while singing.  I do agree that it needed to be shorter so that this season's top 10 contestants could have at least sang one group song.  I did get a kick out of Lee dancing in the background.  He was having fun.

[kili]

I have no idea what he might have done to work harder than anyone else but more than one of the producers mentioned how hard he worked often with the implication that he was the hardest worker of the lot and Ryan also mentioned his intense focus.

 

Rick Barker, the social media guru Scott brought in to teach the kids, went on-and-on about how hard Trent was working on his social media campaign. Rick also said that he warned the others that they need to keep at it (some would go days without doing anything).

 

Rick said that Trent came into the competition  behind a lot of the others who already had a big social media presence (e.g. Dalton from his IM5 days and MacKenzie from The Voice), but he worked diligently every day to engage fans. Rick maintains that engaged fans vote and buy things.  He stressed that while Trent did not have the widest social media presence, he had developed the deepest.

 

Rick used to be Taylor Swift's media consultant and he credits Taylor's ability to connect with fans as part of her success. He feels that recording companies will do what they do, but you can help yourself out by engaging fans. He thinks of each artist as a small business who must help to get the word out about their products. Invested fans actually buy things. Non-invested fans just steal your music or listen to it on the radio/streams.  Invested fans vote for you. Non-invested fans just complain when you don't win.

 

Anyway, he raved about how hard Trent above the others worked at engaging fans. So, that's one person from the production staff who commented on it. Dalton was another guy who worked at it.

[howmanywords]

Scott Borchetta, a couple of the producers and that social media guy Rick Barker that worked closely with the idols ALL called Trent the hardest worker so there has to be something there that separated him from everyone else.

[rereader2]

Anyway, he raved about how hard Trent above the others worked at engaging fans. So, that's one person from the production staff who commented on it. Dalton was another guy who worked at it.

 

I've heard Rick Barker talk about how hard Trent worked at engaging fans several times, in interviews and Facebook chats, so Trent clearly made a special impression, and I'd guess it's not something that comes naturally to him. (Yes, Rick has also mentioned Dalton as someone who worked at the social media game.)

 

Sidebar: Which reminds me--Keith Urban, in a radio interview, interrupted the interviewer to point out how hard Dalton worked at his music, at figuring out how he could get every last inch out of his abilities (it was a Texas station, so that's who he was asked about, but this point he clearly wanted to make even though he wasn't asked), and Rick Barker also pointed out Dalton as someone who would immediately go to a keyboard if there was one around and start working on something.

Edited April 11, 2016 by rereader2

[saber5055]

It wasn't explicitly said but I got the feeling LaPorsha and Sonika spent more time with their families, when the schedule allowed.

 

That reminds me of how Trent did not invite his family to attend so he could remain focused on his music and performance. Then TPTB went and brought them in as a "surprise". Trent really was shocked to see them when Ryan brought the family on. It was a great moment for the show, but I wonder how Trent felt about that. Although it worked out okay for him in the end.

[MarkHB]

Does anyone know why there is no tour this year? To me, this is overlooking a gigantic cash cow. Some of the past contestants whom we saw on the finale could have joined it. I think the crowds would have been gigantic for this "last' fling for AI. Even a "Past Contestants" tour would have been something to not miss.

 

Also, what did Trent win? Money, or a recording deal/contract? I remember Kelly Clarkson saying she was locked into an AI contract so had to appear in that "From Justin to Kelly" movie, whether she wanted to or not. I don't remember hearing any plugs about what the winner wins, unlike other shows where that carrot-on-a-stick is hung out multiple times per show.

 

The tour had lost money the last couple of times out (I know in my city, last year it went from the arena that holds between 6 and 7,000 for a concert to a new outdoor location that holds half that... but the kids were psyched as it was their first outdoor concert, plus it was on a pier.  And then the thunderstorm came....)

 

Beyond that, TPTB said that part of the reason for the tour was to drive interest in the new round of auditions; between not having those, and wanting the show to go out with the finale, they decided against having the tour.  Yet another way in which the S15 kids got shafted.

[Kromm]

I haven't voted for anyone on Idol for over a decade but I were a regular voter, I think I'd sort of lean towards not letting the contestant's personal lives influence me one way or the other. I totally get that money - having it or not having it - impacts your life in a huge way. Being able to have a place to live, food to eat, clothing, health care, access to transportation, education - these are all things that vastly improve one's life, to name a few, and their common denominator is so often the money it takes to obtain and to keep them. So...when I hear a contestant get up there and say, "I want/need to win Idol so that I can help my child/my family," all I hear is, "I need money and hopefully, I'll get it via winning Idol." I feel as if they see winning Idol as a quick and immediate influx of cash - which it may well be, I truly don't know - and that has, for me, tainted my view of that contestant to an extent. The more the contestant mentions how life-altering winning would be; the more he or she talks about "improving" their situation; the more I hear, "Give me money." I know that's a huge exaggeration on my part, and an unfair conclusion for me to reach, but on some level, that's what I'm hearing: "I need money. Winning Idol will give me money. Vote for me so that I can get money." I understand that there are a million ways to make a living, and that performing music is one of them. But being so bald-faced about it rubs me the wrong way.

I don't begrudge La'Porsha or any other contestant for having a baby at a young age and now perhaps facing financial hardships as a result. Having a child exhausts every single resource you have, and if you don't have adequate resources to begin with, you're even further behind the eight ball. If, however, you come on a show like Idol and willingly expose your personal life to those responsible for your fate on the show, it's bound to be met with a variety of reactions, some of which may be really critical. I acknowledge that the show itself highlights some of these situations - we did not necessarily need to see 875 shots of La'Porsha's daughter each time we tuned in. We get it - she has a child and is a single mother. Got it, got it, got it! Is her singing ability affected by that? Doubtful. Is the emotion and context behind her singing affected by her single motherhood at a young age? Very possibly, sure. It's a fine line - I want to know a little about what makes a contestant tick and don't mind some context, but at the same time, I pretty much don't care if you're a young, single mother or that your family is looking to you to help them financially, or whatever your tale of woe may be. Just sing. If you flub the lyrics or sing off-key or smile during a very sad song, it is highly unlikely that I will think, "Well, he needs the money...I'd better vote for him so that he has a better chance of winning and thus be in a better financial situation."

 

Well also while it's possible that La'Porsha kept inserting talking about/mentioning her daughter and her circumstances into everything, I think we all know its FAR more likely it was the Idol Producers asking/prompting her to do so. I've always been wary of blaming contestants for things the producers seem to MAKE them do. The contestants operate from a position of extreme weakness--they have very little leverage to refuse.

[Biggie B]

Kromm, yes, I agree - the contestants have no say in what is shown to us viewers. They do, however, have control over what they say out loud. And after so many years of this show being on the air, if I were a contestant, I'd be VERY concerned about anything I said on tape being taken completely out of context. 

[ari333]

Kromm, yes, I agree - the contestants have no say in what is shown to us viewers. They do, however, have control over what they say out loud. And after so many years of this show being on the air, if I were a contestant, I'd be VERY concerned about anything I said on tape being taken completely out of context. 

THIS ^^^^

[mojoween]

Apropos of nothing, I wonder how come no one has ever done an AI type of competition of all original songwriters?

I guess I didn't miss him TOO much since I didn't think about him until his song came up on my playlist this afternoon, but now I'm sad that Philferatu wasn't there. I could not stand him when his season started but really grew to like him and his "Blaze of Glory" song out is one of my favorite ever.

(Philferatu is an old TWoP nickname for Phil Stacey)

[kili]

Apropos of nothing, I wonder how come no one has ever done an AI type of competition of all original songwriters?

Adam Levine has a competition show called "Songland" that will do just that. NBC. They had to re-tool the contract after it was publicized that the show would own every song submitted even if the person didn't make the show.

 

Trent got asked the question that tripped up La'Porsha. (TVGuide)

 

La'Porsha the other day said, "I don't agree with that lifestyle," referring to LGBT people and the HB1523 bill in Mississippi. Do you have anything to say to weigh in on that?

You know, I was brought up in church. I still go to church. Found a church just around the corner from here and went, and I'm glad I got to go. But I was brought up to treat everyone equally. I come from a restaurant background, and anybody that walks into our restaurant, they can eat there. And I think that you should treat all people equally and respectfully, and that's what I do, and that's what I'm going to continue to do no matter what law is passed. That's where I stand on it. Love all people. Period.

[waving feather]

Trent got asked the question that tripped up La'Porsha. (TVGuide)

La'Porsha the other day said, "I don't agree with that lifestyle," referring to LGBT people and the HB1523 bill in Mississippi. Do you have anything to say to weigh in on that?

You know, I was brought up in church. I still go to church. Found a church just around the corner from here and went, and I'm glad I got to go. But I was brought up to treat everyone equally. I come from a restaurant background, and anybody that walks into our restaurant, they can eat there. And I think that you should treat all people equally and respectfully, and that's what I do, and that's what I'm going to continue to do no matter what law is passed. That's where I stand on it. Love all people. Period.

Trent is a smart cookie. Porsha should have just done that.

[backformore]

And that's exactly why I'm glad she didn't win. That, and the "single mom" story over & over again. Fantasia did it first. Enough already!

Oh Lord. You just put a song in my head.

Anyone else remember fantasia' s awful song about single mothers?

B A B Y M A M A

https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=S7olzdcM9Z8

 

 

Stupid lyrics, made worse by all the screaming.

Edited April 12, 2016 by backformore

[howmanywords]

Granted Trent probably had more time to think about an answer in the event he got asked the same thing, but yeah that was a great, great answer. And really, just shut up and say I love everyone, everyone is equal to me, its not hard. LaP has actually made her situation worse by trying to clarify what she meant.

[4leafclover]

Why in the world would anyone be put off by Trent (or anyone else for that matter) referring to God in his statement?  I know it's not very trendy these days to tell people you are a believer, but when people do, I appreciate it.  It takes a lot of guts to stand up for your faith and your beliefs, especially in the entertainment industry where that is often scoffed at and ridiculed.  And for the record, people turn to God for many reasons, not just when they are in a crisis.

[Guest]

Please move on from discussions on Trent's religion. It is, at best, tangentially related to the show and at this point, further discussion is off-topic.

 

Thank you.

[MrsMoltisanti]

It's been almost a week since the finale and I do miss the show already.  I was extremely pleased by that 2 hour show with the exception of a couple of things:

Harry and the little girl singing (it was nice I get it - give exposure to the Marsalis school or whatnot but he should have done his big band thing and let some of the jazz singers from the past come on and really shine - now that would have been a treat!)

JLo and her shaking banana booty dance complete with Not Yo Mama insert previously taped.  This was not necessary at all and was just selling her Vegas show. 

I liked it in the past when the judges got together and did something original - Harry could have played Besame Mucho and let her sing like Salina style.  No booty popping and no showgirls.

I adored the 5 guys with guitars!  I loved Kelly's portion and seeing all the other past contestants come out and do something.  Was Jax there or Jena Honds Opp Irene? 

I also liked the back up singer with the pink hair getting to come to the front of the stage for a change and getting to sing on her own.

I am good with Trent winning.  I liked La Porsha but I saw way too much of her poor single mom story and it just felt too contrived.  She lost me with that.  Just sing.  It's all good.  Just sing the song well.   There was a Chef Ramsey show last year with a single mom contestant that kept repeating it every show several times as if she should win over the others because of that.  It actually turns some people off. 

All in all I miss the show and want it back. 

[OakGoblinFly]

I actually liked JLo's performance until the end when she was just bending over and shaking her butt.  She put a lot of energy into that performance and I enjoy her Latin dancing while singing.  I do agree that it needed to be shorter so that this season's top 10 contestants could have at least sang one group song.  I did get a kick out of Lee dancing in the background.  He was having fun.

 

 

I agree with you - while Jennifer Lopez will never, ever be a good singer - she is a great dancer and a fantastic performer - her performance was pure Vegas and I enjoyed every cheesey moment of it until the rump shaking.

[MrsMoltisanti]

You probably know this but that was Alison Iraheta, who made it to 4th place on season 8.

 

 

 

Thank you I could not for the life of me remember her name!  I just knew she was on one season as a rocker type girl, and I was happy to see her on the show in the forefront as we have only seen her recently in the background, but hey a gig is a gig.  I wanted to call her Irene for some reason.

[ari333]

Thank you I could not for the life of me remember her name!  I just knew she was on one season as a rocker type girl, and I was happy to see her on the show in the forefront as we have only seen her recently in the background, but hey a gig is a gig.  I wanted to call her Irene for some reason.

 

I enjoyed Alison. I wish we had a better close up of her face. Back in the day, her Slow Ride with Adam is one of my all-time favs. I would have loved to see that again.

 

I like that Fleetwood Mac/Nicks. song that Keith and Carrie did, but I could barely hear Keith's voice.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2016 by ari333

[backformore]

I fixed the link in my previous post -  LaPorsha's constant, "single mom"  stuff reminded me of this Fantasia video:

 

Classic, from the first line, where she tells us to LISH-ten to what she's saying, to the hysterical screaming and running, squatting, etc.  

And lines about "getting the support check in the mail, open it, and say what the hell! " 

Edited April 12, 2016 by backformore

[Archery]

FWIW, singing is hard work, at least on this performance level.  We buy into the idea that anyone can walk onto an AI stage, pick up a microphone, and belt out a song -- natural talent, and all that.  But in reality, a singer's instrument is his voice, and a serious singer puts in as much practice (not rehearsal, but practice) as a pianist or cellist, to get the best sound and tone.  Then he has to pull apart a song note by note, reinterpret it, learn it, and get to the point where he can nail every note consistently with the right timbre and pitch.  It takes years of vocal training, and consistent vocal exercise.  It may not be the same as building a house or running marathons, but it takes comparable effort.

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

 

FWIW, singing is hard work, at least on this performance level.

EXALT on so many levels. It's not just about singing (because everyone can sing, but not everyone can sing WELL) which requires training, voice control, breath control (I tell my choir members to remember that singing is an aerobic activity). Plus you have to be consistent every time. Plus you have to be aware of the staging, the lights, the crowd, the camera angles, your mark, etc. There are so many things to be aware of and many of these singers may not have sung on stages to this extent. I'm amazed they learn so much in such a short period of time. 

[TeeMo]

If anyone is having Idol withdrawal this week, Trent and Dalton were trying to arrange a little relay "concert" on Facebook Live tonight where Trent would perform for a bit (from his hotel room in Nashville) and then when he was done he was hoping to send everyone over to Dalton. Trent's part is posted now at his FB page (he did it about an hour ago, I think)

ETA: Dalton was not able to do it tonight but says he will do it next Thursday.

Edited April 15, 2016 by TeeMo

[bluwater]

ETA: Dalton was not able to do it tonight but says he will do it next Thursday.

 

Ah, ok...didn't know what was happening. Thanks for the update!! Can't wait till next Thursday!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Uncle Nigel showed why he is the forever master of AI.  I'd be surprised if he even had a say in the length of time given JLo.  That kind of thing is often negotiated/dictated by folks well above a show's power level.

 

One thing that has bugged is how tiiiiiired everyone said they were.  They were spared a minimum of two weeks of performance - at least one of which would have been a multiple-song show for each one of them.  They also enjoyed the loosest standard of being sent home of any season - there were any number of jidges saves and such.  I also do not recall many group performances.  No tour?  No results shows?  No need for them.

[MarkHB]

At least this year, with the judges' saves and whatnot, we didn't run into situations where the eliminated singer didn't get to sing, with the single exception (I think).  Towards the end they might not have gotten to sing a second song, but I believe everyone got to perform at least once on each show they appeared on (with one possible exception, the first week without the save, but I'm not 100% sure of that).

 

Personally, we always enjoyed going to the tour concerts and I'll miss not having that this year.

[TeeMo]

Uncle Nigel showed why he is the forever master of AI. I'd be surprised if he even had a say in the length of time given JLo. That kind of thing is often negotiated/dictated by folks well above a show's power level.

One thing that has bugged is how tiiiiiired everyone said they were. They were spared a minimum of two weeks of performance - at least one of which would have been a multiple-song show for each one of them. They also enjoyed the loosest standard of being sent home of any season - there were any number of jidges saves and such. I also do not recall many group performances. No tour? No results shows? No need for them.

I will give LaPorsha a little credit here because in one of the Facebook Live interviews before the finale she was asked which former contestant she looked up to the most and her answer was all of them because they had much longer seasons to deal with. So she was definitely awaee of it. She said something like "They would only be at the halfway point by now and we are done." Then she and Dalton added "And we ARE done" as if to say they were both ready for it to be over. I think the whole process is exhausting regardless of the length of the season. I think the double eliminations which whittled the field down early also made things much busier especially for the four who were still standing at the end because there were less people to spread the interviews around.

Plus the very early seasons didn't have the social media aspect in the same way these kids did. Yes, they made even the Season 1 contestants read the Idol forums and react to that but the online stuff wasn't nearly as intensive as it is now. In addition to all of the TV interviews, these guys were doing interviews with every blogger on the planet around plus their own Periscoping and Facebook Live stuff, etc.

It also seems like the show was not always great at conveying the process to the contestants week to week. In some of his Periscopes people asked Trent about how the eliminations would go or how duets would work and he often really didn't know. This season deviated so much from the way they did things in prior seasons that I imagine not knowing what was coming week to week until the last minute would be stressful.

But I totally get what you are saying and will sort of reference Kelly saying that you better be able to handle Simon if you want to survive in the music industry and add that you better be able to deal with the Idol workload if you want to make it after Idol.

[Hanahope]

Finally got around to seeing this last night.  I had recorded it because I was out that night, but I did look up who the winner was.  The disappointment that it wasn't LP kept me from watching it right away, though apparently since it was only alumni and judges who sang, it was ok.  I think this seasons singers were robbed since they didn't get to perform at all except at the very beginning.  Usually the finale has most of the top 24 and certainly the top 10 and 2 getting song bits to do.  While I appreciate seeing all the alumni on the series finale, they should have had this season's singers do something as well.

Trent is ok, but imo, he's very bland.  Yes, he did Chandelier very well, and his other songs were decent, but he's not very memorable.  LP, OTOH, is very memorable (the hair helps a lot).  The WGWG segment is a case in point.  Other than David Cook, frankly none of those guys are all that memorable or special to me.  Its a real good example of lowest common denominator and why America voting will nearly always result in bland.  Frankly, David Cook reminds me a heck of a lot like Chris Daughtry, and both of them are really only more 'rocker' than the other WGWG.  Caleb and James have real hard rock voices, so they stand out, and Constantine will always be memorable.  I would never have recognized Bo without his Jesus/David Grohl look.

Of course, many of the women weren't all that memorable either.  Yes,  i recognized some names, but I would never be able to pick most of them out in a line up.  There was a definite vibe of what are they doing now.  I definitely missed Haley.  I'm not surprised that Idol gave special segments to their two most successful winners, Kelly and Carrie.  Have to remind America that a broken clock is still right twice a day.

Kara, if you want to make a name for yourself beyond writing songs for others, you need a schtick like Sia.  You are as unmemorable as many of the female idol singers.  But frankly, imo, you don't have to be remembered for showing and shaking your ass either.  

[Jordan27]

But the number of votes are made by people who are personally invested in who wins -- which is why I said it comes down to votes and personal preference.  They're not wasting their time voting multiple times for someone they don't want to win.

Not so.  Many voted to keep someone around who might be in trouble.  Sanjaya for example.