ACEr on American Idol

The rejection probably is a shock for people who grew up in the "everybody gets a trophy for just showing up" generation.

As far as singing off-key and badly goes, you hear examples of it every day you turn on the radio. I wonder who told many of today's recording stars that they could sing.

All this said, there are a lot of people who start out not being able to sing and through hard work and perseverance made it happen.

When Bono (all things other than singing aside) started in U2, he couldn't sing either and I'm convinced he would've gotten laughed off the stage of A.I.

Sad

I believe that some of these people hear something different than what comes out of their mouths. I had a roomate once that would sing loudly along with music when it was playing. She was always way off key and it was a painful listening experience, amusing at first then became irritating over time.

I finally asked her as nicely as I could to cool it on the sing along. She didn't understand why. She believed she had a great voice and got really pissed. Finally I recorded her singing once and played it back ,and she was like ..oh I'm sorry.

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RollerCoastin!!!! said:
You can tell the difference bewteen the people who are put through for attention and/or ratings but, some of those people obviously have no clue they suck.

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Can you?

Seems to me that if I wanted to get face time on the show that I'd act exactly like the guy who sang Bon Jovi, not someone ridiculous like the guy who waxed his chest.

Think of it this way - the people truly 'faking' it only look real because of the people blantantly just trying to get onto TV.

I'd be surprised if 50% of the people that you end up wondering if they think they can really sing are truly 'real' contestants. Sure there will always be another 'that guy' waiting for a chance, but there will also be 3 others willing to be 'that guy' just for some TV experience.

Reality TV hasn't been 'real' for at least 15 years now. The term 'reality' is simply a genre title anymore - no different than calling something a 'comedy' or a 'drama' or whatever.

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Intamin Fan said:
^I think you can account it to several different factors:

1. Family members and friends who are afraid to hurt the prospective A.I. feelings.
2. People who deceive themselves in spite of family members and friends who've told them otherwise
3. People looking just to have fun even if they know they have no chance in hell
4. People who are "shower-singers" or people who sing in their car. The shower provides some reverb which the auditions lack, and the car radio is probably turned up louder than the person singing, giving a false sense of correct pitch.

My favorite audition moment ever happened in one of the first few seasons. A guy comes in singing horribly off-pitch like normal, and Simon and Randy are busting out laughing the whole entire time. Every time the guy kept trying to sing, the laughing got worse. I think even Paula got in on it.

The guy was horribly humilated, and he vented his rage in the feedback room later. I felt bad for the guy, but you should have some idea of how bad you are before you enter the room.

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Don't forget that a few of these folks are legitimately mentally ill. It's unfortunate that those that are even get in front of a camera. *** Edited 1/19/2008 2:52:05 AM UTC by Brad G***

This is my favorite American Idol contestant:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lF54oTSEIzI

Two gems from that same show:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=omfx3pVuzDk
http://youtube.com/watch?v=07l70kley7U

Brad G, I totally agree that there are some mentally ill people who audition. I remember a older woman who auditioned in 04' or 05' who clearly had something wrong going on in her head.

The producers of the show made things worse by playing "Psycho-like" music upon her departure. To add insult to injury, she made the clips roundup of the worst of the worst auditions from that season.

Lord Gonchar has totally hit the nail on the head as far as reality t.v. goes. Too much of it is in fact scripted t.v. The writers and/or producers come up with concepts for the contestants to do which usually involves pushing someone's product or business, or they are forced into situations to cause conflict.

The only show I've consistently watched and admired is "The Amazing Race." While not a perfect show in terms of some of things I've just mentioned, to me the show feels a lot more random and "lifelike" due to the navigational skills (or lack there of), team relationships, dealing with airplanes and airports, and being thrown into foreign cultures.

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Gonch said: I'd be surprised if 50% of the people that you end up wondering if they think they can really sing are truly 'real' contestants. Sure there will always be another 'that guy' waiting for a chance, but there will also be 3 others willing to be 'that guy' just for some TV experience.

Reality TV hasn't been 'real' for at least 15 years now. The term 'reality' is simply a genre title anymore - no different than calling something a 'comedy' or a 'drama' or whatever.

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I agree. With regard to this show I think that became evident with William Hung's success after auditioning with a painfully off-key "talent". He became famous for being bad.

And even though his success may have been innocent enough for him, he set a precedent for others to follow. Fame and celebrity suddenly became realistic with or without talent so long as you have a gimmick that catches people's attention.

I truly don't mean to offend anyone who watches the show, but what amazes me is how many people stop their lives to religiously watch this pointless garbage. I'd rather chew nails. In the last seat of Goudurix.

Yes, that's my opinion and nothing more.

^That's why you get a DVR or TiVo, so you don't have to stop your life to watch the shows you want to. ;) I don't know anyone that has to be near a TV at a certain time to catch a show...

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RatherGoodBear said:
The rejection probably is a shock for people who grew up in the "everybody gets a trophy for just showing up" generation.

As far as singing off-key and badly goes, you hear examples of it every day you turn on the radio. I wonder who told many of today's recording stars that they could sing.

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Thank you. :)

-Tina

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Lord Gonchar said:

Reality TV hasn't been 'real' for at least 15 years now. The term 'reality' is simply a genre title anymore - no different than calling something a 'comedy' or a 'drama' or whatever.

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Exactly. Stick a camera in front of 100 people and I can pretty much guarantee 95 of them are no longer "real".

^99, one cant see the camera.