I’ve watched American Idol relatively devoutly for the last few seasons, despite certain friends’ disdain and derision. And while I watched the finale today, Kris vs Adam (or boy next door vs Goth rebel, as some have called it), I was thinking about music, musicians and pop culture. Personally, I have very indiscriminate music tastes – I listen to everything from Western Classical to R&B. And time and again, I’ve come under fire from people with, possibly, a more refined ear for music.
Pop, as I understand it, is looked down upon because of its “commercial” origins – bands and artists sing songs written by other people. I can understand why bands like NSync and the Backstreet Boys are preteen indulgences that we grow out of: their music is temporary, their sentiments mostly “synthetic” and their appeal is situational. They work and re-work cliches in order to make millions off the sentimental hankerings of people across the globe, fair enough.
The two finalists on American Idol this year, quite appropriately, represented opposing perspectives of American popular culture: the boy next door, Kris Allen was, I think, condemned to being written off because of his modesty and his self-effacing attitude despite his (yes, believe it) considerable musical talent. He took big, mainstream songs and effectively put his own stamp on them – changing melodies around, singing in his own style and managing to convey his sincerity through someone else’s words. Adam Lambert, on the other hand, seemed to be cast in the mould of the original American (adolescent) rebel, what with his Goth look, the much-talked about eyeliner and his unusual and admittedly astonishing vocal capacities.
While I thought both of them deserved to win, I did lean slightly more towards Kris, merely because he’s got just the sort of voice that I’d want to listen to, all the time. Adam, on the other hand, demands a certain incessant attention, a level of musical involvement that I just cannot give. But Kris’s docility and tendency to be less – well, attention-seeking – than Adam made him an easy target for being labelled “mainstream”, “pop” and that most undesirable of all positive labels, “Christian”. Adam’s alleged homosexuality also made it easy for people to say that America’s conservative middle class voted against him on the basis of everything other than his musical talent.
While I completely do not agree with the above assessment, I must admit that perhaps the above did happen, that Adam was disadvantaged because of his much-touted rebel image. But so what? In the end, both of them are different people, they’re allowed to believe in and represent different perspectives, just as we’re all allowed, individually, to conform and rebel as we see fit.
The problem arises when either one, conformity or rebellion, become the new norm. What we don’t seem to understand when we idolise either is that by simply adhering to one, or loudly declaiming the other, we ourselves are guilty of an opinionated bias – the very same bias that we’re often attempting to distance ourselves from.
So let me listen to my random assortment of music, while you listen to whatever it is that you want to. And if you feel moved enough to attempt to enlarge my musical vision, feel free. I’ll try anything.
