The New Era of Art and Celebrity: Does the Story Matter More than the Talent?
Examining recent trends in mainstream pop culture to determine what makes an artist have mass appeal today.
The past week, American Idol wrapped up its current season and crowned its 2024 winner. I’ll admit the show has been a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve watched several seasons since its debut back in 2002, when Kelly Clarkson won the coveted title. However, a lot has changed since then and, when you look at popular music and celebrity through those years, reflects the changes in the larger commercial creative landscape. Think about those beginning years with Simon Cowell, an actual talent scout and record producer, coldly criticizing and eliminating contestants based on ambition, looks, and the all important X-factor. Randy Jackson famously called out musical mistakes. (Remember ‘it’s pitchy, Dawg’?). And Paula was all about the presentation.
Now, the show rarely critiques anyone harshly, and generally heaps on tons of praise to everyone (mostly) equally. Katy Perry occasionally dishes out some constructive criticism, but it’s nothing at all compared to the Simon — or even Harry Connick Jr — days. And none of the judges are talent scouts or record producers. Also, instead of marketing and moulding the contestants to become up and coming heartthrobs, divas, and ‘the one in a million’ undiscovered gem types, the current version of Idol focuses on relatability, rags to riches stories, and ordinary Joes just looking for a hand up. Essentially anyone can be the next American Idol, even you.
Whether or not this new format is creating better or more talented singers is up for debate. After all, we’ve not seen the likes of another Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood like the early Idol years used to create. However, it is keeping viewers invested in the show. Generally speaking, people are less interested in the ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous’ type of shows, and celebrity socialites are becoming a thing of the past. Even the Kardashians had their show cancelled at E! (Though they eventually moved to streaming, it’s still a step down.) Instead, the public seems more drawn to authentic — or seemingly authentic — stories they can relate to or sympathize with. Idol contestants with relatable/sympathetic backstories were regularly voted to stay on the show longer than some better singers with less compelling stories. We seem to be squarely back in the realm of rooting for the underdog, and this past season of Idol was rife with stories of hardship and overcoming obstacles.
As another example, take the recent creation and buzz around the Jeopardy! Masters Tournament. Six former top contestants were brought back to play one ultimate tournament. These people were just ordinary folks being themselves who happened to be good at quiz games, and yet all of the so-called ‘masters’ have become household names now. Some have been given podcasts and book deals, and regularly trend on twitter after each game. Today, we want to root for regular people doing great things, not the untouchable one with the rare god-given talent, or the drop dead gorgeous one with no other abilities, or the ultra rich nepo-baby one with a life that no one else can have. There’s no curiosity about what the inside of someone’s mansion looks like anymore. Instead, we want people just like us to make it to the top today.
Does this mean talent doesn’t matter? Not at all, but it’s not the only thing that does. To go back to Idol, the winner this year is incredibly talented. She was even awarded the platinum ticket during auditions to skip the next round of eliminations. However, there were other contestants with that same level of talent who were eliminated very early on the competition. The two other platinum ticket holders didn’t even make the top 10. So what made the difference? In my opinion, it was a mix of things, but largely it boils down to relatability. The contestant who won was able to adapt and grow, but maintained her sense of self the entire time. She was authentic, relatable, and talented. One of the other platinum contestants had an amazing voice, but sang in a niche genre that turned a lot of people off. As a result, he became harder to connect with for many. And yet, would asking him to sing in a more commercial genre be considered inauthentic? This is where the dilemma lies.
It seems for an artist to become most commercially successful, they need to be both authentic and widely relatable. However, these two things may contrast in a person. What if someone is the best and most authentic fusion jazz musician that ever lived, and yet no one in mainstream radio or concert promotion (or just general listeners) is going to be very interested in that genre. Perhaps that person will become famous in their niche, and that’s great! But when we think about an ‘American Idol’, we’re looking for something mainstream, and what, exactly, is considered mainstream is going to change over time. There’s a reason rock singers used to regularly make the top 3 in the early days of Idol, and now they pretty much never do.
So should an artist chase trends to be successful? No. I’d very much argue against that. For one, trends change quickly, and the amount of time required to put out an album, or publish a book, or film a movie takes way too long to try and chase trends. I’ll admit, I, too, get caught up in trying to figure out what people want creatively, but isn’t that just professional people-pleasing? Further more, copycat artwork never does as well as the original, and people who are trying to be something they just aren’t are sniffed out a mile away. Nobody likes a poser. And once again we’re back to authenticity.
Maybe we need to accept that it’s the end for the big time star. We’ll start to have more appreciation for the niche talent, and those who are fantastic in their own, smaller areas of art. After all, we’ve had cult classic films, genre novels, and indie music for ages. Will the future of art see a surge in those smaller markets? Perhaps it’s not about everyone being able to like one person, but rather about everyone deciding who they really relate to, and that’s about authenticity of audience. Don’t jump on the bandwagon for a big name only because they’re a big name. Instead, figure out who or what you really like and support that. Be an authentic audience member. It only seems fair if we’re demanding that same authenticity from our artists.
And of course we are going to see some artists manage to hit both marks in regard to talent and mass relatability, just like the recent winner of American Idol has managed to do. I think Taylor Swift also fits this description. No, she’s not the best singer or dancer out there, but she does present as both authentic and relatable. She does have talent, but she also has great stories with regard to heartbreak and her past relationships that she often writes about. She has a reputation of making herself accessible to fans, and her fans genuinely see her as someone they’d like to spend time with. Contrast that to the diva behaviour of the biggest pop stars from just a decade or two ago. Their voices were top notch incredible, but that kind of Taylor Swift-style relatability was just not there.
I’m curious to see how far this shift will go. On one hand, we’ve had numerous social media celebrities break out by being themselves online, levelling the playing field by not needing a recording contract or talent agent to get seen. On the other hand, we’ve got websites full of regular folks trying to get famous and are doing nothing but cluttering up the place. It still takes both talent and authentic relatability, and just showing your face in a TikTok post day after day isn’t really demonstrating either one.
I think what’s quite interesting, and perhaps a bit of a preview of what’s to come, is what happened with Idol’s third place contest — a guy named Jack Blocker. Jack came in to audition and only got the attention of one Judge, which isn’t enough to move forward. His dismissal was largely due to him having strange facial movements when he sang, which the other two judges found too distracting. However, the crew of the show protested and convinced the judges to pass him through to the next stage — a move which ultimately let America judge and landed Jack Blocker in the finale of the competition. See, the thing with Jack is that once you put the funny looks aside, he appeared to be the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with. He was always friendly and optimistic, by all accounts is a good person with a loving wife, and seemed like he could be someone in your own friend circle. He also has an incredible voice.
In the end, it isn’t the best looking or richest or even the most technically correct artist we look to celebrate these days. We want the talent, but we also want the relatability, the authenticity, and the story. Maybe it spells bad news for the world wide diva sensations of yesteryear, but I also think it spells bad news for AI. After all, you can’t grab a beer with AI, and it won’t have a single authentic story to share, even if it can sing with perfect precision.
This was the case for many jazz musicians, many quite talented. I don't think it's surprising that many died very young, usually in conjunction with heroin addiction, combined with living at a time when it was difficult to be alive as a black person in America.