Karaoke Forums

I might just add that I won't mind if all the other reality shows except Idol shows are shelved. The others have their moments, but none of them are as brilliant as this.

slanoue, your opinion is completely appreciated and understood by me. But I don't mind the fun-making of bad singers and "karaoke" singers because again; they only take part and set themselves up for critique by their own choice. Simon's implication that a typical karaoke singer is not made to be a kind of star that Fremantle Media is looking for, in my opinion, is mostly right. That's why there are karaoke competitions as well

jee

Hm. Well, I do'nt watch tv..  (except for ONE SHOW -iron chef. or, Martha stewart)

AND, i hate BEING on tv.


Lol, everytime a camera got into my face at the idol thing, I refused, and the cameraman joked and said that that was the wrong place for me:) Lol. Good point. But, heck, I just didn't want there to be PROOF that i was there. Lol.


Jee, you made sseveral good points.

Attendance WAS voluntary...... i suppose... you have to SEE the people, in person to really understand... or, hear them rather.... you see them, standing with discmans, and lyrics sheets practicing. And, then, you hear them, and there are some, that are SOOOOO bad, you want to kick their own mothers for letting them come to this. So, yes, it is voluntary.. but, what is MISSING in their own heads, that don't allow themselves to HEAR themselves for what they really are?! And... even the other kids in LINE lie to them! not just the producers, or the herders, or anyone else... the other contestants do as well. So, we can't exactly only blame the show itself... i mean, someone's mama, is sitting at home thinking that their baby is gonna be the next idol, when in fact, babies cry  when she sings.



Actually, another annoying point. ALOT of the people were the minimum age-16. There were a LOT OF PARENTS THERE. Mainly mums. And, oh my goodness, those women are mean and scary. I swear, if I heard one more time, how amazing all of their children are, at EVERYTHING they do, i was going to take me ole knitting needles, and injure someone!!

(for some reason, the mothers all gravitated towards me to chat with, while they were waiting for their kids......yeah, i'm cool)


Ok, that was one big babble. Next time, I will wait for coffee to kick in.







Oh, and jee, you said 4 people. Actually, yes, there are 4 celeb judges, but, you don' see them, for getting past 2 rounds of screening first. The first two rounds, you only sing for producers of the show. I got cut in the first round, so, just one producer, and like, an assistant? or something? and the OTHER people in the room for the other 4 kids, waiting their turn.


Ok, buh bye.

There is a point on which I can sympathize with Gilly!  Kida and their moms.  I go to a lot of auditions here in Raleigh, and NCT usually has the kids and adults audition together.  It is basically a first come, first serve atmosphere.  And the mothers will think nothing of telling you you're not getting a part because my son or daughter is here.  And I think sometimes what they do to these kids is sad.  

One kid showed up to the audition in full costume, with makeup on and everything and tried to sing a song WAY out of his range and sounded like a frog.  And the whole time, the mom is bragging how he is deffo gonna be in the show.  Well, the kid came out of the room crying cuz he did so bad and the mother scolded him for screwing up his audition, right in front of everyone there.  That was sad.

It's one thing to be proud of your children, but they don't understand that for some of us, auditions are work, and not a popularity contest.  Some of us want to make a career for ourselves and take care of our families and to do that, we will go to 15 auditions in a week, sometimes driving miles and miles to do it, while taking off from our full time paying jobs just for the chance to be in the chorus.  Sometimes, I think some parents want to just brag how great their kids are when in their "social circles".

Kids like that, if they don't make it, are being set up for a major fall!

I dunno if I'm being too harsh, but that is just what I descern from the situation!

Jason

_________________
Simon: Alright, so we're missing the echo! Robert, I can honestly say you're the worst singer I've ever heard in my life!"

Robert: Thank you!

From X Factor.

Don't worry Gilly, I could babble about Idol contest for hours, if not days

Well, I didn't even think of starting a discussion about self-criticism because many books can be written about that subject. The Idol contest is very lucky in that sense; if all people were self-critical and aware of their skills, the format wouldn't exist as it does now. I didn't know but was quite sure about the initial rounds before tv appearances, because many times the contestants have been talking about "getting this far" etc. I had a hunch they weren't just talking about distance between their homes and the qualification site.

The purpose of the first two rounds is obviously to filter out everything that would not be interesting on tv, at least in the producers' opinion. They let some bad but colourful singers through and then the singers who in their opinion are really good in order to create easily spotted differences for the tv show. That's a cruel way to do a script (thinking of both contestants and viewers) but then again, that's tv and they have the right to do so. What would be an ethical thing to do is, that they would tell the bad singers immediately that they really suck, but they get through for entertainment reasons only and that if they wanted, they could choose not to perform on tv. Maybe the producers are already doing that, I wouldn't know, but I doubt it.

The bad singers, those that really suck and absolutely have no idea what it takes to be a singer (I mean the ones that would get ratings 1-2 at Singer's Showcase, the ones I've never seen there so far), have had a problem at least until they went to measure themselves in the Idol contest. If they're wise, they accept the feedback and either take singing lessons or concentrate on something else. These "wise" people are the easier group. The more difficult group are the bad singers (that you saw there) who were falsely praised by their mothers, sisters, brothers, friends, teachers, etc. ever since they sang their first note. I could say in general, that these people have no hope. Unfortunately they are also the ones that don't take critique easily and keep trying year after year never realizing that singing is not their thing. The surroundings is to blame. If you've grown in a lie, where can you go? You're trapped. That's a very unfortunate destiny and I can't wish that to anyone!

There's a good example in Finland from the latter group. We don't have a lot of skillful singers in Finland, which made it possible that a guy that was in no way a good singer (he would've maybe made it among the 50,000 best of AI this year) made it third in the Finnish idol. He got most votes from 8-14 year old girls, who wouldn't know what's required from a real singer either. In one episode when there was about seven finalists left, one of the judges said that he was the weakest singer of them all but most likely because of his good looks he will make it far with the help of young voters (and so happened..). To this comment he said: "C'mon, I do know how to sing now!". I and my friends (among many others) have been laughing at the phrase ever since and it still makes me smile when I think about it. Throughout his life, he's always been told he's a good singer and never been mocked about his vocals so how could he know? Well, luckily enough he was born in Finland so he made it third in Idol, got popular - and rich. And he still can't sing. A true cinderella story!

If I see people who are uncertain about their singing skills, I normally recommend them to record their singing and listen to themselves. That's not always the solution but many times it gives an idea. We are lucky to have found SS because there we can not just judge ourselves but be judged by other singing fans. What can be a better way to learn than this? Forget singing lessons, because there you get only one opinion. Join SS and feel true awareness! (PHIL, does this ad buy me some extra points?)

jee

Jason, I agree with you 100% on that and feel sorry for those kids. I hope that at least the moms are not too musical themselves. That at least they honestly think their kids are good. That those moms themselves were raised in an environment so encouraging, that no flaws were ever talked about. If that is the case, it's very sad, but it makes the behavior acceptable. They just don't know better!

jee

Very good point Jee.  I can't say for sure if they have musical backgrounds or not, all I know is their noses are way too high in the air sometimes.  Anyways, this is prolly best left for another topic.  Peace out!

Jason

_________________
Simon: Alright, so we're missing the echo! Robert, I can honestly say you're the worst singer I've ever heard in my life!"

Robert: Thank you!

From X Factor.

The first time I watched AI, I was already aware that the contestants had already been screened at least once to get that far.  I watched the auditions and couldn't help thinking how arbitrary the competition can be at that stage.  I mean, you sit around for hours and then when you finally get up there you get, what, twenty or thirty seconds to impress them.  If you miss one note, or you have to stifle a cough, or your mouth goes dry for a few seconds, you're screwed.  If your first-round judge happens to be in a bad mood when it's your turn, you're screwed.  If you happen to follow somebody just a little bit better than you, you're screwed.  If you pick a song your judge hates, you're screwed.  If you don't have the right look, you're screwed.

In this year's AI, Jessica Sierra has advanced to the final twelve contestants.  Last year she didn't get past the first round.  Did she really improve that much in one year?  I doubt it.

I can sympathize with you Gilly, when you feel like you got lumped in with a group of people with less than zero talent.  Even if you feel like you don't really want to advance, it would be nice to get a little recognition for being better than crap.

_________________
Reward: nine yen in drawer.

!! omg.. we are so much alike in that respect!! Well, I don't know if you are actually like this or not, but I CAN'T STAND being... well.. 'in the public eye' so to speak. Being on TV (even being videotaped) is like torture for me. I never even liked to be photographed. Putting songs up on SS has been a real breakthrough for me, in fact. It's something I never thought I would be able to do.

Here's a funny story.

When I was oh... 3 or 4  years old (about the age of those baby pics I posted), my mom had taken me to a park in NJ. I was swinging, she was standing next to the swingset watching me, when a TV crew came over to interview her about something. Well, I guess the camera folk thought it would be a 'cute' scene because it was a mom & this cute little girl... but every time they would put the camera on me, I would just GLARE at them... ... my mom finally got mad at me for not being friendly (she didn't realize i basically felt 'violated' with their big scary cameras). Somehow, that bit never made it to the 6-O'clock news. hehheheh (I can just imagine the scary little face I was making).

Hey there Gilly girl.... I could say the same to you.... We all tell you that you are a fabulous singer and yet you do not seem to believe us when we tell you this..

How do YOU not HEAR yourself for what you are? It works both ways girl!!  :hug:

You know I'm not say this in a snotty way... I love you to bits, and personally I was very disappointed that you got treated that way.. I would have at least like to have seen you get a little bit further after you'd put yourself out there.

Anyways - I see that you've put up a song or two this week and I've fallen down on listening lately.. SO.. DO NOT BE PULLIN until I get to hear (please)

I think your babbling disease is contagious .. Nahh.. I just like to write books