Overview: How do you turn a talent search into a phenomenon? Simple. You let America be the judge. In the summer of 2002, that's exactly what producer Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment along with FremantleMedia did for Fox Television. Beginning with an open call for auditions in seven cities across the country, American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell narrowed a field of over 10,000 pop singer wannabes to one American Idol.
American idol, a season and series juggernaut, one of the most incredible and unique competitions to ever spark the world with the possibility of an unknown person becoming a mega star.
Randy, Paul...
American idol, a season and series juggernaut, one of the most incredible and unique competitions to ever spark the world with the possibility of an unknown person becoming a mega star.
Randy, Paula and Simon, iconic names on their own, but even more when you combine them together. Randy Jackson was a music mogul, an individual who played for Mariah Carey, and a legend in his own right. Paula Abdul music icon from the 80s, one of the biggest selling artist and amazing choreographers ever to step foot on a stage. And then Simon Cowell, the ruthless, aggressive and honest individual that America fell in love with. And has went on to become one of the Biggest Music executive directors in the world.
I’m going to captivate all seasons in this one review, so this is going to be a long one, so enjoy.
Season one, what an incredible journey, a show that you did not think was going to last let alone become such a mega hit that it became. But more importantly, you had to have the right winner. With America voting did we get the right winner? America selected the quiet yet powerful vocals of Kelly Clarkson. Kelly Clarkson went on to solidify the show as a mega superpower. When she became a Grammy award-winning artist, television actress, movie actress, and she is now has a syndicated talk show. Kelly Clarkson went on to sell millions of albums, worldwide and even placed, second place in Idol against all the other idol competitions around the world.
Season two was the biggest controversial season we saw to date trying to follow up with the success of the first season, we awarded Ruben Studdard, the winner of American idol with a bunch of controversy, whether or not Clay Aiken should’ve been the one to go onto the show. Either way, both men came out of the successful and not only did the two men come out successful. Kimberly called well became in Household, hosting and becoming an actress.
Season three delivered Fantasia Barrino, one of the most underrated incredible voices in the world. Her voice is so unique and iconic. She went onto also become a Grammy award winner and best selling R&B artist. She also stemmed Jennifer Hudson and Oscar winning and Grammy winning artist as well from that season who plays seventh place. This showed American idol was not just focused on the winner, but the people from the top 12 also had an opportunity to become super successful. From the season alone we also got Deanna Degarmo who went to become a Broadway legend..
Season four, we got the greatest and legendary country singer in Carrie Underwood. She brought the fire and tore that season apart. She was a young lady who did not know anything and never had been on a plane. To go on and become a multi time, Grammy award winning artist and mega power, and now she sits at the table as one of the judges for American idol.
Season five became the new controversy, after season two and season three brought us severe controversy season five hit us even harder. Taylor Hicks took home the title of American Idol during this season, and ended up failing as a credible winner. Not being able to hold up to the four before him. All four artists before him either are Grammy winners or Grammy nominated artist. Taylor could not live up to those expectations and standards. His fourth finisher Chris Daughtry went to be a Grammy award-winning rockstar. Which is the person everyone thought was going to win this show. Catherine McVie became an actress and Elliott Yamin pulled out a great singing career as well. we also got the Grammy award winning Christian artist Mandisa, and we got country artist of Bucky Covington and country superstar Kellie Pickler. Season five may have had the wrong winner, but it had the most incredible group of top 12.
Season six, we got NFL football players, daughter Jordon Sparks as the winner youngest winner at that time. She went on to become also a Grammy nominated artist, keeping the trend alive that success can come from the show. We also got the boxing talents of Blake Lewis, and a few other individuals who stemmed from the show, but didn’t make it to the superstardom level.
Season seven we started to the show out with one of the most incredible finale battles. We’ve seen in a long time David versus David , two different individuals. One rocker and one gospel singer. The older David, David Cook came out on top as he prevailed the rocker of the season. He went on to sell multiple albums, but still never reached the stardom of five of his predecessors. He still had a very successful career, but it was never a megastar career.
During our season, eight journey, American idol decided to spice things up by adding a fourth judge. Kara Diaguardi and she brought a lot of controversy between Simon and herself. After seven years of being the three they are now the four. Kris Allen captured the title of season eight, with one of the most controversial wins of all time. Front runner and expected winner. Adam Lambert went on to become a star in his own right, but was believed to be the actual winner of the show. But America was not ready for an LGBT winner. Especially someone who was completely open about their sexuality. Now American Idol served a little differently than it normally did you may have got a few people to have minor success after the show. But by this time, if you weren’t the winner, you barely got any success afterwards and that didn’t even mean if you got success. Unfortunately, he may have won the competition but he did just as bad as the previous winner from season five.
We move onto season nine still with the same set of judges, Lee Dewyze wins the title in the most forgettable, unsuccessful, and unpopular season ever. America was not fond of the singer, songwriter, crooner season, that transpired from dispatch. The only thing we got from this was gospel singer Colton Dixon, which to be honest with you, he might’ve actually came from a different season, they also attempted to spice things up just a little more, by replacing longtime judge Paula Abdul with Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen did not work out, she hated everything about judging people, and quit the show immediately after.
Season 10, we return to a three judges panel. With Ellen DeGeneres quitting and American idol not renewing Kara‘s contract, and then Simon Cowell exiting the show. We were left up in the air with the judges panel. They brought on Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and Latin legend, Jennifer Lopez. This season saw the winner of Scotty McCreery, who went on to become a country superstar, but not only that he also was the first in a long time where the runner-up went on to be a country superstar in Lauren Alaina. America and American idol were back on top.
We moved into season 11 with the same judges Randy, Jennifer,Steven and what a group they turned out to be, funny and hilarious and great judges. We saw the coronation of Philip Phillips, who went on to have one of the greatest singles of all time. And even had it as the Olympics theme song for that year. Philip had struggled afterwards to captivate and connect with the audience. Which put him in the same boat as Taylor, David, Kris and Lee. But the American Idol team was helpful.
We moved on to season 12 this season saw the departure of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez as judges. And brought in Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. Unfortunately, for this season, Nikki and Mariah could not get along. The fighting, the continued arguments and bantering back-and-forth, took away from the contestants, and took away from their singing, and what the competition in the show was all about, and it turned into a dramatic all out mess. This season we got the winner of Candice Glover, who went on to do nothing, she became one of those forgotten winners, and one of the most failed American Idol winner of all time at this moment. She did release an album, but it failed on the charts. And it was because I believe the focus was off of these individuals and more on the dramatics of the judges. So nobody grew to love them like you did the previous winners.
So we went on to season 14 of American Idol. At this time, American Idol did not invite Nick or Mariah back, and Randy Jackson decided to part ways. The company brought back Jennifer Lopez to join Keith Urban and then brought on Harry Connick Junior, these three became the saving Grace of at least the judges panel. But it was too late for the show. The show kept these judges for the next three seasons. This season we saw the winner Caleb Johnson who took Candice‘s spot as the worst American Idol winner of all time. His failed rocker vibe and music did not captivate or grab anyone’s attention. His album flocked American idol continue to go.
Season 14, we got the winner of NickFradiani personally he is one of my favorite winners, because his music is incredible and underrated. But to the general public, he didn’t sell as bad as the other two but he’s definitely in the bottom five. He did continue to go on to perform in local venues and push forward the best he could. But now it was a stain on the American idol winners, and I believe it stems from that toxic judges panel.
We moved onto season 15, the end of American idol. They brought back the winners and some fan favorites, had a huge celebration for all the years the show was on there. The judges all came back and everybody celebrated. As the winner, Trent Harmon took on the final title of American idol. And even though, it is the end, it did not give him the push. He thought he was going to get. And he once again with the American idol winners became a failed champion.
American idol stayed gone for over a year, and the general public did miss the show, so Walt Disney purchases the show and brings it back with a more positive and energetic flare. They brought it back with the worst voting system, date. The judges had more power than America, so they got to choose majority of who they’re putting in, when America is the one that should be choosing because we are the ones that buy the albums. I said since day one, this was going to be a failure, if they do not change it back to single elimination instead of group elimination. But American idol decided it was going to do its own thing and push on.
Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan became the new judges of American Idol season 16 through 22
I’m gonna combine the seasons together for the most part, but I’m going to still give them their due and their credibility. Season 16 we saw the winner of Maddie Poppee who also was the wrong winner, because Gabby Barrett who worked third place in the show went on to be a country superstar and was the front runner the entire time. We finally got some thing from one of those shows, but it wasn’t the winner. Unfortunately, the winner went on to be a failed winner again.
Season 17 we saw Laine Hardy someone from previous season come back and capture the title. The Elvis look-alike young country megastar was going to be born, but American idol sat on his album debut, and sat on his music. To the point lane, then became a failed winner and gotten legal trouble, he’s making a return today as we speak. But it may be too late for the young country artist.
Season 18 the pandemic season, the season that took place with everybody filming from their living room or their bedrooms. We watched as American idol still tried to keep this show relevant with everybody submitting their videos, the judges were on zoom, the contestants were on zoom and we continued to watch this show as just Sam, a young woman with financial issues captured the title. She had a beautiful voice and an incredible presence for someone who was never on the stage. Yet, American Idol dropped the ball with her completely, and she became the worst winner of all time.
We moved onto season 19 when Chayce Beckham, captured the title, he went on to also be a failed winner and not successful in the world of music. He did have one song that slowly climb the charts, but never quite got anywhere. He was brought back many times on the show, but that was the only time you seen or heard of him. Yet, just Sam was still left off the show. And never took the stage.
Season 20 we got the winner of Noah Thompson, the wrong winner of American idol hands-down no questions asked. He captured the title of the show because he was extremely attractive. There was no way that America actually voted him in as the best singer, except they chose him based on his looks. And where did it get us another failed winner American idol is tarnished, I don’t see the show producing a mega star ever again. We have went through so much and yet we’ve gotten nowhere.
But American idol continue to push forward with season 21, that’s when America finally saw firsthand. We claimed wrong winners in the past, but this was hands-down the wrong winner. Iam Tongi American idol’s first Hawaiian winner, went on to accomplish nothing. No music, no album and definitely no concerts. He was awarded the win on this show simply because of the passing of his parent, there is no way that this man beat half of the people that he was going up against. Unfortunately, the winners are final and they claim America’s vote. But this is the first time I questioned 100% whether or not, the show was rigged. They think they were going to get success from this person, no, they are not thinking, marketing wise, American idol went for a sympathetic run instead.
Season 22 another controversy strikes American Idol as Katy Perry the judge is called out for bullying a woman for having a baby and sex under age. Even though that is not what happened, we’re in a world of cancel culture. We’re in a world where people blow up social media and change things. So this will be the last season for Katie Perry as a judge. we went on to Crown the winner of Abi Carter, American idol, normally by this time has pushed their artist to be close to having an album, to get music out there and to captivate the world. But we have yet to see anything or hear anything from this young lady and it just looks like we’re gonna follow the same train of another failed winner.
Season 23 Carrie Underwood American idol. All they need is one mega star to come forward to reconnect the crowd and the audience and build up the history of these legendary winners from the past. Because we have not seen a single successful winner since season 10 and before season six. American Idol has more failed winners than they do champions.
