The Grammys are well over, and “American Idol” is whittling down this season’s finalists after having just been to Las Vegas.
Both of these shows have made an impression on me lately, and I think that I now understand why some artists are successful and why others fall by the wayside.
My parents watch “American Idol” religiously. Outside of “NCIS,” it’s really the only show they openly discuss with me or anybody else they know. I’ve never really been a fan of “American Idol”; I watched some of the early seasons, and after the second or third time of “Same Old Song and Dance” (pardon the pun), I had had enough and was no longer interested.
From time to time my father, whose musical ear I trust more than anyone’s, will say, “Son, you’ve gotta come listen to this.” And sure enough, more often than not, it’s someone on “American Idol” who is singing well.
So this got me to thinking: What makes a good song, and moreover, what makes a great performance?
Really, I think that what “American Idol” and, on a slightly bigger stage, the Grammys have taught me is what it takes for a show to blow up.
This was recently reconfirmed when I had a back-to-back showing of “Live in Hyde Park” by Bruce Springsteen and “Live at the Royal Albert Hall” by Adele.
There are two kind of artists out there. There are the kinds of writers, singers and songwriters who do songs only because they need a hit on their album or they need a song to fill a hole.
I think this is the wrong way to go about writing an album or a song. For instance, I think this is one of the reasons (among others) that some hip-hop and rap artists get a bad rep.
They write songs about money or the lack thereof, and it’s not only unconvincing, but it lacks any emotion for the listener to grab onto.
Then you’ve got the artists like Adele and Springsteen that put everything into their songs. When they’re performing live, they draw you in and demand, not ask, that you give a little bit of yourself, whether you’re singing along at home or you’re at their live stage show.
A song that I’ll always feel is Stevie Wonder’s version of the Michael Jackson hit “The Way You Make Me Feel.” He performed it at the 25th anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert a little over four months after Jackson’s death.
He played it while thinking of Jackson and even broke down during the song, which is what makes it a better piece.
After discussing it with a friend, I think that this emotion, the actual feelings behind a song, is what makes Adele, Springsteen and many other artists such wonderful successes.
While many songs out there are relatable, there aren’t nearly as many that people can feel. (Which is why I think Springsteen’s “The Rising” is one of my favorites.)
What you get with “American Idol” are people who are dying to live out their dreams of becoming famous musicians, channeling their emotions into their performances, generally with songs that mean something to them, but were written by someone else.
This is my thought on why many of them have been commercial flops. They don’t put in the same emotion from a song that is handed to them as when they write their own songs. They lose that value that people saw in them when they were performing their hearts out on national television.
So I guess what I’m saying is if a singer, a writer or a performer doesn’t put some feeling into what they’re trying to do, they will ultimately fail. People relate through emotion and will therefore want to listen to and eventually buy the music in question.
