It has been one week since the results of the last Singapore Idol episode when 7 contestants were left. It was nothing short of a surprise outcome and in fact I actually planned to report this in my blog earlier. One of the most promising participant, Maia was ousted from the competition.
Maia is a petite single mother who has never failed to entertain people with her lively performances and powerful voice. Despite her excellent record in catching the audience's attention with her exuberant singing acts, people only took notice of her single mother status. The spotlight on the issue was cast the week before the voting when the local magazines decided to harp on the private lives of these potential idols.
Apparently being a 21-year old unwed mother had made the other competitors seem squeaky clean. Her sexy tantalising dressing only revealed her body of tattoos, drawing more flak. Yet isn't the Singapore Idol a competition to discover singing talents? What does the private lives of the idols have to do with the competition? The situation was so bad that one of the judges, Ken urged the audience to vote based on talent and not other irrelevant criteria like looks. Even the host, Gurmit had to step in to clarify a scandal that Maia and another contestant, Sylvester were dating.
While the it is such a waste that a budding talent was denied a fighting chance, it is not totally unexpected when the voting is passed to the public. After all, the audience are not trained judges and many may vote based on their gut feelings. Yet in order to maintain the professionalism of the competition, magazines should really refrain to spreading unfounded rumours for the sake of readership.
My ex-colleague exclaimed that instead of shedding crocodile tears and claiming that it was a pity, the supporters should have voted more. At the end of the day, it is a situation of vote in rather than vote out the idol.
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I was reading the papers this morning and it was advertised that tomorrow's edition of the Sunday Times would carry the "Secret Romances" of the idols.
Just to ride on the popularity of the "Idol Fever", reporters would juice up scandals. Won't someone tell them that it is SO distasteful?
What you have to remember when you consider celebrities is that their appeal to the public isn't just based on talent. the entertainment industry is a "package deal." the ones who are revered the most, the ones with most notoriety and "make it" so to speak, are the ones who not only have talent, but have the looks and the reputation to go with it.
Unfortunately for all aspiring celebrities (idols and the general oublic alike), the reality is that people will never base you on your talents alone. that is the sad and sorry world. When you consider that even as a celebrity you have to have osmething to 'sell' to the public, a lot of hte time the public have to have something that htey can attach themselves to. Talent isn't always necessarily enough to hold people's attention.
In order to be a celebrity, essentially you become someone that everyone else looks up to. someone to admire. you can't be that person unless you are superior to them in some form or another. and as humans, often the easiest way to distinguish between 'us' and 'them' (the fantastic/imagined ideal), is on image. the look, the background, the reputation.
sadly the celebrity world is such that talent can oftentimes come last on the weighing scale.
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