American Idol was really
part of my childhood. My family started watching during Season 3, and we
watched every year obsessively. We still watch it, although we’re getting kinda
sick of it, especially since Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul left their judge positions
and the contestants who have won recently aren’t our taste. (That’s code for
“aren’t very talented, especially compared to the runner-ups and other
finalists.”)
Recently, the media has been
buzzing that Idol has a woman problem. Well, the stats don’t lie.
Kelly
Clarkson (Season 1, 2002)
Justin Guarini
Nikki McKibbin
Reuben
Studdard (Season 2, 2003)
Clay Aiken
Kimberley Locke
Fantasia
Barrino (Season 3, 2004)
Diana DeGarmo
Jasmine Trias
Carrie
Underwood (Season 4, 2005)
Bo Bice
Vonzell Solomon
Taylor Hicks (Season 5, 2006)
Katharine McPhee
Elliott Yamin (Jewish)
Jordin
Sparks (Season 6, 2007)
Blake Lewis
Melinda Doolittle
David
Cook (Season 7, 2008)
David Archuleta
Syesha Mercado
Kris
Allen (Season 8, 2009)
Adam Lambert (Jewish and gay)
Danny Gokey
Lee
DeWyze (Season 9, 2010)
Crystal Bowersox
Casey James
Scotty
McCreery (Season 10, 2011)
Lauren Alaina
Haley Reinhart
Phillip
Phillips (Season 11, 2012)
Jessica Sanchez
Joshua Ledet
Out of the winners, 4/11 are women.
Yes, you read that correctly, folks, a mere third (36%) of American Idol
winners are female. Including all of the top-three finalists, it evens out to
about half and half, with 16 women and 17 men (48% female). However, it’s clear
to see that the American voting public has gotten more male-centric as the
years have gone on; there hasn’t been a female winner since Jordin Sparks in
2007.
The main reason that more men
have won is because the people most likely to vote (and vote obsessively) is
the pre-teen/tween girl demographic. Considering girls from this age group have
made singers like Justin Bieber wildly successful, it’s not surprising that
they vote for relatively cute, younger guys. (Kris Allen was 24 while on the
show, Lee DeWyze 24, Scotty McCreery 17, and Phillip Phillips 21.)
While I’m talking about American
Idol, I’d like to rant a little about Season 9. That was the year Kris
Allen won, and Adam Lambert placed second. I’m a wild Adam Lambert fan (I saw
him four times in concert, once at a meet and greet, and am looking forward to
his upcoming concert tour), and was deeply upset when he lost, since it was
clear to everybody that his voice was just superior to Allen’s. I guess it
wasn’t a big surprise. I mean, who was tweenage middle
America going to vote for: Kris Allen, the cute, boy-next-door,
Christian Southerner, or Adam Lambert, the gay, Jewish, uber-cool Californian
with dyed black hair? Well, the tweens might’ve voted for Allen, but they
didn’t stick with him after Idol ended. His first album has yet to make
it to Gold certification, and I couldn’t find records of sales for his second
album, even though it’s been out for over a month. Adam Lambert’s first album,
despite a lot of controversy, quickly passed Gold. His recently-released second
album, Trespassing, debuted at number one on the Billboard (the first by
an openly gay artist to do so).
It’s unfortunate that female
contestants are going onto shows like American Idol are at a major
disadvantage. The statistics about women winners on Idol are mirrored on
other American singing competitions: men won both seasons of The Voice (and
only 3/8 finalists, 38%, are female), a woman won the only season of The X
Factor (she was the only woman among the top three finalists, though), and two
boys co-won The Glee Project (the runner-ups were one girl and one boy).
Tweenage girls: next season of Idol,
could you please vote for the female contestants, if they’re just as talented
(if not more) than their male counterparts?
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