Simon Cowell is a star.<\/p>\n
I like Kelly Clarkson.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s cute, honest about her weight\/body image and is a good singer.\u00c2\u00a0 But she’s not a star.\u00c2\u00a0 Her best material is written by others.\u00c2\u00a0 And she has the depth of an Oreo cookie.\u00c2\u00a0 If I asked her to wrestle between higher taxes and a social safety net, I’d expect her to go blank and suggest we get another drink.<\/p>\n
But I’m sure Simon Cowell has an opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 Real stars don’t exist in a vacuum, but in the environment, they’re aware of their surroundings, their context.<\/p>\n
As for the other "Idol" winners…<\/p>\n
Clay Aiken couldn’t admit he was gay.\u00c2\u00a0 Oops, he wasn’t the winner that year?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, he got the longest ride, which is just about over.\u00c2\u00a0 A real star is not afraid of who he is, he owns his identity, he doesn’t fake it.<\/p>\n
Adam Lambert played coy with his sexual identity until the competition was over.\u00c2\u00a0 Stars don’t leave us guessing about where they stand.\u00c2\u00a0 And after coming out, selling his music, Adam resembled nothing so much as a cartoon.<\/p>\n
Let’s see, other "Idol" victors…<\/p>\n
I just can’t think of one.<\/p>\n
Oh yeah, that young woman, the plump one, what was her name again?\u00c2\u00a0 Jordin Sparks…\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s see, we’ve got Jim Morrison, college-educated, writing poetry, and Jordin’s number one asset is her smile.\u00c2\u00a0 Whoo-hoo!<\/p>\n
I’m not saying "Idol" will crumble without Simon Cowell, although I do expect it to sustain a deep ratings hit, but the reason the show has been so successful is because of this one man, who won’t wear a tie on camera, who smiles like the Mona Lisa, daring us to wonder what he thinks, and when he speaks states his own, unequivocal truth.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a star.<\/p>\n
That’s why we revere stars.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not beholden to a boss.\u00c2\u00a0 They do it their way.<\/p>\n
Mmm…\u00c2\u00a0 God, everybody on the hit parade seems to be beholden to someone else.\u00c2\u00a0 Thanking their sponsors…\u00c2\u00a0 Doing whatever their labels tell them to do…\u00c2\u00a0 Unwilling to offend anyone in their pursuit of the brass ring.\u00c2\u00a0 No wonder the public likes the song at most, and why music doesn’t drive the culture.<\/p>\n
Steve Jobs?\u00c2\u00a0 The biggest rock star on the planet.\u00c2\u00a0 Does whatever he wants, is beholden to no one and releases the best damn products.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t agree?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s just the point, stars have haters, from the beginning of time.\u00c2\u00a0 At least people CARE, have an opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s got an opinion on all those evanescent singers in the Top Forty?<\/p>\n
Somehow, in the dash for cash, we’ve given up searching for stars.<\/p>\n
Stars are uncontrollable, they break ground, they need to do it their way.\u00c2\u00a0 Why, with millions on the line, would investors want to spend money on people like this?<\/p>\n
But they used to.\u00c2\u00a0 When there was less money at stake.\u00c2\u00a0 When labels weren’t owned by multinational conglomerates, when those truly in charge were willing to take risks.<\/p>\n
Risks…\u00c2\u00a0 What’s the cliche, no reward without risk?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s true.\u00c2\u00a0 There hasn’t been any risk in the music business for eons.\u00c2\u00a0 Except by no-talents pissed no one’s paying attention.<\/p>\n
Speak your mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Take a stand.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t be afraid to offend.\u00c2\u00a0 The opposite is death.<\/p>\n
We love to watch Simon Cowell.\u00c2\u00a0 Because we truly believe it’s his opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 That he’s not second-guessing us, is not beholden to the sponsors or Fox.<\/p>\n
And like a true star, Simon is willing to strike out on his own, to bet on himself.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t begrudge stars their success, we feel they’re entitled.<\/p>\n
Love him or hate him, you pay attention to Simon Cowell.<\/p>\n
"X Factor" will succeed, this is assured.\u00c2\u00a0 As for your next record…odds are not so good.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Simon Cowell is a star. I like Kelly Clarkson.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s cute, honest about her weight\/body image and is a good singer.\u00c2\u00a0 But she’s not a star.\u00c2\u00a0 Her best material is written by others.\u00c2\u00a0 And she has the depth of an Oreo cookie.\u00c2\u00a0 If I asked her to wrestle between higher taxes and a social safety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Fc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}