Photo of Bucky Covington greeting fans in Louisville by the very talented BuckyCrazed...thanks again!(Tl;dr editorial follows--short-but-sweet news post next, I promise!--W)
Let's face it...on a blog called Buckymania, you'd probably expect an article titled Are American Idol finalists quickly forgotten? (the title question is answered with an emphatic yes in the text) to get a vigorous rebuttal. And it will, of course--but not for the reasons that might come to mind right off the bat.
The author's facts are absolutely correct. After an overview of this season's current and expected releases, (besides Season Two, this is the only year of Idol in which the winner wasn't the first to have his or her album hit the shelves), the main point of the piece--"the actual real-world sales impact of the non-winners is remarkably low"--gets a good looking-into. And it's true; besides Bo Bice, Josh Gracin, Kimberley Locke and the wildly popular Season Two runner-up, Idol non-winners haven't made a huge dent in the charts. (Of course, "non-superstar" doesn't mean "unsuccessful", as the blossoming stage and/or screen careers of Jennfer Hudson, Tamyra Gray, Frenchie Davis and Diana DeGarmo show. I'd put Constantine Maroulis in the blossoming stage-success category too, although the author of the MSNBC article might disagree.)
My primary respectful disagreement with the premise of the piece boils down to this--there is a huge--enormous--zone between "superstar" and "forgotten". That zone really does deserve a closer look, because it is the place where many, if not most, real-world music fans spend a lot of their time. And fans of performers like Bucky Covington--working singer/musicians who became household names on American Idol--are quite a bit more real-world savvy than the press gives us credit for.
American Idol saddled itself with a "Search for a Superstar" tagline upon its debut in 2002 (significantly, that tagline has long been abandoned), but as five seasons came and went, both the audience and the performers have come to see Idol as a springboard, rather than a guarantee of "superstardom." The real work happens after the show and the tour are over. Bucky, it seems to me, is in an incredibly good post-show, post-tour position; he's got a solid, experienced mentor/producer in Mark Miller, a mature sense of who he is, musically and stylistically, and best of all, he's got a realistic, long-range view. The beautifully-done Viewfinder Blues "Life After Idol" post reveals much about Bucky's approach. "I told them I don't want overnight success, I want 20 years, I want a career"--those are definitely the words of a performer who has the Idol experience in its proper perspective.
Of course, overnight success is baked into the premise of American Idol, and both the press and (occasionally) the fans of the show pay lip service to it at times. Bucky could very well end up with a huge hit on his hands right from the start (and after this week's Fox sneak peek at his upcoming CD, the hit buzz has grown a bit louder), but the beauty of Bucky's approach to his post-Idol career is that whether he's an overnight success or not, he's in this for the music, and it sounds like he's in this for good.
As for the fans? The article goes on to mention the historical fickleness of the Idol audience, with a cautionary shout out to Elliott Yamin (who I think will do just fine in the long run, thanks.) "The Yaminions may be clamoring for an album from their boy," the author of the MSNBC piece writes, "but Maroulis and Guarini both serve as object lessons in the fickleness of the clamorers. If their fans couldn’t maintain their enthusiasm long enough to provide them with even short-term success outside the context of the show, who’s to say that Yamin will fare any better?" *
*(Please note--the italicized part of the previous paragraph is a quote from the MSNBC article, not my opinion at all. I disagree with the author of the MSNBC piece--sorry my sleepy late night writing didn't make that clearer. I like Constantine Maroulis. Thanks, and apologies for any confusion--Winnie [a.k.a. Buckymania])
What the writer doesn't mention (and what savvy current Idol followers now know by heart) is that it isn't just up to the passionate fans from Idol to "provide" the singers with success--the key to a long term career is to keep the fans from the show and attract new listeners--fans who may not have heard or seen the performer on Idol at all, but who simply like the music. Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson have sold millions of CDs to people who never saw them during their Idol runs; Josh Gracin is another example of an ex-Idol finalist who is now simply a successful singer in his genre, no hysteria or asterisk attached.
Will Bucky follow in their footsteps? Again, he's in a good position to do so; his Southern rock/country-with-drive sound is not the typical Idol fare, and it's likely to appeal to people who might not bother with American Idol, the "pop" television show. Combine this with a hard-working, experienced musician's approach to touring, performing and generally making oneself known, and with a fortunate-in-retrospect eighth-place finish (long enough to develop a nationwide/international fan base without being over-identified with Idol, or saddled with the artistic and creative restrictions that a higher finish might have imposed) and the odds for a beyond-Idol audience are in Bucky's favor.
Interestingly, the article wraps up with the one point I do wholeheartedly agree with--"success is not guaranteed" for the non-winners. What I found most amusing, though, is that Bucky (who is currently at a respectable fourth in the poll accompanying this article) was not even mentioned in the text. There's something fun in knowing that while all the hoopla and handwringing and Season Six buzz is going on, Bucky Covington has been hard at work in a studio outside Nashville making some excellent new music, right there under everyone's noses. Smart, sneaky guy! We can't help but think that a couple of seasons from now, when the next "Do Idol Finalists Soon Fall off the Radar" article is written (and it will be), Bucky's name will be in that "exceptions to the rule" list, with some solid successes as the reason why. (There's a thread along those lines at the Fox boards--looks like we're not alone.)
Here's to dark horses!
News post next--hop on back...
Let's face it...on a blog called Buckymania, you'd probably expect an article titled Are American Idol finalists quickly forgotten? (the title question is answered with an emphatic yes in the text) to get a vigorous rebuttal. And it will, of course--but not for the reasons that might come to mind right off the bat.
The author's facts are absolutely correct. After an overview of this season's current and expected releases, (besides Season Two, this is the only year of Idol in which the winner wasn't the first to have his or her album hit the shelves), the main point of the piece--"the actual real-world sales impact of the non-winners is remarkably low"--gets a good looking-into. And it's true; besides Bo Bice, Josh Gracin, Kimberley Locke and the wildly popular Season Two runner-up, Idol non-winners haven't made a huge dent in the charts. (Of course, "non-superstar" doesn't mean "unsuccessful", as the blossoming stage and/or screen careers of Jennfer Hudson, Tamyra Gray, Frenchie Davis and Diana DeGarmo show. I'd put Constantine Maroulis in the blossoming stage-success category too, although the author of the MSNBC article might disagree.)
My primary respectful disagreement with the premise of the piece boils down to this--there is a huge--enormous--zone between "superstar" and "forgotten". That zone really does deserve a closer look, because it is the place where many, if not most, real-world music fans spend a lot of their time. And fans of performers like Bucky Covington--working singer/musicians who became household names on American Idol--are quite a bit more real-world savvy than the press gives us credit for.
American Idol saddled itself with a "Search for a Superstar" tagline upon its debut in 2002 (significantly, that tagline has long been abandoned), but as five seasons came and went, both the audience and the performers have come to see Idol as a springboard, rather than a guarantee of "superstardom." The real work happens after the show and the tour are over. Bucky, it seems to me, is in an incredibly good post-show, post-tour position; he's got a solid, experienced mentor/producer in Mark Miller, a mature sense of who he is, musically and stylistically, and best of all, he's got a realistic, long-range view. The beautifully-done Viewfinder Blues "Life After Idol" post reveals much about Bucky's approach. "I told them I don't want overnight success, I want 20 years, I want a career"--those are definitely the words of a performer who has the Idol experience in its proper perspective.Of course, overnight success is baked into the premise of American Idol, and both the press and (occasionally) the fans of the show pay lip service to it at times. Bucky could very well end up with a huge hit on his hands right from the start (and after this week's Fox sneak peek at his upcoming CD, the hit buzz has grown a bit louder), but the beauty of Bucky's approach to his post-Idol career is that whether he's an overnight success or not, he's in this for the music, and it sounds like he's in this for good.
As for the fans? The article goes on to mention the historical fickleness of the Idol audience, with a cautionary shout out to Elliott Yamin (who I think will do just fine in the long run, thanks.) "The Yaminions may be clamoring for an album from their boy," the author of the MSNBC piece writes, "but Maroulis and Guarini both serve as object lessons in the fickleness of the clamorers. If their fans couldn’t maintain their enthusiasm long enough to provide them with even short-term success outside the context of the show, who’s to say that Yamin will fare any better?" **(Please note--the italicized part of the previous paragraph is a quote from the MSNBC article, not my opinion at all. I disagree with the author of the MSNBC piece--sorry my sleepy late night writing didn't make that clearer. I like Constantine Maroulis. Thanks, and apologies for any confusion--Winnie [a.k.a. Buckymania])
What the writer doesn't mention (and what savvy current Idol followers now know by heart) is that it isn't just up to the passionate fans from Idol to "provide" the singers with success--the key to a long term career is to keep the fans from the show and attract new listeners--fans who may not have heard or seen the performer on Idol at all, but who simply like the music. Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson have sold millions of CDs to people who never saw them during their Idol runs; Josh Gracin is another example of an ex-Idol finalist who is now simply a successful singer in his genre, no hysteria or asterisk attached.
Will Bucky follow in their footsteps? Again, he's in a good position to do so; his Southern rock/country-with-drive sound is not the typical Idol fare, and it's likely to appeal to people who might not bother with American Idol, the "pop" television show. Combine this with a hard-working, experienced musician's approach to touring, performing and generally making oneself known, and with a fortunate-in-retrospect eighth-place finish (long enough to develop a nationwide/international fan base without being over-identified with Idol, or saddled with the artistic and creative restrictions that a higher finish might have imposed) and the odds for a beyond-Idol audience are in Bucky's favor.
Interestingly, the article wraps up with the one point I do wholeheartedly agree with--"success is not guaranteed" for the non-winners. What I found most amusing, though, is that Bucky (who is currently at a respectable fourth in the poll accompanying this article) was not even mentioned in the text. There's something fun in knowing that while all the hoopla and handwringing and Season Six buzz is going on, Bucky Covington has been hard at work in a studio outside Nashville making some excellent new music, right there under everyone's noses. Smart, sneaky guy! We can't help but think that a couple of seasons from now, when the next "Do Idol Finalists Soon Fall off the Radar" article is written (and it will be), Bucky's name will be in that "exceptions to the rule" list, with some solid successes as the reason why. (There's a thread along those lines at the Fox boards--looks like we're not alone.)
Here's to dark horses!
News post next--hop on back...
Excellent editorial Winnie. Bucky is one dark horse that I am happy to bet on. I am realistic enough to know that it is not easy to make your mark in an already Idol saturated market and even harder when the mainstream media never saw behind the "country bumpkin/good ole boy" role that Bucky was given to play, but I am betting on the fact that Bucky is nobody's fool when it comes to his career and he seems to be making all the right choices in his post Idol life. Yeah it woud be nice if I could see his face pop up on Getty or Wireimage doing the red carpet for film openings or charity benefits, but I am much more pleased to think of those 10 tracks he has laid down in Nashville and that they could be working on the final mix while I am sitting here typing this. I honestly don't know enough about country music to say whether he will be the next Keith Urban or Kenny Chesney, but the fact that big time session players were impressed makes me think that this CD will reach beyond his Idol fanbase.
ReplyDeleteDid you check out that old video from the Bucky Bash that was posted on Rocky's site. It is mostly a lot of raw footage of people waiting on line to get their picture taken with Bucky, but it does include a nice long interview with Bucky. Love that accent!
Carol
Hello, Carol!
ReplyDeleteYou and I are in the same boat about that--thinking of how good those Nashville tracks might be trumps just about everything else. It'll be interesting to see how the media handles the disparity between the "country boy lite" slot Idol had him in and the reality of his far-more-interesting musical inclinations.
(This might be woefully naive of me, but I hope that at least some of the media will listen to Bucky's eventual CD with less of an Idol-jaded ear and take it on its merits as an album in its genre. Not that he'd have to be critic's choice to be a success...there are plenty of very prosperous artists who never caught a break from the music writers. It'd be nice, though.)
And thanks for the tip about that Bucky Bash footage--this PC is so wobbly that it might be a while before I can check it out, but I sure will.