Watching American Idol is one of my guilty pleasures. Now, I don't actually watch the show when it comes on usually, I just catch replays of the performances online so that I don't have to wade through all the ridiculous padding they put in. Is the show a bit ridiculous and over the top? Yes. Are the judges complete self-parodies by now? Yes. Has the talent level thinned out the last couple of years? It does seem that way. However, the auditions with ridiculous people are occasionally funny, and ever now and then, you get some gems like these performances from last year:
As much as I kind of guiltily enjoy American Idol though, I really enjoy keeping up with the show X-Factor, which is kind of the British version of Idol. X-Factor, though, has several advantages over Idol. For one, everyone has fantastic accents, which really makes everything that much better. Also, the judges are less insufferable, and maybe it's just me, but they seem to find better singers. The biggest improvement though, is that they have their first auditions on a stage in front of a big crowd instead of just standing alone in front of the judges. The cool thing about that is that you get these normal, everyday people up on this stage, and occasionally one of them just has a natural stage presence, and you can just see it immediately. They get the crowd eating out of their hand, and it's completely different than these people just standing in front of some judges singing. It's crazy entertaining. For example, you may have seen this guy last year (this video made the rounds):
This guy was also one of my favorites from last year:
My favorites though, are the people who give no indication that they might be a great performer. The nervous or low-key people who look like they're going to be pretty bad, then as soon as the music starts up, they become a completely different person. That's always cool to me. Like this girl whose audition I saw this week. I'm not a huge fan of the song, but it's so fascinating to watch her go from super nervous to supremely confident in the blink of an eye, I can't stop watching it.
I don't know, I just think it's interesting to see these everyday people who just turn out to be natural-born performers. Anyway, since this post is really just an excuse for me to post a bunch of videos, here's a few more from this season that I like:
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