My Idol Mind

So I thought I was done talking about American Idol, but an editorial by the San Diego Union's Ruben Navarrette Jr. who declared that the votes against runner up Adam Lambert were in part coming from Red State voters who were casting their voices against the singer's alleged sexual preference got me going again. Navarrette points to a New York Times article which pointed to the internet buzz about Lambert and asked the question "Can a gay contestant win?" He then sullies his argument by quoting Bill O'Reilly who wondered aloud whether Lambert's alleged sexual orientation would hurt his chances.

I said alleged because Lambert has not publicly declared himself gay, I guess he was a little cagey about it telling one news outlet that he "knew who he was" and seriously that is his right. His sexual orientation one way or the other is really nobody's business.

My first issue is the one that Navarrette (and apparently a lot of people) made assumptions about his sexual orientation based on the way Lambert looks. Heavy on eyeliner (or guyliner as some people said) flashy and flamboyant in his manner of dress, kind of skidding along the edges of goth and glam, Lambert stood out, in my mind like a sore thumb. I see a lot of people who look like Lambert and the one thing I can assure you is that you cannot make an assumption of his or anyone else's sexual preference based on their manner of dress. Lambert is an attention-getter (I'll get to his singing later) and he likes to stand out, and because of this he set off everyone's gaydar since god forbid someone should be flamboyant and NOT gay. Lambert has a musical theater background and from what I know about show people they are ALL flamboyant and attention hounds because, well, it's musical theater for God's sake. You can't be shy about yourself and run around a stage in tights singing about, well, whatever.

All this "Is Lambert Gay" stuff seemed to have started in the media by people who don't get what people like Lambert are all about, fingering him as a modern day Liberace of some sort instead of seeing him as merely part of a subset of people who just look and act differently. Shame on everyone, haven't we moved past this yet? Conservative pundits seemed to have decided he was gay and wondered if America would vote for him, the Liberals were actually worse wondering if his ambiguity would hurt his chances while seemingly deciding Lambert MUST be gay because, seriously, what straight man would wear angel wings while singing.

In summing up his point Navarrette says "Something happened here. And we ought to think long and hard about what it was. And what is says about our values." and he may not be too far off base, but not for the reasons he thinks. If you read his entire column Navarrette seems to have decided that Lambert is indeed gay and that must have been the reason he lost, assuming that there is no other reason that Lambert could have lost.

So, why did Lambert lose? Lots of reasons really. First, his singing. While talented Lambert was not, as Navarrette said "...one of the most gifted contestants to ever appear on the show." Seriously, this guy wasn't even the best singer in the contest this year, much less all-time. Yes he had power and style, but really that is all he had going for him. He depended a lot on his falsetto and high voice and took every opportunity to do a power scream (for lack of a better word) and I found his singing to just be annoying. I went and found his controversial performance of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire and, while not a career ending tragedy, it was not good. I'm sure Lambert's vocal stylings will appeal to someone, but based on past idol winners singing, who beyond the judges really thought he had a chance to win?

Which brings me to my second point, that the fix was apparently in. Not that the voting was rigged, but the judges were doing everything they could to sway the votes, fawning over Lambert's every note doing everything from calling him a Rock God to flat-out anointing him the winner (as Simon Cowell had done the week before).

While America can be duped into voting for idiots (see the last eight years of George Bush as president) or will stay away from real elections in droves even when important issues are at stake (see this year's special election in California where people stayed away in record numbers despite issues on the ballot which will no doubt effect the quality of life in this state) they will turn out en masse for a dark horse. People love an underdog and Lambert's opponent in the finals benefited from the obvious boosterism that Lambert was getting from the Idol judges and producers. I did not watch the entire contest but in what little I did watch it did seem that Lambert was getting the benefit of much higher production values in regards to his musical performances than his opponent.

At the end of the elimination show the week before the finals host Ryan Seacrest said that the voting that week was some of the closest in Idol history. At that point everyone should have known Lambert was doomed since a good portion of those votes were votes AGAINST Lambert and not necessarily FOR the other singers. And not because of any assumed sexual orientation on the part of Lambert's but because the judges had just spent an hour all over falling all over Lambert (see my previous column on this) and America had had enough. Really, Cowell and company basically assured that Lambert would lose by virtue of their genuflecting and hero worship of this kid.

It is worth noting that Navarrette works for the San Diego Union and that Lambert is also from San Diego, so to me his looking for a reason for the loss other than Lambert's singing sounds a lot like Seattle Seahawks fans who STILL moan about the officiating in their Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh. While homophobia certainly exists in this country and it (and all forms of prejudice) are something we still need to deal with as a society I sincerely doubt that a country that elected a black president is somehow going to be shocked and offended by the notion of a gay American Idol.