So not only did the Idols sing the Christian anthem, once--they sang it twice! And it really blessed me. Strangely, enough, I haven't heard it in ages and it was like new. It's easy to forget when you sing that song all the time how sweet the words are...I love them. Poetic and the music soars. (My favorite line is "I sing for joy at the work of Your hands" what's yours?) I downloaded the track off iTunes and I encourage you to do the same. I think the proceeds go to Idol Gives Back. I was hoping the Rent song was on there, too, but it's not. I love that song, too.
You could also download David Cook's track "Innocent" It's actually really good, the full length studio version. I can't seem to stop listening to it. I'm considering getting Jason's as well.
Jordin Sparks is so pretty! But I wasn't really digging that performance. Kind of liked the song, though. (codependent though it was)
Finally, I'm really super duper bummed about Michael. It seems wrong that Carly is still around and he has to go. BUMMER!! We'll miss you Michael!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sad Idol on Thursday
Posted by Amy at 9:02 PM
Labels: American Idol, music
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7 comments:
How about that shocker? Seemed wrong to me that the idols sang the Christian anthem. We sang it recently - I think in Denver. I still can't believe Michael is gone. That is WRONG. He should have been in the TOP three!
I thought it was a little strange, but not wrong. It did admittedly feel strange! But I like the recorded version. I agree that Michael should not be gone. After singing one of the best songs to come from his homeland. ha! At least it wasn't David. Is that horrible to say?
I think Michael suffered from what should officially be called the Tamyra Gray effect. (Reference to a Season One competitor -- if you haven't been watching the whole time, that may not make much sense.)
I still believe that when a competitor is believed to be "on the bubble", in other words, perceived as being in danger of elimination because of a marginal performance or negative comments from the judges, they actually get a bump in the votes. All those in their fan base think "Well, they had a bad week this week, but I don't want to see them go and they've had so many good weeks, so I'm voting over and over for them this week."
Those who are not perceived as being in danger of elimination, and are thought to be an automatic shoo-in, do not benefit from this "on the bubble effect". Voters think "I don't need to vote for them, because others will surely vote them in and they'll make it easily."
This happened to Tamyra Gray in Season One, where she was considered one of the two best vocalists and should have easily been in the finals, but went out early instead. And it's been happening at least once or twice each season since.
With so many strong competitors still left this season, I expect to see at least a couple more surprises before it's all over. Votes don't always shake out in a manner consistent with performance quality.
But yes, this was particularly wrong. Way too early in the competition for Michael to have gone out. I think he still has a good chance to make a decent living in the business because of the exposure he's now received. Some people "in the business" say it's actually better not to win, so that you can go out and get the contract that you want, rather than the one where the producers of the show own you for a while.
Sally - I'd be interested to hear why you thought it was "wrong" for them to sing a Gospel song.
The way I see it, it's good either way -- either some of the contestants are believers, who got to declare their faith boldly in front of a huge audience, or those singing were unbelievers, who still proclaimed God's glory in front of a huge audience.
In Philippians 1 Paul said that even if it was done with wrong motives, he was still grateful any time that Christ is proclaimed. In Luke 19, Jesus said that if someone tried to make His followers stop praising Him, even the stones would cry out in praise of Him.
So it seems to me like we should rejoice that He was praised, no matter what the motives or circumstances. Better a group of young people on a nationally-televised show than the stones out behind the Kodak Theatre.
We have no way to know where the hearts of those kids on Idol are in life -- how close they may be to believing if they didn't already, how much hurt, or loneliness, or desperation they live with each day, despite all the bright lights and fawning and attention.
Anyway, sorry to go on and on about it. I know there were a lot of people who felt the way you do about the song, and I wanted to hear why you feel that way. Thanks!
Chaotic Hammer - You are right. I was just really uncomfortable with them singing that song. It seemed too show business. As I've read about the contestants, I've found out that several of them - whether believers or not - I don't know, have a church background. I was rather shocked that they sang Shout to the Lord because whenever a contestant in the past sang an overtly Christian song (ex. Mandesa), Simon raked them over the coals. I love that song - they did a good job, I was just uncomfortable with it. On the other hand, it was in my opinion the only really inspirational song sang.
Sally - I can certainly see why it made you feel uncomfortable. And you're right about Simon tearing into Mandisa -- that struck me as quite harsh at the time he did it.
There is a lot of valid concern about merchandising and profiting off the name of Jesus, especially when the people making the money could care less about Him or His Kingdom.
I think this sort of discussion we're having is becoming more and more commonplace in mainstream culture. There are lots and lots of very sincere God-fearing believers sprinkled all through almost every facet of society. And there are also plenty of pretenders who use His name in an empty fashion, and who have hearts that are a million miles away from Him.
I think sort of a "wheat and tares" approach may be helpful for us to take. That is, that we accept that there are real Christians and every manner of phony and even dangerous wolves, all scattered throughout the world. Since only God knows who is who, we simply go about His work and proclaim Him, and rejoice when we see others doing likewise. Only God knows what's in their hearts, but either way, at least we know that Jesus is getting praise and glory. Sometimes, even among the glitz and glamour and human-glorifying fake world of Hollywood. ;-)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!
I was interested in reading the non-Christians reaction to it...a lot were offended on behalf of the contestants singing a song of a religion that wasn't theirs...I hadn't thought about that before, but it's an interesting point.
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