American Article

While you may have never stopped and thought about it, there are some rather stark differences between the careers of many of the previous winners for American Idol.  Most people start out trying to truly be the best singer that they can be, but somewhere along the line a few of the American Idols have somehow moved far off the straight path and ended up somewhere between oblivion and barely known.  Yet at the same time, there are a few American Idol winners who have gone on to create truly powerful careers that have launched them into the true success that the show was originally intended for.

Each year there are thousands of people all around the country who audition for the show.  Each year there is only a single winner selected at the very end, but this is not and has never been a true indicator of the success that the winner will find after the show is over.  For example, how many people really hear about Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard or even Fantasia?  The sad reality is that all of these singers start out searching for success, but somewhere along the line, they have moved far away from the success that they dreamed about.

It is extremely important to remember that anytime you are working to build a career that you have to work at it, and several of the former American Idols have forgotten this very important consideration.   Several American Idols have gone onto create truly amazing careers, after all how many people have not heard of Carrie Underwood?  While Carrie Underwood certainly leads the pack in terms of success, it is certainly not the only contestant who has found success.  Other winners of American Idol such as Kelly Clarkson have also found a great deal of success in the show, and after the show.

Looking over all of the actual contestants and their careers it has appeared that there are some who find greater success ending the show as the runner up, rather than as the actual winner of the show.  For example, Katharine McPhee has found more success in the media while Taylor Hicks has started slipping further into darkness.  This is just another example of some of the earlier castoff’s doing much better than the winner.

Overall the absolute best person to emerge from the show was Chris Daughtry, while his time on the show was special, his time since the show has been an even greater success.  With the creation of the band Daughtry where he is the lead singer, he has enjoyed the benefit of selling over 3.2 million copies of the debut album.  Additional honors that were passed on is the usage of a Daughtry song as the closing song each week for Season 6 when a contestant was sent home.

All across the various seasons there have been several contestants who have gone on to create albums and find some level of commercial success.  Josh Gracin the former marine from season 2, as well as Jennifer Hudson from season 3, Kellie Pickler from season 5 who has found success in country music.  All of this points heavily towards the success of the American Idol is not simply based upon their actual success after the show, but rather how heavily they try to actually pursue a successful music career.

Watching from the failures of other idols it is really easy to see how quickly someone can slip into fame, or how easily they can disappear from the spotlight.  Making sure they make a fabulous impression on the world in terms of record sales is much harder than anyone ever imagined, and the winners of American Idol are certainly not immune to the problems that many artists face when selling records.  Getting the biggest response from the audience will not always guarantee a true commercial success, but those who are determined to make it big like Carrie Underwood certainly have a great shot at the success.

Every year thousands of people from all around the country rush out to audition for American Idol.  The results are intended to provide the opportunity for everyone in the country to vote for the contestant that they feel is best for the title of American Idol.  What actually occurs usually resembles more of a piranha attacking everyone and much less similar to a good friendly conversation or contest.  In order to actually win the competition it is very important to learn how to truly make a great impression, not just on the judges but also on the viewers as well.

For the majority of contestants it is not always a huge deal to be let down towards the end.  Only a single contestant can actually win the show, so coming in 4th place is often good enough.  However, if you are determined that you want to go further than ever before, and you really want to win it is critical that you take some time to really learn how to win.  Once you have a few key issues in place you will be well on your way to the number one finish that you want so badly, without losing track of what is important.

Your first and utmost important tip is to always ensure that you are memorable.  Have you ever watched the show and seen performances only to forget them a few minutes later?  You no doubt have seen several performers like this, and if you are out to win, you do not want to be this performer.  This does not mean that you need to rush out and dye your hair hot pink, wear huge sunglasses and sing with a strange voice.  Rather it does mean you need to connect to the audience, make them interested in you and what you are singing.  If you simply walk out, look terrified and sing for a few minutes you will be quickly forgotten.  If you come out with a song you love, and have a lot of fun you will make a much better impression on the audience and be a lot easier to remember.

While we are talking about impressions, keep in mind the way you look is a huge influence on the audience.  If you go for the Sanjaya look with a huge pony hawk, you are not likely to be taken serious as a performer.  Rather you are likely to be considered the joke of the show.  If you want to be taken serious, you need to have fun with it, without seeming like the class clown trying to sing.  This is extremely important because far too many contestants move from having fun to looking clownish with their performances.

A final suggestion is to watch the ballad songs.  Yes they are beautiful and can be extremely popular, but the slow tempo of the song also makes it much easier to be forgotten the moment you walk off stage.  If people are watching recaps of the show and cannot remember what you sang, then it is certainly time to rethink your song choices.  You need a song that will connect the audience and get them moving.  An audience that is moving while you sing is much more likely to actually remember you, rather than the soft soulful ballad that they forgot about almost immediately after you were finished singing.

As the final season of American Idol drew to a close, there were several great highlights to the season.  Not only had another contestant been successfully awarded the title of American Idol but there was plenty of backstage drama that goes to show things are not always boring between episodes for the contestants.  If you are looking for a surefire plan to get kicked out of backstage then let me assist you with a few suggestions, on the other hand, if you want to stay backstage then look at this as a list of things not to do in order to maintain your welcome.

With Jeff Archuleta and the horrible stage dad routine that followed him we learned a few things. First, contestants are not thrilled with others messing with them while they are rehearsing.  For some strange reason the other contestants had a huge problem with him giving them advice.  I suppose following this mindset they would not really care who was dispensing advice, but rather still tune everything out if it was not what they wanted to hear from someone connected to them.  If you are determined to have your opinion heard and you are lucky enough to get backstage you might want to avoid giving advice that seems to be damaging, such as advising contestants to drink milk before performing.

Other ways to wear out your welcome backstage is to meddle into the song lyrics.  This was certainly proved by many of the songs that contestants have been talked out of singing.  It is also extremely important to ensure that you select just the right song.  This means it is very important to look only for songs that sound good.  If you are looking to get rid of someone, or get yourself kicked out from backstage then it is a very good idea to start pushing a song that is inappropriate for the actual contestant.

If you are looking for something a bit more advanced, you could always result to meddling with costumes, this is a great way to start finding yourself thrown out of backstage areas.  However, most contestants are careful to watch their clothing to ensure that it is not damaged in any way.  If you are absolutely sure that you want to get rid of somebody then messing with their clothes can be extremely effective.  However, you should also keep in mind this could be a great way to find yourself completely throw out of the contest if you happen to be competing as well.

While getting kick out of backstage might seem like a lot of fun.  Most people do not set out to get kicked out of the backstage area of American Idol.  If you are absolutely certain that it is what you want to do, there are plenty of opportunities to create trouble backstage.  It is just extremely important that you be positive that you do want to be kicked out before you start any crazy antics.  If you are still not positive that you want to be kicked off the show then it is very important that you instead wait to make any decisions.  While it can be a lot of fun to cause chaos, it could find you in a terrible disaster that you cannot get yourself out of.  Always think through your decisions, because after all, getting backstage at American Idol is not easy to do.