American Idol: the humble

I think I can sing. Yep, I have a nice enough singing voice. The kind that when I am singing along to the radio and my family is seemingly being held captive in the car so that they HAVE to listen, it doesn't bother them to distraction, just enough for eye rolling or at times they join in order to tune me out. But let me just say Holy Cow, this year's Idols could SING! This is the first year I watched Idol from beginning to end and I was so impressed with the last 13. And it was somewhat to do with the singing but, the better part of my impression was made by the commradarie of the last finalists.


They never conveyed an air of "I am the best" or "me, me, me" that usually creates the drama in reality programming. Throughout, the judges seemed to urge the contestants (Simon specifically) into the overall sentiment of "to win this thing you have to claim yourself as the best". And it just never rubbed off on this group.

Even last night, as Kris Allen claimed the title, it was endearing to see he and Adam embracing and bolstering each other up and as if to convey "we've made it on this wild ride." The word I am looking for is "refreshing". Truly talented, deserving, sincere people were in a competition where the person that America voted for wasn't the showiest, obvious star, but a nice, capable, grateful performer. They even showed an early clip of his answer to their typical audition question of "why do you deserve to be the next American Idol?" and Kris's response was that he didn't "have the best voice" but that he knew he had a lot to offer. To which Simon commented that Kris lost his vote for Hollywood by saying so. But I think if you asked Kris or really any of the last few finalists that same question (because honestly the last four were great in such different distinct ways), it was a matter of respect (that they all seemed to have for each other) and simply being humble. And that is truly a lost character trait to be seen or appreciated in reality TV or even our everyday.