Clay Aiken Shares Why Talent Show Stars Don’t Make It Big Anymore
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During a recent podcast appearance, American Idol Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken had an interesting conversation about how talent shows have changed over the years. He explained why he believes contestants on shows like Idol and The Voice don’t become as famous as they used to.
Clay Aiken Talks About How Talent Shows Have Changed
During a recent conversation on the Zach Sang Show podcast, Aiken broke down several things that have changed about American Idol since its early days, and explained why those changes have prevented contestants on the show from making it big in the music industry.
He pointed out that Idol still gets good ratings, but the show’s production has changed since the early seasons. At first, the show was produced by 19 Entertainment, which was also the record label and management company for the contestants after the show.
“Which meant that the show had a vested interest in making sure that those artists became career artists,” Aiken explained. “A few years after that … 19 sold its stake, and the show became mostly owned and run by the network. So the network really had no vested interest in whether the artists became big stars or not.”
Aiken said the show used to be produced “to get America to like these artists,” but “they don’t need to do that anymore.” He also brought up The Voice, which has been a success despite not really producing many stars. Aiken speculated that the show’s popularity is mostly due to the famous coaches.
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Aiken Wishes the Judges Pushed Contestants More
During his conversation with Sang, Aiken also said he doesn’t “think the judges are necessary” on American Idol, because all they do is provide positive feedback to the contestants. He said he wishes they would “give them some constructive criticism.”
“You don’t have to be mean like Simon [Cowell], but push them to get better,” Aiken said. “That was the blessing from our season. While it was tough the way he said it, it did give me something to work towards the next week, to do better with.”
Aiken added that in recent years, there’s been “a sense that we cannot criticize anybody.” He explained that the original Idol judges (Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson) weren’t huge stars at the time, so they “didn’t have anything to lose” by being honest with contestants.
“Katy Perry has a career she has to think about,” Aiken said about the modern judges, using Season 21 winner Iam Tongi as an example of someone he wishes the judges had pushed more. “I just wanted somebody to say, ‘Put the guitar down next week and do something a little different.'”
What do you think? Do you agree with Aiken’s assessment of how talent shows have changed over the years? Let us know in the comments below.
