More on That Show: Last Woman Standing, Racial Politics, and America Votes!

On this May Day, I thought I would blog, not about international workers and women's place within this arena. No, I'd rather talk about that show that I swore up and down last year that I would never tune into. That's right. I was distracted by the various antics of American Idol. And, since no one else is going to go there, I will also talk, once again, about the racial politics that shape this pop cultural distraction from current events and popular notions of voting and American democracy.


So, first thing: Go, Syesha Mercado! Last woman standing! And she's Afro-Latina. Woo hoo! The reason why I'm all about my racial pride for this talented woman of color is simply based on an anonymous post I came across expressing disbelief that this black girl rose above the other female contestants, despite the lack of media attention, emotional breakdowns displayed by other contestants, and her constantly hitting the bottom three seal for the past few weeks. This is the anonymous comment that just made me do a double take:

What kind of country am I living in when they can vote for a Syesha over a Brooke or Carly?

OK, Mr. (or Ms.) Bigot: let me help you. That country you're living in is the same country where presidential candidate Barack Obama is in the lead with delegates in the Democratic primary race. He could become the next president of the United States. Get with the program, or get over it!

Not that I'm placing American Idol on the same pedestal as the Presidential Elections, mind you, but don't be surprised if the show garners more votes than our general elections. American democracy is a crazy thing, isn't it?

Here's what bothered me about that thinly veiled racist comment about Syesha Mercado outlasting Brooke White (who was voted off this week) and Carly Smithson (who was voted off last week). Brooke White is a blond Arizona-raised, Mormon singer-songwriter-type who admitted during her audition that she had never seen an R-rated movie. She sings and plays the piano and guitar. She had that wholesome, natural "independent artist" thing going on during the show - until she started falling apart, messing up on lyrics, and coming close to full on breakdowns during results show. Wholesome girl quickly turned into emotional wreck.

Carly Smithson, on the other hand, had a powerful voice, an Irish accent, and a ginormous tattoo on her arm, which she loved sporting (along with a tattoo-faced husband). In other words, she was the anti-Brooke White, which is to say the rebellious-looking white girl - not American, so obviously not able to fill the "all-American" blonde figure that a former idol, Carrie Underwood, could represent.

As an aside, I'm especially glad that Syesha outlasted Confederate-flag-waving Kristy Lee Cook, who was rumored to have performed for Aryan Nation crowds and, during her singout the week she was voted off, she sported on her jean bottoms the KKK cross insignia! Why was that not a scandal, America? (Neither did anyone address rumors that Syesha Mercado also dealt with some of the other female contestants referring to her as "nappy" when she sported an Afro earlier in the competition.)

Why would anyone expect such girls to outlast Syesha Mercado, other than the expectation that the white female contestants would "obviously" be more popular than the black female contestant, whom viewers have often described as "diva" (which, just so you know, all black female contestants are automatically given this moniker, including the shy and very non-diva personality of last year's Melinda Doolittle), arrogant, "bitchface," and fake? Whenever Syesha survives to another week, someone inevitably asks, "Who in the hell is voting for this fake diva?" I'm amazed that it never dawns on the America-is-a-white-nation folks that, hmmm, I don't know, maybe all the R&B listeners who only have Syesha, who's representing the soul community (which crosses different races and ethnicities), are throwing their votes to her. Not to mention that girlfriend can sing.

I will admit that Syesha didn't enter my radar either this season. Yes, I'm one of those shallow people who immediately went Awwww over little David Archuleta, who is solely responsible for hooking me back into this ridiculous show when I was channel-surfing one day.

And, yes, that boy is shy, nervous as all get out, a bit too mechanical, and his voice is merely pleasant. But, do I care about these flaws? Of course not! He's adorable, and he's only a young-looking 17 (which didn't prevent Miss Seventeen - that's Jordin Sparks who's probably a year older by now - from winning last year's contest and toppling a far superior singer, the already mentioned Melinda Doolittle), and I'm taking his age into account when everyone unfairly compares little David to the other David (that's big-headed [literally and figuratively], let-me-turn-every-R&B-song-into-a-rock-emo-concoction David Cook, for those who don't know), who's 25, emotionally mature, and has a self-assured sense of who he is musically. I'm so not going to hand the competition to this other David just because he's got mad talent, because mad talent didn't help Mindy Doo last year.

But I'll get into my other issues with this other David later. I was just raising the issue of how these other guys have distracted us from taking Syesha more seriously as a major contender in this competition. Keep in mind also that these guys were deliberately chosen by our three stooges - ahem, judges - to prevent another black female idol this year: yes, it's not hard to imagine that a great deal of effort went into selecting 12 strong male contestants and 12 competent female contestants to yield a white male idol this year to offset the imbalance since, you know, three out of the six idols are black, four of them are women.

However, as I've already noted, women do well in this competition, and half the idols have been black. Of all the glass ceilings that we've had to crack, the music industry is not one of them, where black women set the standard for vocal stylings and, thus, are the vocals that others aspire to. It's why the black female contestants are held to higher standards, are called "divas," and why Syesha would be seen as "unoriginal" and doesn't "bring anything new," now that we've not only seen Jennifer Hudsons, Fantasia Barrinos, and Melinda Doolittles on the show but also hear black "divas" all over pop culture. I would say that Syesha's competent vocals are why she's the last woman standing but also why she's not the main attraction in this contest. This also has everything to do with why the Other David (yes, that's what I call him) is praised ad nausea for being "daring" and "risky" and oh-so-original for turning R&B hits like Lionel Richie's "Hello" (who knew this was really a stalker song until Other David rocked it out?), Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," and Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" into rock ballads.

Granted, I kinda liked his take on Mariah Carey (note how he is being shored up by black female back-up singers - a common theme of how we are relied upon to support everyone else musically):



Yes, it's cool and entertaining, but can we please not get carried away here? First, they are cover songs, and second, our musical history has already left a bad taste with the sudden crossover success that white musicians often have when they "cover" black music (think Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" or white jazz musicians like Paul Whiteman and Benny Goodman). What does it mean to praise a white male contestant for being "edgy" and "original" when he spins black music and rearranges it for a "white" aesthetic (rock, emo, etc.) while black female contestants, like Syesha Mercado, who is a vocalist and doing what she can do to show off her own set of skills, is constantly dismissed for "bringing nothing new"? What's really "new" about David Cook's brand of musical appropriation?

Anyway, I doubt Syesha's fanbase can knock out the last three guys in the competition (although, we've all underestimated her before, so who knows?), but I have newfound respect for her ability to last as long as she has when the racial politics of this year are not in her favor. Is she my favorite? Well, I still like my little David, the other Latino (his mom is from Honduras, so I'm going to claim him as a person of color), but I'm definitely going to pay more attention to her, and now that the other girls are gone, I have a feeling more of us who watch this show will do the same. As women of color, we've always had to rely on our talent and less on our personality or looks to persevere, which is the main lesson learned.

Otherwise, we would become trainwrecks. Paula Abdul, anyone? Who, by the way, was seriously confused - probably because she was seriously drunk - so when the show's format is changed, well, stuff like what happened Tuesday night will happen. Show producers, don't do that again! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!