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Sanjaya’s hairy situation
Ever pictured Sanjaya Malakar with Gwen Stefani’s hair? The Washington Post has.
Meanwhile, Julie Hinds of the Detroit Free Press makes the case for Sanjaya:
It feels like a day for thankless tasks, so I’ll go ahead and make the case in defense of Sanjaya Malakar.
Somebody has to.
The 17-year-old “American Idol” contestant is the country’s new laughingstock. Late-night comics ridicule him. Critics have exhausted the synonyms for awful in their quest to describe him. A young woman from New York is so upset by his presence on the show she claims to be on a hunger strike until he’s voted off — and she’s chronicling her protest, of course, on the Web.
Hating Sanjaya is the new fad of disposable culture. Nobody cares much about the diaper-wearing astronaut anymore. The will to wallow in the Anna Nicole Smith saga is waning. Yet nearly every night last week, you could flip the channels and count the references to Sanjaya’s ineptness made by ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert and on and on.
Sanjaya-bashing is now No. 1 with a bullet, and I’m still trying to figure out why.
Is it because he’s the weakest singer among the Top 10? Fair enough, but I don’t remember anyone resorting to starvation when John Stevens was doing Frank Sinatra impressions on the show a few years back.
Sanjaya is merely one of a long line of “Idol” guys who’ve survived past their logical expiration date. If you thought his performance of “You Really Got Me” last Tuesday was a train wreck, picture Kevin (Chicken Little) Covais from last season attempting it. Or burly Scott Soval from Season 4. Or Jim Verraros from the debut year.
Those images aren’t pretty, but Sanjaya is, with his warm smile, bronze skin and wavy hair, and that’s part of the problem. He has a nonthreatening, slightly feminine vibe that appeals to preteen girls, like a many a bubble-gum Tiger Beat poster boy before him. This makes him an easy target. “Idol” producers practically painted a bull’s-eye on his back last week by cutting a zillion times to close-ups of Ashley, the sobbing young fan whose Sanjaya worship was parodied over the weekend by “Saturday Night Live.”
Sanjaya is undoubtedly loathed by those who are serious about popular music. Although he’d need handlers and heavy tinkering in the studio to hide his flaws, he’s already gotten more exposure in a few weeks than many aspiring artists of true vision will get in a lifetime. Somewhere, a garage band that’s waiting to be discovered is crying harder than Ashley because of this.
Sanjaya might still be on the show because of VotefortheWorst.com and Howard Stern, who are rooting for his survival as a way to mess with the show’s premise. Some muse he must have reached the Top 10 because he’s needed as a teenybopper draw for the coast-to-coast summer tour. The vote tallies remain a mystery to viewers (there were 30 million votes last week, but who received what?), so conspiracy theories blossom freely.
Whatever the reason, it’s worth remembering Sanjaya is just a boy, not a human punch line. When he auditioned, his voice seemed rather sweet and promising, sort of like Stevie Wonder lite. Once he made it to the Top 24, he tended to stand there and sound listless.
As bad reviews from the judges piled up, so did Sanjaya’s various hairstyles, which only added fuel to the humiliation fire. Then, last Tuesday, perhaps in response to criticism, he took a gamble by tackling a Kinks classic and trying to work the crowd like a Vegas star. The blowback was immediate and painful. Water-cooler tirades about his horridness were louder than any words spoken on behalf of LaKisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks or other contestants considered to belong in the finals.
Dare I say it? Sanjaya wasn’t that bad. His voice is thin, but his tone and pitch are OK. As a reader e-mailed recently, he can carry a tune; he just can’t carry a performance.
The anti-Sanjaya bandwagon reminds me of the Howard Dean scream frenzy, when the sheer pleasure of replaying the clip of him acting like a crazy man overtook the fact that the guy was trying to whip up enthusiasm in a noisy room.
Perception becomes reality. Sanjaya might be out of his depth, but it’s more fun to label him the worst singer in the world. I just wish he weren’t 17. That’s too young to be a national joke or a nationally spotlighted anything.
Comments
By Thiru Munisamy
March 27, 2007 1:37 PM | Link to this
Nice article. very good analysis. gr8 to read. Thanks
Thiru Munisamy
By Joanne
March 27, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
I believe that Sanjaya can stand up for himself. If he’s so stupid to believe that he can sing good, then he deserves to be made fun of. IF his family and friends, don’t tell him to go home, then they are also at fault for people making fun of him……….and he has not gotten the hint yet………..
By Jewels Richardson
March 27, 2007 5:13 PM | Link to this
I happen to like the boy. Granted he may not be the technically best singer but he’s definitely the most interesting. Google my name and you’ll find my support of him.
You go baby boy! (He’s my little engine that could.)
By Lucky Go
March 27, 2007 8:28 PM | Link to this
Sanjaya he is a little engine that is warm and good for the heart and head. He is original and my support for him.
By JK, Minneapolis
March 28, 2007 12:39 AM | Link to this
After this evening’s performance, March 27, I wonder if the writer of this article feels the same way. Sanjaya crossed the line from unique to “FREAK.” I think he will lose his core constituency as the teen girls will be voting for a guy they’d like to date, and not join him to play dress-up Barbie and Ken.
By Betty Hall
March 28, 2007 1:08 AM | Link to this
I like him and am awfully glad he is going on the tour. I think that will be the making of Sanjaya. He’s got the cojones right now to get up in front of millions with a different hairdo each week. I am not feeling sorry for him, I’m rooting for him to get the experience of the tour under his belt. It’s an experience of a lifetime for the boy.
By Dan Lair
March 28, 2007 5:36 AM | Link to this
Sanjaya looks like he has been spending a little too much time at Neverland with Michael Jackson. They are both freaks. The only difference in the two is Jackson can actually perform and sing. Sanjaya should have never made the final 24 much less gotten an invitation to Hollywood for the second level of tryouts. He is taking credibility away from the show. Every week he stays around is one more reason to stop watching the show. By the way, I am a huge fan of American Idol.
By scastillo
March 28, 2007 3:56 PM | Link to this
Sanjaya??? What a joke! That kid should have been gone WAY BACK. I was a diehard fan until this year. Now I would rather play video games with my kid and I can’t stand video games. Alot of pretty good people are gone. I guess that’s TV for you. The network is just feeding on it now. It’s all about the ratings!
By Paula
April 4, 2007 4:19 PM | Link to this
I have to agree with another posting….the Sanjaya “craze” is just about enough to make me quit watching Idol. It definitely takes away from the credibility of the show. I don’t think this season is that great…sure there are great singers (Melinda Doolittle, Lakish Jones, Jordan), but lets face it…it’s not really a “singing” contest…Melinda Doolittle far outranks the beginners on the show. Frankly speaking, I think the show has turned into a “joke”….when someone is as good as Melinda …no one stands a chance….I probably won’t watch next season….if there is a “next season”…