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I never thought that a swing jazz band would appear on Canadian Idol, but we were on the show last night. Just over two years ago I hired a young singer named Carly Jepsen to sing with the Blue Morris 6. She gigged with us for two years at restaurants, bars and swing dances. All this while she had her own music projects on the side, writing songs and doing the occasional gig.
This is the first year that Carly has ever auditioned for Canadian Idol and last night her audition was aired on the show. They also featured some clips of Carly singing with the Blue Morris 6 on stage at a swing dance in Vancouver. The Idol crew wanted to show Carly in her home environment so they filmed her at home in Mission and on stage with us.
In her audition, the judges teased her about how young she looks, but Carly brushed that off quickly and got down to business singing one of her own songs. After just one verse and chorus she stopped and asked the judges if they wanted to hear more. One of the judges said, "I think you are an absolute star." Another judge joked with her saying something like "please don't take that ticket to Toronto. Come with me and I'll sign you up for a record deal myself."
It's not exactly a surprise that Carly's audition was well received. She certainly has talent, that's why I hired her two years ago. And having watched Canadian Idol last night and the week before, I've seen some horrible singers audition. Some people have no clue that they have no musical talent. There is a serious lack of music education in this country.
But Canadian Idol and American Idol aren't only about music. The shows are about image as much as they are about talent. Watch the judges' faces and you can tell that they are judging the contestants before they actually sing. The artists they pick all have that combination of a voice, attractive looks, youth, and of course the right style of music--pop. All of this together creates a package they can market. This is the music business and when they see the "package" they see dollar signs, and that's really what this is all about. We all pay our rent somehow.
One thing I don't understand is why so many of the women who audition graduated from the "belting it out" school of singing. It was refreshing to see that Carly didn't succumb to this trend and she was still chosen to go on to Toronto. Carly chose to sing quietly but passionately and she made a big impression on the judges.
I had never watched Canadian Idol or American Idol before this, but now that a friend is on the show, I will have to set my VCR. Good luck Carly!
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