Fame is a Flash in the Pan

To those who do still tune in to Fox’s “hit” show, American Idol, kudos. You honestly should receive a prize for posterity. However, like myself and most of my peers – No one really cares who wins anymore. In my personal belief, this is because these people are no longer considered “the best.” After over 20 seasons of American Idol, who really is THE American idol? After over a dozen cycles of ANTM who really is THE next top model? Surely not all these winners can be on top. If you can still list off five winners of either of these shows and know what they’ve been up to, I would be impressed. It’s not to say that those who compete on Idol, and shows like it, aren’t talented. If anything, it’s to say that the world has become infatuated with the instant gratification of crowning a winner and once we do, we allow them to fade into the background as we wait for the next person to heap praise upon.

Photo by vagueonthehow via Flickr.com

Society seems keen to dub the ‘next big thing’ before truly having anyone prove him or herself. For example, Lana Del Rey was deemed the next big thing in music before even releasing a full-length album under her new stage name (she had released a collection of earlier works under the name Lizzie Grant). She was hyped and poised to make her mark in the music world long before most of her “fans” had ever heard her utter a note outside her successful single “Video Games.” When Del Rey appeared on SNL and gave a less than stellar performance, the public reacted with sharp venom. By just clicking on videos of her SNL performance, commentary is relentless. One viewer states bluntly “Okay she was on some serious LSD while on Saturday Night Live during these performancers or SOMETHIN! I LOVE LANA but oh my gosh it was the worst thing I’ve ever heard during SNL,” while another exclaims, “Everything about her is fake. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of singers create personas, but they also have the charisma and stage presence to sell those personas to the audience. Lana Del Rey is just distant and weird. An average singer with zero stage presence.” After Del Rey’s single performance, the public eye seemed to turn 180 degrees on her. She became the target of ridicule and mocking, while just a week ago she was being hailed as pop music’s new reckoning.

With websites such as YouTube and Twitter, it has become increasingly easy to attempt to make a mark in the entertainment world through social networking. With so many people vying for notoriety, the Internet has become a vortex of talent and harsh critique. After one video, the public is able to make a person notorious through viral sharing. Yet, when this newly dubbed “celebrity” takes a misstep, the public drops them like a bad habit. I think it says a lot about our society that we become infatuated with someone we believe will be famous before actually proving his or her talent. Fame is fleeting and in today’s society, that fame is volatile. Quick to explode and quick to fizzle out.