Looking Back

Tweet

Some other thoughts I've had on re-watching the audition are that Adam seems tired and sounds strangely monotonous in the pre-audition interview. Being a fellow night owl myself, I take it that it's his aversion to early mornings. Even back then, he demonstrated his ability to work his magic on the judges and adapted to deal with each in a different way. Kara's blatantly flirting with Adam who flirts back sweetly but doesn't actually kiss her hand. He keeps it friendly with Randy, who creepily seems a little too determined to test out his gaydar theory. He fanboys over Paula, who has a rare moment of clarity when she's blown away by him and says he's the best they'd seen in every city, and Simon who he treats with reverence is just his negative self but admits falling under his spell when he says 'Oh he's had us' around the 4:02 mark.



I've already spent way too long on this and am rather sick of trying out and learning different software, reformatting, resynching and fiddling around with the aspect ratio, audio and colour on each segment, but it was pointed out to me by fellow obsessives (thank you) who put me to shame that there was a snippet missing from the video. So I got back to work, tracked it down and re-compiled it, otherwise what kind of obsessive would that make me? Test your obsession and see if you can spot what it is. The answer is in the comments section of this post. Thanks go out to LaStupenda and Blue*Rose from IDF for providing the original HQ clips.

--------------

It's been over a month since Idol finished and I'd decided to do something I thought wasn't too taxing on the brain so I spent the last couple days toiling over and piecing together all the audition bits and pieces to make a continuous video. How little did I know. It almost cost me my sanity because of all the different incompatible formats, codecs and crappy software that just kept crashing. I never imagined it would be so friggin' complicated as it's the first time I've converted or edited any vids and my pesky perfectionism wanting everything to be frame-perfect kept on shifting the finish line. Perseverance won out in the end though, and this is the fruit of my labour of obsession, which I hope you'll enjoy. It contains the pre- and post- audition interviews, Rock With You, and Bohemian Rhapsody.

I'm very saddened to have learned about the death of Michael Jackson while working on the video. It doesn't feel like a strange coincidence because his sphere of influence is so wide and penetrates deep into popular culture. Adam was a fan who was strongly influenced by him in terms of music, singing, dancing, performing, fashion and re-invention. I think Michael's life ended up a tragedy after he seriously lost his way. He was someone who I thought was never comfortable with the colossal price of fame making him public property. I'm glad that Adam seems grounded enough and well equipped to deal with playing that game. I was really curious to see what Jacko would have done at his upcoming concerts in London. I wondered whether it would have breathed fresh life into his career and felt excited thinking about the possibility of a collaboration of stellar proportions if the comeback were successful. Sadly we'll never know and it'll never happen, but he'll live on through his music. His powerful influence will continue, perpetuated through artists such as Adam. I hope he is now at peace.