The Student Becomes the Master

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Wishful thinking often morphs into rumours through Chinese Whispers and I thought this was the case when it came to Adam being touted as a mentor on AI. He dispelled it during the Heat chat only for it to rear its head again yesterday via a DJ who claimed to have received an official notice. Many dismissed this but it was confirmed later to plenty of excitement and flailing. To mark the occasion, I've put together a video of all the mentor sessions from last season. Slash was the only one to have given Adam any advice and I remember wondering at the time how they would have been able to mentor him as I felt that the student had already overtaken the master.



I've always thought Adam would make an excellent mentor on AI for so many reasons. He is extremely articulate in expressing relevant opinions in a tactful manner. He doesn't mumble or babble self-indulgent shit and instinctively knows on what level to communicate in order to engage his audience. Although he says he doesn't have a filter, I think there is one in place that only allows interesting and useful stuff through. That's why we so often find ourselves hanging onto his every word. As far as I'm concerned, he's peerless when it comes to mastering the Idol game so no one is better to equipped to advise on it.

It's been a year since Adam was introduced to the world on AI, and I've wondered whether it would ever be able to recover. I thought that in the best-case scenario post-Adam, the judges may become more adventurous in their choices, or after having studied him we might have seen people be a little more daring. It's glaringly evident now how exceptional a talent he is by the absence of any excitement or comparable vocal quality from the current contestants. Adam has changed it and there is no going back as the bar requires intergalactic travel to get over. It will never be enough to be able to sing like an angel, to able to belt like a diva, to be a likeable personality, to have stage presence, to be visually compelling, to have a signature trait, to choose good songs, to be able to perform, to be able to interpret and rearrange songs, to be versatile, to be exciting and unpredictable. We need all that and much more to sustain interest because that is what Adam consistently gave us week after week without fail. Anything less is a serious disappointment. We saw how much the camera loved Adam for being such a fascinating subject and this year, despite there being some talent, no one comes even remotely close to generating as much interest or inspiration.

The show is broken and withered without Adam and is the embodiment of 'Meh'. The judges have had little patience, giving out confused and garbled advice after enduring one predictably lacklustre performance after another. I think it may be a consequence of Adam kicking out the rulebook as to what should or shouldn't work. I'll bet they wish there were someone similar this season but no one is able to pull it off. Ratings haven't been good so I'm guessing that the producers are trying to resuscitate the show with an injection of glitter-adrenaline to give it some pizzazz. I think it says a lot about their regard for their prized alumnus. Apart from the obvious draw of having him appear on the show, I would assume they thought he could have a lasting effect on the quality of performances. Last year, Adam expertly navigated his way through the rounds giving us a thrilling and varied collection of surprises. I think he's well qualified to advise on how to play AI to make it fit around the contestants, starting with how to get the most out of the available resources, song choice, vocal styling and arrangement from week-to-week. I also think he'd have plenty of valuable input on the performance aspect in the look, staging, mood, camera engagement and visual presentation which could help them all up their game. I don't expect him to work miracles as none have voices with the staggering range, power, control or dynamism that allows him to sing anything, but I think he'll provide plenty of ideas and inspiration. I look forward to Adam's return but it's a shame I'll have to tolerate all the rubbish to watch the Adam parts. Well, I'm glad I don't have to worry about voting this time round. If only they could dispense with the contestants and give the whole show to Adam so the master is free demonstrate his craft, then I'd be very happy.

DOWNLOAD Adam AI8 mentor interactions iPod compatible mp4 - 30.5MB