It’s instructive to note that TV singing searches and competitions have become increasingly popular through the years.
“American Idol” started the ball rolling and lasted for over a decade. It was soon joined by “The X Factor,” “The Voice” and other tilts that have discovered some of today’s best and hottest singers.
As the TV singing competitions heated up and topped the ratings, their choice of stellar judges and mentors emerged as one of their strongest viewing and selling factors.
Rivalry
So, each season’s chosen panel of celebrity judges affects a TV singing tilt’s success in a key way, and the real or staged rivalry between mentors is followed as avidly as the main competition involving the musical discoveries themselves.
This sometimes strikes viewers as an irritating distraction, but there’s logic to the jurors’ stellar antics: After all, the contestants themselves are mostly total unknowns, so they have little or no “star value” to speak of, until they’re able to show and prove their potential.
So, viewers are temporarily entertained by the mentors’ byplay—and also learn a lot about performance plus points from their astute and colorful analyses.
Meghan Trainor
Parallel competition
So, for 2018, even as the TV singing tilts’ contestants do their best to one-up each other, a parallel competition for viewers’ favor is also being staged and waged between the different programs’ respective panels of jurors.
Take your pick: On the revival of “American Idol,” the jurors are Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, with Ryan Seacrest hosting. On “The Voice,” Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys and Kelly Clarkson.
On “The X Factor UK,” Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger. And, on the newest kid on the block, “The Four,” Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled, Charlie Walk and Meghan Trainor, with Fergie hosting.
Which tilt’s panel hits your viewing sweet spot, right off the bat?
In terms of “fresh” star value, Katy Perry would initially appear to stand out—but Meghan Trainor has her own avid and rabid following. On the other hand, Alicia Keys has proven herself to be a most astute mentor on “The Voice,” so some armchair vetters would prefer her counsel.
Alicia Keys
Power player
If you go by clout in the biz, Sean “Diddy” Combs is a major power player, having savvily transformed himself into a multiplatform mogul beyond the music scene, with his successful sorties into design and lifestyle brands.
Similarly impressive is the man who started it all, Simon Cowell, of original “Idol” and now “X Factor” fame—except that he’s no longer as caustically cutting and quotable as he used to be.
All told and everything considered, we think that Katy Perry will initially draw the biggest number of viewers, curious to see if her stellar musical experience has also made her a good, wise and helpful mentor.
At the final fade at the end of the season, however, based on her standout mentoring last year, Alicia Keys could impress viewers the most, because her counsel and knack for talent development and guidance have been proven to be—exceptionally choice.