Sayonara Sanjaya

Is nothing sacred? Can’t even Howard Stern and a web campaign keep a terrible singer in an overblown singing contest? Tonight, after a ridiculous 38 million votes were cast (more than the population of Canada), Sanjaya Malakar was sent packing.

For a while it looked like the toothy teenager had a shot at becoming the next American Idol. Despite night after night of sub par performances, Sanjaya kept rising through the rounds. No matter what bile judge Simon Cowell spewed it slid off him as if his mop of hair was made of Teflon.

Ever since the voting began a heady mix of pre-pubescent teens and ironic voters, aiming to derail the Idol voting process, came together to cast their electronic ballots for the safe-as-milk Malakar, propelling him into the upper reaches of the competition. But tonight something changed and the hairdo that sings like a boy is gone.

So what happened? Did fans of the show come to their senses and see it was a joke that Sanjaya had made it that far? Did they realize that to vote for him would mean more talented singers would be eliminated? Or did the joke voters just get bored with the hoax after it dawned on them that their participation in the process was seen as a validation of the show, no matter what their intent was. My guess is it was more the latter than the former.

In any case Sanjaya will be missed by the show. Sure, a mostly talentless hack has been voted off, but his continued presence guaranteed constant chatter, in both the media and online – it was the kind of exposure you can’t buy. If Sanjaya didn’t exist the producers would have had to create him. Not that I’m so cynical as to suggest that’s what happened in this case…

Democracy Simply Doesn't Work

At what point does ironic subversion become active participation? Take the case of American Idol’s Sanjaya Malakar, the talentless teen who continues to blandly warble his way deeper into the Top 10, despite any discernable singing ability. Each one of his songs is safe, genteel and painful to watch yet he not only advances he also is avoiding the bottom three and sending people with genuine ability (so to speak) back to obscurity. He is William Hung, writ large.

I was perplexed as to how he was managing this feat. I know it’s foolish to underestimate the musical tastes of the reality show voting public but I figured that even they would see through this sham. Not likely, but it’s more than hormone-addled pre-teens keeping this doe-eyed hack in he competition. People are voting in droves for Sanjay for all the above reasons, trying to subvert the process by crowning the worst singer the new American Idol. Which is actually quite funny. Howard Stern has also sent his slavering masses to the telephone banks and it appears to be working.

But are they really making a mockery of the show by subverting its voting process or are they just cogs in the marketing machine? The winner of the show is irrelevant as it is often the runner-ups that go on to better careers (Kelly Clarkson notwithstanding). His continuing presence is encouraging people to vote for others so he doesn’t get in and others so he does. I’m sure the show doesn’t care why you vote as long as you continue to do so.

Sanjay appears to be aware of his status as the Snakes on a Plane mass joke of the moment and is playing it for all it is worth. How else to explain what he keeps doing that rats nest of hair? He’s also playing to those young fans just in case people get bored with the prank. Put those groups together and we may have ourselves a winner. Here’s hoping!