|
William Hung set out to become an American Idol and
ended up a pop icon. The Cal Berkeley civil engineering student's
notorious performance of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" has
spawned numerous web salutes and remixes, a Saturday Night Live
parody and an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show. A recording
contract with Koch Records sits on his coffee table and an encore
performance of “She Bangs” on American Idol
last week confirmed his status as the hottest accidental idol ever.
So what is it about William that inspires such fervent
fascination? It's the "awww" factor. His awkward, heartfelt
performance never fails to elicit an "awww" — which
is neither unequivocal praise nor damnation. "Awww" starts
out as the bright, familiar sound reserved for something cute and
endearing, and then slides ever so slightly down to a darker, mournful
note of pity. William, as my friends in junior high used to say,
is "puppy-dog cute" which means we like him, but are slightly
embarrassed to admit it because he's not "cute cute" (i.e.
hunky). Just cute enough to feel sorry for.
In an age where people will do/say/eat anything to
be on TV, we're charmed by William's sincerity. His response to
the judges' rejection: "I already gave my best. I have no regrets
at all," is completely devoid of the entitlement that turns
other would-be’s into divas. To William, a winning performance
is a process he has yet to perfect. Like engineering, stardom will
eventually fall prey to hard work and perseverance; he is undeterred
by this minor setback. William had the guts to take the secret dream
of every shower-singer and karaoke devotee and make it real. His
courage touches one of our most treasured American desires: we wish
life was an even playing field. If you work hard enough, and believe
in your potential, one day, everyone else will see it too.
But William's apparent faith in the fairness of the
music biz also arouses our pity. He's so earnest and so completely
ill suited to pop stardom that we know he's never going to "make
it." But his bravery is poignant in the face of insurmountable
odds. It's like that climactic scene in the Civil War movie Glory.
You know the black battalion is going to be decimated attacking
the fort, you know the Union army has set it up that way (black
lives being more expendable than white), but by golly, you want
those soldiers to take that hill. It's a valiant gesture, totally
sacrificial, and completely moving. Ok, that's a little dramatic,
but William is up against the same odds.
Popular music is saturated with one-dimensional images
(if not music) of Asian women, but Asian men are all but invisible
compared to white and black male stars. In the conflation of sound
and sex that is American popular music, there are no precedents
for Asian American success.
Masking this racism, and built into the American
Idol premise is the notion of "talent." It's fascinating
how this word has become hard-coded in our heads to encompass a
very limited range of traits. We recognize good singers as people
who sound like, but not TOO much like, famous people. The whole
notion of songs as archetypes that require personal interpretation
has been completely bulldozed by the power of celebrity. We sing
the singer, not the song. The American Idol judges purport
to be looking for singers who show personality, who "make a
song their own." But they repeatedly choose contestants who
remind them of famous people: the next Lauryn Hill or Aaron Neville.
Granted, most of the people on American Idol
just want to be on TV. It's not just a singing contest after all,
it's entertainment, and the producers make sure that the program
has its complement of men in bear suits and women with baritones.
Then along comes William Hung, who actually did make a song his
own with such heart and goodwill that it was almost impossible to
laugh at him. Almost. He doesn't fit within our narrow definition
of talent, but there's no denying his sincerity. His performance
restored what is fun and heartening in music, taking it away from
the cookie cutter pop idol and giving it back to us.
< back to pop
|
