'Idol' fever building
| • | Experts size up finalists' chances for fame |
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
The latest "American Idol" soundtrack hit No. 4 on Hawai'i's Top 10 CD list last week.
Clay Aiken: The 24-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., is the Hawai'i favorite, winning 45 percent of the 42,000 votes cast locally. Some fans say he has better stage presence.
That's right. The "American Idol: Season 2 All-Time Classic Love Songs" album ranks just behind Jack Johnson, Norah Jones and Keahiwai in island sales.
How is that possible?
It may be explained best by households such as Debora Nelson's.
Nelson, 39, will turn on Fox TV tonight and watch the skinny guy with the big voice sing off against the extra-large Luther Vandross type in the "Idol" finale.
The multigenerational audience in Nelson's 'Aiea living room will include her 15-year-old daughter, mom and grandmother. Nelson and her daughter are likely to fight over the phone to vote for Ruben Studdard, the teddy bear who often wears shirts that read "205," which represents at least his weight but just a fraction of his popularity.
"Ruben, every time he sings, it gives you goose bumps," said Nelson's mom, 61-year-old Delores Verano.
They were fans of Hawai'i's own Jordan Segundo when the 18-year-old Farrington High School senior was an "Idol" contestant. They've embraced another "regular Joe," they say, because that's what's made "American Idol" the top reality show in the country.
"It gives a chance to everybody who has dreams of doing this," Nelson said.
Ruben Studdard: The large, Luther Vandross type from Birmingham, Ala., who cites Donnie Hathaway as his role model, won 41 percent of Hawai'i votes last week.
University of Hawai'i education majors Janet Kim and Olivia Huang, 20, will be watching tonight as well.
Their votes are on "Clay all the way," says Huang, a fan of Clay Aiken, 24, the singer from Raleigh, N.C. They say he's the better stage performer.
The Hawai'i audience agreed last week. Of about 42,000 votes, Aiken received 45 percent of the local tally. Studdard was next, with 41 percent, mirroring the national rankings.
Kim and Huang, who watch the show religiously, talk about it like Monday morning quarterbacks. It's better than other reality shows, which "seem kind of trashy," Kim said. "This is about people's talent."
So far, Hawai'i watchers have agreed with the nation's choices for castoffs. Votes here matched the nation's last week, when Nashville, Tenn., native Kimberley Locke, 25, was sent packing. (Don't cry a river for her, though; she'll be rejoining the "Idol" group for a 39-city concert tour that kicks off July 8.)
For Hawai'i viewers, the small screen is just as good, and fans say there's as much suspense here as on "Survivor."
"It's everyday people trying to make something of themselves," said Tui Silva, a 30-year-old health educator from Makiki. That in itself, he says, is reason to watch.
