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Shook Twins decline American Idol audition invitation


Phil O'Keefe

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Good for them! I love their reasons for declining American Idol's invitation, although I'm a bit perplexed as to why AI would have actively sought them out and invited them to (individually) audition in the first place. :idk:

 

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2014/07/thanks-thanks-shook-twins-tell-american-idol-take-hike/

 

Well, AI doesn't do duos. But they have had brothers and sisters audition before. They'll let them audition together but they are judged separately. It makes for pretty good TV and I'm sure the producers are always on the lookout for that.

 

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Their response is fine, I suppose, but not sure why they are so upset that they were extended an invitation to audition separately. How is AI to know they might not be interested in doing so? Other duos have in the past. So the invitation goes out and they decline. I'm sure AI will get over it.

 

But that they wanted to use the fact that they got the invitation as an opportunity for self-promotion is all well and good. That's what the business is all about, for sure.

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This is my feeling also:

 

"We feel that music is not meant to be a competition. It’s a platform to say something powerful and should be a way of bringing people together, not separating them. We feel that your vision is completely different. We would be going against everything that we stand for by auditioning for American Idol."

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Music started being more about competition as soon as someone invented things like the Billboard charts and record contracts started being issued based on who could make the company the most money, I think.

 

But all I know is I never heard of The Shook Twins before this and now I have. So I guess they made it work for them.

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Good for them! I love their reasons for declining American Idol's invitation, although I'm a bit perplexed as to why AI would have actively sought them out and invited them to (individually) audition in the first place. :idk:

 

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2014/0...dol-take-hike/

I was tempted to add all three of their stream-syndicated albums to my favorites on General Principle -- but I'm happy to say that so far I'm quite enjoying their chamber folky/slightly poppy music in the scramble mix I just threw together. They earned their place in my (bulging) favorites 'library.' What're three albums when there are already almost 1900 in there.

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Who was a better musician - Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, or Miles Davis?

 

Some questions are just unanswerable, and I totally agree with the point they made about music ultimately not being about competition.

 

All kidding aside, I agree completely. I stopped watching award shows around a decade ago because I found the entire concept of competing very strange.

 

 

 

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Here's the thing about music not being a competition:

 

I guess it doesn't have to be if you don't want it to be, but a big part of the business is. What happens on American Idol anyway? Well, the first thing you have to do is audition in front of judges to see if you're good enough to be on the show. Yeah, like that never happens on Broadway or in Vegas? No "real" musicians or singers have ever had to audition to get a job or a part before?

 

And then, if you're good enough to get the part and make it to the live show, then yes---you compete and can be voted off and they eventually crown a "winner", but at the end the of day, these people are really only competing against themselves. If people like what you do, they'll vote for you. If they don't, they won't and someone else will get more votes. Is that really any different than what happens when you're playing clubs or trying to sell or CDs or downloads?

 

I just got back from taking my 6 year old to her first audition for a musical. One of those community theater things where every kid will get a part, but still, she had to get on stage in front of some judges and sing for a minute and they'll decide who gets the featured roles and who just sings in the chorus based on their opinions of who is good enough and who isn't.

 

Now, I think the whole process is going to make her a better, stronger singer and performer if that what she decides she wants to keep doing. But maybe I shouldn't have had her do that? Because music isn't a competition? She shouldn't be singing show tunes because covers are lame? Should I only be encouraging her to sit in her room and write songs in her tablet because that's where the "art" is and what music is really all about?

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But, happily, almost nothing about actual music

 

;)

 

Which brings us back to the age old dilemma: all the stuff about music not being a "competition" or a "business" is great until the point one wants to try and make a living doing it. And then at that point it's as much as business as is any other financial pursuit in life. Even for the Shook Twins.

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and I don't like the music that is typically played on there.

 

I remember when it first came on I watched it once and there was a girl who sang really soulfully. She had a beautiful voice. Kind of like a cross between Etta James and Gladys Knight. I thought she was by far the best on the show that night.

 

Then she stood before the judges and every one of them gave her a thumbs down.

I realized right then that it wasn't really a talent contest.

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I remember when it first came on I watched it once and there was a girl who sang really soulfully. She had a beautiful voice. Kind of like a cross between Etta James and Gladys Knight. I thought she was by far the best on the show that night.

 

 

 

Then she stood before the judges and every one of them gave her a thumbs down.

 

I realized right then that it wasn't really a talent contest.

 

 

 

or maybe that you're just a poor judge of it? ;)

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or maybe that you're just a poor judge of it? ;)

 

Maybe so.

 

But I think in the case of American Idol they were looking for a very specific type.

If you didn't fit the type you were out the door.

 

Of course I never really watched it after that.

Like Ken said "I didn't like the music that was typically played on there."

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