Know the Lyrics

I haven't really been watching American Idol this season--and it's been awful, what I've seen of it--but I thought this NPR Music column was interesting. Harry Connick Jr. is already winning raves for his mentorship, and his insightful comments have already helped get one contestant eliminated.

What defines good singing? Technique or feeling? That argument, a perennial among music lovers, roared back into the foreground last week after appeared on American Idol. The fortysomething pianist and crooner found himself trending on Twitter for the first time since his acting run on Law & Order: SVU ended in 2012 after bullying the four young finalists about their failure to grasp the basics of the American Songbook. His cruelest moment came when teenager Amber Holcomb revealed that she thought "My Funny Valentine" was about a boy who told good jokes.

Connick adopted the demeanor of a self-satisfied high school history teacher as he told to Holcomb to go do some Google research on the miserable life of lyricist Lorenz Hart. The young singer, flustered beyond repair, sang terribly and was eliminated the next night. As for Connick, his stern-professor schtick paid off: pundits all over the Web his insight, and his name was soon floated as a possible Idol judge.

This encapsulates all of the reasons why AI is going down the tubes. These singers don't get it. And neither do the producers.