American Idol is the canonical maudlin, mainstream music show, but Anoop Desai’s remarkable run matters. He matters because he’s a test case challenging the music industry’s ‘rule’ that those who can’t be shoehorned into the U.S.’s dominant racial categories are unmarketable. The show’s producers went out of their way to fuck with Desai, and it [...]
Over the course of American Idol, Anoop Desai went from a geeky-looking dude with a gorgeous voice to a slicked-up dude with a gorgeous voice. His inability to dance brought much shame to the Research Triangle dandia community, but he was always one of the most consistent vocalists on the show.
Here are some of my [...]
And that’s a wrap: Anoop Desai was just voted off American Idol. The original UK show is called Pop Idol, it’s about finding a mainstream pop kid who’s as prepackaged as possible. Many of the contestants are semi-pro already, making money from musicals (Adam Lambert) or putting out albums (Matt Giraud). Desai just had too [...]
From a friend after last night’s show: ‘OMG — he’s wearing pink — still needs a stylist!’
What’s up macacas, I know you ain’t talking ’bout me dogYou been on my trip macaca, you love my style, macaca
Brace yourself for the main eventIt’s like a GMAT, what’s the result?Pass, who’s prep-hop? Noop, Kanye, Common
Ain’t [...]
Watch the clip.
Anoop Desai’s doing a disco song with the lyrics ‘Take me from bottom to top… turn my brown body white.’ Ick. Desai gets the pimp spot, coming last. He’s taken the style feedback to heart, waxing his eyebrows and slightly spiking his hair. Oh, Gujju Samson. Seacrest calls him out on it. With [...]
Since this is disco week on American Idol, may I suggest a little flamenco-disco fisticuffs number for Anoop Desai, who’s got the eyebrows to be a Bachchan scion. He hasn’t done uptempo well, and two are exiting this week — might as well go out in a blaze of glory. Here’s Yaarana (1981):
Spanked by voters for being a goody two-shoes even when he sings well, Noop Dogg took no risks this week, choosing his umpteenth ballad: ‘Everything I Do‘ by ringmaster of cheese Bryan Adams. Stylistically, he went prep again in a tie and letterman jacket. The same night, he was up against Adam Glambert wailing ‘Born [...]
Here’s a sampling of American Idol comments on Twitter:
Watching Kal Penn lookalike Anoop is gonna make me wish they didn’t kill off Kutner.
Pseudo-racist comment of the week: It’s kind of weird to see Anoop Desai on Idol after watching House last night. :/
I liked Anoop’s song maybe because he reminds me of [...]
This went out today over the IIT-Kharagpur alumni list (thanks, friend-o):
Please vote for Anoop Desai in today’s American Idol program, and Anoop’s father [IIT K Alumnus 1975, Hall 2, Chemical] has given the rational why his son deserves to be the American Idol…
[From his dad:] Some people felt that Anoop lost his cool last week [...]
Puppy Noop
I’ve seen all I want to see of this heavily-padded show — it’s really one hour of singing stretched into four hours of ads — and here’s what we know so far. Anoop Desai is geeky to the core, and the Idol producers worry how to market him. Wholesome, or at least fake-wholesome, sells [...]
A-Dogg took on the Smokey Robinson classic ‘Ooh Baby Baby’ tonight (full video). This veered into lounge singer territory, and the background singers clutter up the audioscape, but the falsettos were lovely. Dare I say it? It improved on the original:
Anoop Desai went with a ballad on American Idol’s country music week, ‘Always on My Mind,’ and he killed it. These slower songs suit him with his low R&B registers and his sincerity. In comparison, Danny Gokey seems like a ringer, a Robert Downey Jr. lookalike with a professional singer voice and an ever-present smirk. [...]