So here's my overall thoughts about this first ever edition of ASC, and of course we don't even know if there will be one next year, first off.
Of course, the whole thing couldn't be at a worse time for us Eurofans, i think that's a major reason Eurofans didn't care as much about it as they should, they were simply occupied enough with keeping track of everrything that happens with the ESC. The "perfect" time for us would be in the autumn, when nothing ESC-related happens at all, but i doubt anyone in charge would care about that anyway, as it only mattes to a very small amount of viewers.
AleXa was an okay winner to me. To note some positive things, it was a pretty good song, maybe in my top 10 or 15 of all entries, it was different from anything else, certainly creative, and a skilled performance, it represented an actual genre rather than nondescript mainstream pap, and it won the televote. I was really all set and ready for a more mainstream entry to win from the beginning, and i would have thought Jordan Smith, Chloe Fredericks (only 9th!) or Ni/Co would take it home.
What i'm less positive about is what image it's gonna give the contest, for which one of those three i mentioned would have been better, and that artists are gonna reject ASC for being "all about show and spectacular staging" and that there's just gonna be too many of these entries next year, along with a lower interest from other kinds of performers who felt snubbed by the poor results of the most daring and diverse entries. And it doesn't help that many, even mainstream media commenters predicted her to win from the start. An unexpected Chloe or Ni/Co win would have been perfect.
Now to what should change for the next year. First off, the time limit should be 3:00 or possibly even longer. There's absolutely no reason for it to be 2:45, shorter than in the ESC, and i never heard anybody justify this choice which is very restricting to the composers and the variety of genres that can contend, and some songs (like Allen Stone's) were really harmed by the cut. This is an absolute no-brainer.
Then of course, many things can be improved technically and otherwise, but that's sure to be thought of anyway. I'm sure we hope that next year already, at least some states can have their own selections, even if it's just voting for 3 pre-recorded songs on a website or so, that would involve others than the NBC crew more than now, and make the artists feel more like the state's own choice.
The main crutch however, for everyone i'm sure, is the voting, specifically the juries. Both what they voted for and how the are counted. Most will agree, to some extent, that the juries committed outright ethnic cleansing in the heats. A bunch of all-white country drawlers and bland, forgettable mainstream pop attempts were sent to the semis, completely negating what televote support the others had, though ironically most of them got eliminated in the semis anyway.
Whatever criteria the juries went by was wrong, plain and simple, and the final result pretty much shows it. If they were supposed to support quality and variety, they would have supported Sabyu, Las Marias, Sisqo, Josh Panda and Jason J. instead of barring them from the final. And they didn't even keep the horrendous trash by Riker Lynch from making the final and 2nd place, which would have been exactly their point anyway.
The current system is much like the highly critizied "rank all" system that was used in the ESC for a few years before the current system, where juries only rank their top 10. One way to make it less biased would be for juries to only rank their top 4 or 5, and the rest will be given no points in the combined results, since only 4 or 5 are qualifying anyway. The #1 with juries and with televotes could be the first qualifiers, then the remaining entries with the highest combined points, or maybe give even more power to televoters by picking one combined, one remaining with highest televote, etc.
I know the problem is as much with song selection as with the voting, and there's bound to be a lot of changes in the first years either way, but it was really sad to see the most exciting and diverse entries eliminated right away, and really took a lot of the enthusiasm out for many viewers.
Also, the voting and the reveal of the qualifiers should be done before the end of each heat, but this is something many others keep bringing up anyway. And two "wildcards" is too little, if anything it could be four, especially since they're going through the semis anyway.
I also think, among the many things that were strange and unclear about the objective of the entire contest, they did outright wrong by claiming it was about choosing "America's next big hit". Hits aren't chosen in a contest, they just happen by popularity, and some of the songs were already hits before the final. But that leaves the question what exactly the artists were competing for, because the ASC obviously doesn't have the status that the ESC has.
It remains to see what kind of impression the first ASC made and if there's gonna be more interest in next edition (if it even happens) - it's gonna take many years to make it as popular as the ESC, of course, and the goal still isn't the same, as it's within one nation that's not really divided by languages, governments etc, but it obviously isn't like a ESC national selection either, since the winner of those get to represent their country in the bigger contest, so what does the winners really win? A minor trophy in what to most viewers is "another damn singing contest", and the non-winning artists may very well benefit more from their appearance. Not that it's a bad thing, but it makes the entire idea of the contest weak and confusing.
Finally, i'm sure many would like the songs to be revealed at least one week before the heats. I think Melodifestivalen (which is pretty much the model for ASC, anyway) has the right idea about this, while i don't like some things about it, this really increases enthusiasm for the entries and the show overall and it also benefits unknown / less talked-about artists.
So overall, they did pretty well, i just wish i could be slightly less angry about the results.
Of course, the whole thing couldn't be at a worse time for us Eurofans, i think that's a major reason Eurofans didn't care as much about it as they should, they were simply occupied enough with keeping track of everrything that happens with the ESC. The "perfect" time for us would be in the autumn, when nothing ESC-related happens at all, but i doubt anyone in charge would care about that anyway, as it only mattes to a very small amount of viewers.
AleXa was an okay winner to me. To note some positive things, it was a pretty good song, maybe in my top 10 or 15 of all entries, it was different from anything else, certainly creative, and a skilled performance, it represented an actual genre rather than nondescript mainstream pap, and it won the televote. I was really all set and ready for a more mainstream entry to win from the beginning, and i would have thought Jordan Smith, Chloe Fredericks (only 9th!) or Ni/Co would take it home.
What i'm less positive about is what image it's gonna give the contest, for which one of those three i mentioned would have been better, and that artists are gonna reject ASC for being "all about show and spectacular staging" and that there's just gonna be too many of these entries next year, along with a lower interest from other kinds of performers who felt snubbed by the poor results of the most daring and diverse entries. And it doesn't help that many, even mainstream media commenters predicted her to win from the start. An unexpected Chloe or Ni/Co win would have been perfect.
Now to what should change for the next year. First off, the time limit should be 3:00 or possibly even longer. There's absolutely no reason for it to be 2:45, shorter than in the ESC, and i never heard anybody justify this choice which is very restricting to the composers and the variety of genres that can contend, and some songs (like Allen Stone's) were really harmed by the cut. This is an absolute no-brainer.
Then of course, many things can be improved technically and otherwise, but that's sure to be thought of anyway. I'm sure we hope that next year already, at least some states can have their own selections, even if it's just voting for 3 pre-recorded songs on a website or so, that would involve others than the NBC crew more than now, and make the artists feel more like the state's own choice.
The main crutch however, for everyone i'm sure, is the voting, specifically the juries. Both what they voted for and how the are counted. Most will agree, to some extent, that the juries committed outright ethnic cleansing in the heats. A bunch of all-white country drawlers and bland, forgettable mainstream pop attempts were sent to the semis, completely negating what televote support the others had, though ironically most of them got eliminated in the semis anyway.
Whatever criteria the juries went by was wrong, plain and simple, and the final result pretty much shows it. If they were supposed to support quality and variety, they would have supported Sabyu, Las Marias, Sisqo, Josh Panda and Jason J. instead of barring them from the final. And they didn't even keep the horrendous trash by Riker Lynch from making the final and 2nd place, which would have been exactly their point anyway.
The current system is much like the highly critizied "rank all" system that was used in the ESC for a few years before the current system, where juries only rank their top 10. One way to make it less biased would be for juries to only rank their top 4 or 5, and the rest will be given no points in the combined results, since only 4 or 5 are qualifying anyway. The #1 with juries and with televotes could be the first qualifiers, then the remaining entries with the highest combined points, or maybe give even more power to televoters by picking one combined, one remaining with highest televote, etc.
I know the problem is as much with song selection as with the voting, and there's bound to be a lot of changes in the first years either way, but it was really sad to see the most exciting and diverse entries eliminated right away, and really took a lot of the enthusiasm out for many viewers.
Also, the voting and the reveal of the qualifiers should be done before the end of each heat, but this is something many others keep bringing up anyway. And two "wildcards" is too little, if anything it could be four, especially since they're going through the semis anyway.
I also think, among the many things that were strange and unclear about the objective of the entire contest, they did outright wrong by claiming it was about choosing "America's next big hit". Hits aren't chosen in a contest, they just happen by popularity, and some of the songs were already hits before the final. But that leaves the question what exactly the artists were competing for, because the ASC obviously doesn't have the status that the ESC has.
It remains to see what kind of impression the first ASC made and if there's gonna be more interest in next edition (if it even happens) - it's gonna take many years to make it as popular as the ESC, of course, and the goal still isn't the same, as it's within one nation that's not really divided by languages, governments etc, but it obviously isn't like a ESC national selection either, since the winner of those get to represent their country in the bigger contest, so what does the winners really win? A minor trophy in what to most viewers is "another damn singing contest", and the non-winning artists may very well benefit more from their appearance. Not that it's a bad thing, but it makes the entire idea of the contest weak and confusing.
Finally, i'm sure many would like the songs to be revealed at least one week before the heats. I think Melodifestivalen (which is pretty much the model for ASC, anyway) has the right idea about this, while i don't like some things about it, this really increases enthusiasm for the entries and the show overall and it also benefits unknown / less talked-about artists.
So overall, they did pretty well, i just wish i could be slightly less angry about the results.
