I just finished recently reading the book
"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell and I was thinking how well it applies to American Idol this season. One thing that struck me was the 10,000 hours of success Gladwell discusses for the Beatles, and how that applied quite a bit for the contestants this year. Without a doubt, the contestant who had the most performing experience this year was Crystal Bowersox, and that was evident from early in the season. However, that does not mean the other contestants were not lacking in talent, they just had not come close to putting in their 10,000 hours to achieve success. Lee DeWyze was another contestant who had substantial experience (he had released two albums!), but he probably did not have as much live performance experience as Crystal due to working part-time in more typical jobs. But we were able to see him develop as he gained more confidence and experience throughout the season to be able to win the competition by the end. Frankly, I think Lee is still developing and may reach his 10,000 hours during the summer tour, where his performances there seem to be gathering some
pretty good reviews (much better than his performances on the show), although
not everybody agrees.
I also question the idea to allow 15 year old performers to participate next season. The younger performers this season seem to also be developing during the summer tour (Aaron Kelly, Katie Stevens), but in reality it may be better to let them develop their skills before a three month television season, and then a 50 city summer tour. I think all of the finalists have talent (well, maybe not Tim Urban so much), but they all need to develop closer to that 10,000 hour level that Gladwell describes so well in his book.
