Decoding "Idol's" medley mystery
Survival. Desperation. And ultimately, triumph. These are the things that "American Idol" is made of. But to some super fans, the show is about even more than that. To these fans "Idol" is a code that must be cracked. Over the past few weeks the Idol obsessives have been presented with a mystery of unimaginable magnitude: What two celebrity performers will sing a duet on this week's much-hyped "Idol Gives Back" special?
While promoting "Idol Gives Back" last week, Ryan Seacrest incanted a long list of banner names booked on "Idol" this week, including Gwen Stefani, Earth, Wind & Fire, Il Divo, Keira Knightly and Hugh Grant. And then came the "Idol" twist: an element of surprise. "Plus, a duet you'll have to see to believe when two of the biggest stars in musical history come together on our stage," he said.
By the following day the predictions were flying. Madonna and Bono? Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney? Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson? Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson? Paul McCartney and Celine Dion? Anything, it seemed was possible. But many "Idol" detectives zeroed in on one particular phrasing in Seacrest's words. Surely a message was hidden there. "Biggest stars in musical history."
"Anytime that someone claims to have two of the biggest stars in musical history performing a duet, then Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney are certainly two names that come up," wrote "Joe Reality" in RealityTVMagazine.com. The trouble was Michael Jackson's camp had denied twice that the singer would be participating in the event.
Further clues also made the McCartney/Jackson pairing unlikely. As Seacrest announced the mystery duet, the figures in the background were the silhouette of a man and a woman. Certainly not a random choice, the superfans deduced. And then a voice cried out in the wilderness. Kim Lawson, founder and reporter of the celebrity news site called GirlsTalkinSmack, claimed, unequivocally, to know just whom this mystery pair would be.
"It turns out this 'ground breaking' duet has already been pre-recorded and of course, leaked by someone in the audience," she wrote on April 19, a full three days before TMZ reported the same information. "The duet will be... Celine Dion and Elvis Presley!"
Kim was not into it. "Um, yeah, not that exciting," she wrote. But generously, she did deign to give details. "In case you're wondering HOW Elvis will show up, he's being played by a Vegas impersonator but his real voice will be used (and apparently his real face, although that doesn't make sense to me)," she wrote.
Over time this report has morphed into Celine Dion and some kind of Elvis hologram. Reached via e-mail, Kim was still not psyched. "Personally, I think the idea is pretty lame. I was expecting two big performers like MJ and Whitney Houston or even Madonna and Justin Timberlake but we're stuck with Celine Dion and a hologram. What a bore!"
That's the trouble with mysteries; the chase tends to be more fun than the discovery. But if there is anything "Idol" has shown us, it is its unerring ability to understand and toy with viewers' expectations. When the three most likely to be sent home are seated right together on the results-night couch, for instance, you know a surprise is in store.
And despite Lawson's certainty that she has cracked the code, some fans note that while Celine Dion's name has jumped on and off Fox's myriad press releases, her name does appear on the most recent one. So does that mean it's not her? Is her? Might Celine and phantom Elvis be a false lead? Stay tuned. (Los Angeles Times)
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