Post by Ava on Feb 15, 2004 14:02:10 GMT 10
thanks to lookatmewithallmyblingbling!
Praise at the Feat of an Idol
Sunday telegraph 15/2/04
There's an essential purity about Guy Sebastian, and its not just his youth, his avowed virgin status or even that his mum was still making his toast every morning until last May when Australian Idol catapulted him out of his suburban Adelaide home. It's more to do with his singleness of purpose, his dedication to his music, and his determination not to compromise his values.
And there we have the ingredients for a good, old-fashioned hero.
"At first, I was too nervous to have my personality out there. Everything I stand for which is different, which is me, which is personal - I didn't let it out," Sebastian says. "I was kind of closed and then I got more comfortable and people started to get to know me better."
Speaking to people in Guy's hometown of Adelaide, many people knew him through church, work and school as being "a lovely bloke", a description echoed over as people got to know him in the competition.
But Guy says he had learned about being under scrutiny long before he got to idol.
"Being a representative of the church has always meant pressure because there are kids looking at me. I remember an indoor
cricket game: I'm really competitive when it comes to sport and I went off at the umpire, yelling and making a spectacle.
"The whole centre was looking at me, and I saw these kids who had seen me singing at this huge church conference of 15,000 people and I realised that, on the stage, you're in the public eye and you can get a lot of people down. "So, it's a lot of pressure, but it's good pressure because it keeps me accountable."
Is he aware of Idol being a vehicle for kids to learn from, as well as a talent quest? "Yeah, it's much more than just the music," he says. "It's all about the music for me but my life is being used for a lot of other symbolic things.
"Being a role model, it's not a light thing for me - it's a huge responsibility because there are so many people being influenced in a positive way.
"But, being in this position, when you do something stupid, there's so much damamge that can be done and not only to people who looked up to you."I get people who made moreal decisions because of what I am and that touches me more than anything else and so, if I let them down, I risk leading people to that same place."
He adds: "I think it gives the public an opportunity to see a different view of someone whereas, usually with celebrities, you only see them when they become famous and when they rebel. But I'm going to always try and five the public something different where you don't have to do drugs and you don't have to sleep with loads of people. And I'm never going to be perfect. I'm just the same as anyone else who makes stupid mistakes, but I'm going to try my hardest."
Guy firmly attributes his commitment and awareness to his family and church: "I had wonderful parents - awesome! They taught me to love, because they're really both so loving, and they really taught me that love's the most important thing and, I think just working with kids, I've always been in kids' ministries and stuff and just seeing the hurt they go through."
Speaking to fans of the show, many said they were inspired, even instructed, by watching the contestants. They went through an initiation by proxy seeing how their favourites handled fear, disappointment, humiliation, how they grew through demanding tests and criticism.
Sam and Hayley, two teenage girls among the 5000-strong crowd at Guy's album launch, told me: "We got heaps from watching the show - how the performers dealt with it all and the judges' comments about what is expected."
The hero of a story is always the one who grows the most and takes the most risks. Throughout the show, Guy chose the most diverse songs and experimented with styles ranging from soul, pop, and R&B, but he kept that key ingredient of consistency in his heartfelt performances and original interpretations.
"I had so many letters," Guy says. "My song inspired people. I felt that song (Climb Every Mountain) so much because I had my own mountain to climb. I had to adapt to a new life which was so different.
"For me, music is powerful - something that can make you cry and obviously move you. In movies, they build up for an hour-and-a-half to a point that gets people all teary and yet a song can do it in a minute." He adds: "Music brings people together, it gives joy, it gives inspiration."
Last year's Australian Idol wasn't only watched by Australian musicians. The runaway success of the show, with ratings peaking at 3.65 million for the Opera House final, engaged viewers across the board.
In the Idol format, the audience participates by voting to keep theit favourites in the contest. It's more positive than reality shows like Big Brother or Survivor, where you vote to get rid of somebody you don't like. Idol is an aspirational journey. It's the Herop's Journey.
In the virtual world of Idol, you get to choose your hero and, to help you with that choice, the program shows mini-documentaries of the final 12 in the "ordinary world" of their families and communities, and incidentally giving us snapshots of Australian cultural life.
Here is Paulini Curuenavuli cooking a lovo with her Fijian family in a Sydney backyard, Shannon Noll riding the tractor on his drought- stricken farm in country NSW, Rob Mills singing with his pub band in downtown Melbourne.
By the time Shannon and Guy made it to the Opera House final, the voting public had chosen what one judge described as "the two faces of Australian contemporary music". In the end it was Guy, with his urban immigrant background and cosmopolitan music style, who won the day.
Guy himself says: "Shannon couldn't be more an Aussie icon, and then people made someone like me an Aussie icon because of their ability to embrace other cultures and different music genres. I was amazed to be part of that acceptance. "People say to me, 'Don't ever change.' I don't know what they think I'm going to change into!"
Guy is seeking long-term international success and, if he matches the hero archetypr as surely as he appears to, that success, as the face of a young, multicultural, cosmopolitan Australia, could well be the Grail he brings home.
The first World Idol was little more than a showcase of the 11 out of 22 countries (and counting) who have run the show so far.
Long-term international success for any of the contestants will depend on the traditional slog of promos and record plays.
"I'd love to give the rest of the world a taste of Australian music and what's coming out of this country," Guy says. "And the grail for me is to still be writing and recording albums it five years."
Meanwhile, the initiates of Australian Idol 2 prepare for their rite of passage in the dark forest of auditions to be held later this year.
If the auditions of the first Idol are anything to go by, we could be seeing many more examples of our multicultural society.
Guy recalls: "My favourite moments were jamming with other kids who made the top 100. We would sit in this corner, all these singers, girls and guys, different colours, all these different races and cultures...so much talent."
Guy Sebastian's new single, All I Need Is You, is out on February
23.
Praise at the Feat of an Idol
Sunday telegraph 15/2/04
There's an essential purity about Guy Sebastian, and its not just his youth, his avowed virgin status or even that his mum was still making his toast every morning until last May when Australian Idol catapulted him out of his suburban Adelaide home. It's more to do with his singleness of purpose, his dedication to his music, and his determination not to compromise his values.
And there we have the ingredients for a good, old-fashioned hero.
"At first, I was too nervous to have my personality out there. Everything I stand for which is different, which is me, which is personal - I didn't let it out," Sebastian says. "I was kind of closed and then I got more comfortable and people started to get to know me better."
Speaking to people in Guy's hometown of Adelaide, many people knew him through church, work and school as being "a lovely bloke", a description echoed over as people got to know him in the competition.
But Guy says he had learned about being under scrutiny long before he got to idol.
"Being a representative of the church has always meant pressure because there are kids looking at me. I remember an indoor
cricket game: I'm really competitive when it comes to sport and I went off at the umpire, yelling and making a spectacle.
"The whole centre was looking at me, and I saw these kids who had seen me singing at this huge church conference of 15,000 people and I realised that, on the stage, you're in the public eye and you can get a lot of people down. "So, it's a lot of pressure, but it's good pressure because it keeps me accountable."
Is he aware of Idol being a vehicle for kids to learn from, as well as a talent quest? "Yeah, it's much more than just the music," he says. "It's all about the music for me but my life is being used for a lot of other symbolic things.
"Being a role model, it's not a light thing for me - it's a huge responsibility because there are so many people being influenced in a positive way.
"But, being in this position, when you do something stupid, there's so much damamge that can be done and not only to people who looked up to you."I get people who made moreal decisions because of what I am and that touches me more than anything else and so, if I let them down, I risk leading people to that same place."
He adds: "I think it gives the public an opportunity to see a different view of someone whereas, usually with celebrities, you only see them when they become famous and when they rebel. But I'm going to always try and five the public something different where you don't have to do drugs and you don't have to sleep with loads of people. And I'm never going to be perfect. I'm just the same as anyone else who makes stupid mistakes, but I'm going to try my hardest."
Guy firmly attributes his commitment and awareness to his family and church: "I had wonderful parents - awesome! They taught me to love, because they're really both so loving, and they really taught me that love's the most important thing and, I think just working with kids, I've always been in kids' ministries and stuff and just seeing the hurt they go through."
Speaking to fans of the show, many said they were inspired, even instructed, by watching the contestants. They went through an initiation by proxy seeing how their favourites handled fear, disappointment, humiliation, how they grew through demanding tests and criticism.
Sam and Hayley, two teenage girls among the 5000-strong crowd at Guy's album launch, told me: "We got heaps from watching the show - how the performers dealt with it all and the judges' comments about what is expected."
The hero of a story is always the one who grows the most and takes the most risks. Throughout the show, Guy chose the most diverse songs and experimented with styles ranging from soul, pop, and R&B, but he kept that key ingredient of consistency in his heartfelt performances and original interpretations.
"I had so many letters," Guy says. "My song inspired people. I felt that song (Climb Every Mountain) so much because I had my own mountain to climb. I had to adapt to a new life which was so different.
"For me, music is powerful - something that can make you cry and obviously move you. In movies, they build up for an hour-and-a-half to a point that gets people all teary and yet a song can do it in a minute." He adds: "Music brings people together, it gives joy, it gives inspiration."
Last year's Australian Idol wasn't only watched by Australian musicians. The runaway success of the show, with ratings peaking at 3.65 million for the Opera House final, engaged viewers across the board.
In the Idol format, the audience participates by voting to keep theit favourites in the contest. It's more positive than reality shows like Big Brother or Survivor, where you vote to get rid of somebody you don't like. Idol is an aspirational journey. It's the Herop's Journey.
In the virtual world of Idol, you get to choose your hero and, to help you with that choice, the program shows mini-documentaries of the final 12 in the "ordinary world" of their families and communities, and incidentally giving us snapshots of Australian cultural life.
Here is Paulini Curuenavuli cooking a lovo with her Fijian family in a Sydney backyard, Shannon Noll riding the tractor on his drought- stricken farm in country NSW, Rob Mills singing with his pub band in downtown Melbourne.
By the time Shannon and Guy made it to the Opera House final, the voting public had chosen what one judge described as "the two faces of Australian contemporary music". In the end it was Guy, with his urban immigrant background and cosmopolitan music style, who won the day.
Guy himself says: "Shannon couldn't be more an Aussie icon, and then people made someone like me an Aussie icon because of their ability to embrace other cultures and different music genres. I was amazed to be part of that acceptance. "People say to me, 'Don't ever change.' I don't know what they think I'm going to change into!"
Guy is seeking long-term international success and, if he matches the hero archetypr as surely as he appears to, that success, as the face of a young, multicultural, cosmopolitan Australia, could well be the Grail he brings home.
The first World Idol was little more than a showcase of the 11 out of 22 countries (and counting) who have run the show so far.
Long-term international success for any of the contestants will depend on the traditional slog of promos and record plays.
"I'd love to give the rest of the world a taste of Australian music and what's coming out of this country," Guy says. "And the grail for me is to still be writing and recording albums it five years."
Meanwhile, the initiates of Australian Idol 2 prepare for their rite of passage in the dark forest of auditions to be held later this year.
If the auditions of the first Idol are anything to go by, we could be seeing many more examples of our multicultural society.
Guy recalls: "My favourite moments were jamming with other kids who made the top 100. We would sit in this corner, all these singers, girls and guys, different colours, all these different races and cultures...so much talent."
Guy Sebastian's new single, All I Need Is You, is out on February
23.
